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'The Fashions'. Ball and walking dress, January 1862

11 of 40 portraits by Samuel Orchart Beeton

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'The Fashions'. Ball and walking dress, January 1862

published by Samuel Orchart Beeton, published in The Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine, first published in Le Moniteur de la Mode
hand-coloured etching and line engraving, published January 1862
8 1/4 in. x 5 1/4 in. (211 mm x 134 mm) paper size
Acquired, 1930
Reference Collection
NPG D47995

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Described in the magazine:
1. Ball Dress - The headdress is composed of large pink and white chrysanthemums, with a great deal of foliage. The dress is made of white silk, ornamented with pink and white flounces at the bottom, and an upper skirt of white tulle, spotted with gold. The body is cut very low behind, and is made with a short round waist. The berthe is sloped to each shoulder, and is composed of puffings of tulle and blonde, trimmed with flowers continuing all round. The sleeve is very pretty, consisting of a full puffing of spotted tulle, edged with a pink ruche, and narrow white blonde. A gilt band encircles the waist. The skirt is trimmed at the bottom with two pink flounces and one white flounce, each one four inches in depth. All the flounces are edged with a pink ruche. The upper skirt, which is made of white tulle, spotted with gold, is made nearly as long as the dress, and is looped up on each side with wreaths of chrysanthemums and leaves crossed to form two ovals - a large and a small one. A full-sized paper pattern of the low body illustrated in this figure, tacked together and trimmed, showing exactly the arrangement of it, may be had by enclosing twenty-four stamps to Madame Adolphe Goubaud, 248, Strand, London, W.C.; and with skirt complete, 5s. 6d.
This ball dress might be made suitable for mourning, by substituting black for the pink silk, and having a white tulle tunic spotted with black, - or, the dress might be composed entirely of black silk, with a black tulle tunic. In either case the flowers must, of course, be black and white, or all white. A black ribbon quilling put on in the same form as the flowers would answer as a substitute, or black velvet might be used.
2. Walking Dress. - The bonnet is made of quilted black silk, trimmed with black lace and green ribbon. The bandeau consists of a bow of ribbon, with a gilt buckle in the centre. The pardessus, or coat, is made of black cloth, trimmed all round with a stamped velvet trimming. It is made tightly fitting to the figure, with a collar and revers. The velvet is arranged on the sleeve in a device of a diamond shape. The dress is of violet poplin, trimmed with bands of black velvet and narrow Russia braid. These bands of velvet are placed quite at the bottom of the skirt. The full-sized paper pattern of the pardessus illustrated in this figure, tacked together and trimmed, may also be had by enclosing 48 stamps to Madame Adolphe Goubaud, 248, Strand, London, W.C. This toilet is also suitable for mourning, by having a black silk dress instead of violet, and trimming the bonnet with black, or a mixture of black and while, instead of green.

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Events of 1862back to top

Current affairs

The Lancashire cotton famine, a depression in the north-west textile industry brought about by the American civil war, reaches its climax. With large numbers of mills closing after Confederate blockades halted cotton supplies, many Lancashire families were in receipt of relief.

Art and science

Louis Pasteur and Claude Bernard carry out the first pasteurisation tests, the process of heating liquids at 55 degree Celsius or higher for short periods of time, destroying viruses and harmful organisms such as bacteria and yeast. .
Victor Hugo's novel Les Miserables is published, covering the Napoleonic wars. It traces the ex-convict Jean Valjean's character against wider questions of social and political justice, duty and love.

International

Otto Eduard Leopold Bismarck becomes Minister-President of Prussia, appointed by Wilhelm I after the liberal Diet refused to authorise funding for a proposed reorganisation of the army. Bismarck, intent on maintaining royal supremacy, engineers the Unification of Germany during his time in office.
John Hanning Speke claims to have found the source of the Nile, proving that the Victoria Nile issued from the north end of lake Victoria, over Ripon Falls.

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