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An 1836 Morning Dress for Ensemble Eclectica
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Today’s dress from 1836 is a morning dress. Morning dresses were very casual and usually worn in the morning. As I’ve mentioned before, clothing got progressively more formal as you moved through the day. So, morning clothing was the most casual. Ballgowns for evening events were the most formal. There were also court gowns worn at court, but that’s a whole subsection of 19th century clothing that I am not going to dive into in this 1830s paper doll collection.
So, back to morning dresses. Morning dresses still had come in all sorts of levels of formality of course- the actual bathrobe to the sort of “lounging clothes” that you might wear to run to the store. I can’t say I’ve never gotten groceries in pajama pants (though I confess I tend to avoid it unless I am really desperate.)
The fashion plate comes from Ladies’ Pocket Magazine from May 1836. Ladies’ Pocket Magazine was a English publication printed out of London and it came out monthly. I find the plates in it are very mixed. Some are lovely and some much less so. I think they are pretty poor in the early 1800s and get better in the 1830s.
A key accessory paired with morning dresses was a cap, typically used to cover the hair. These caps were elaborately styled despite the casual nature of the ensemble. The one depicted alongside this dress is ruffled, adorned with charming bows, adding a touch of whimsy and individuality. One detail I particularly loved in the accompanying fashion plate is how the ribbon on the cap intentionally does not match the dress, creating an interesting contrast.
When I rendered this dress, I think I did an okay job, but I don’t think I really effectively captured the shape of the sleeves. Still, given that this isn’t an era I’m super familiar with, I’m pretty happy with the outcome over all.
An 1830s paper doll evening dress for the Ensemble Eclectica
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As you know, if you’ve been following long since December, I’ve been drawing a series of 1830s dresses, trying to draw one dress from each year of the decade. So, today’s gown is an 1830s paper doll evening dress, specifically from 1835. You can see all the gowns I’ve done up to this point and chose your favorite. Don’t worry if you’re not as into 1830s fashion as I am these days, I do have some other non-1830s paper doll things in the works.
In general, the basic rules of dressing in the 1830s: High-necklines for day, lower necklines for evening. Long sleeves are usually less formal than short sleeves. Given these guidelines, what we’re looking at here is an evening dress intended for dinner wear. Not a ballgown, but something worn to a nice dinner party. As the 1830s continued, you begin to see slightly longer skirts as you can tell from today’s 1835 evening dress.
Fun fact: This was actually the first dress I drew for this whole project.
In choosing colors, I did my best to color match the original plate, because I found the deep maroonish-purple a really interesting color. Not one I would normally be attracted too. Wig got slightly edited to accommodate the paper dolls ringlet curls.
So, this design comes from a fashion plate in Ladies Pocket Magazine. The magazine was in print from 1824 until 1839. It published inferior copies of plates from other magazines, so the quality is sometimes lesser than what you see in higher end publications.
What’s interesting about Ladies’ Pocket Magazine is that it shows how fashion information spread, because magazines would simply copy each other. The cheaper the magazine, the more likely it contained copies from more expensive magazines. This information transmission pattern illustrates one way fashion spread from those creating trends to those following them.
It’s important to never forget that fashion magazines were aspirational. They didn’t always illustrate what people were wearing in a time period, as much as they illustrated what people aspired towards wearing. By the way, social media plays a similar role today. It’s going to be really interesting to see in the future how the fashion information landscape evolves.
I digress. Get me talking about fashion history and information ecosystems and you know, I will happily go on and on.
I hope you’re enjoying the 1830s as much as I am. Next up after this 1830s paper doll evening dress is a morning dress from 1836.
Exploring 1830s Women’s Underwear in Paper Dolls with Ensemble Eclectica
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The biggest fashion event of the 1830s was when Queen Victoria took the throne in 1837. Suddenly, curls were out and straight hair was in. Furthermore, Queen Victoria had a pretty conservative style, so necklines got higher and skirts got longer. Things began to get much less flamboyant as we move into the 1840s (which does make me a little sad.) Because of all the changes in hair, I thought it was important to make a second 1830s paper doll as well, so here she is. Her hair is parted dead center with curls over her ears. This impacted her bonnets in ways I hadn’t planned when I started.
Her walking shoes are based on this pair from Shoe Icons. I wanted to give her different shoes than my other 1830s paper doll.
Because I am creating paper dolls, there are technical limitations in illustrating underwear. It has to be able to be layered over properly for the gowns. So, I generally keep it simpler than it might have actually been in the time period. Really, early Victorian period women’s underwear was pretty darn complicated.
Late 1830s women’s underwear typically consisted of a pantalettes, chemise, petticoats, and a corset. The chemise was a loose slip-like garment made from lightweight cotton or linen, worn directly against the skin to protect outer clothing from perspiration. Chemises typically had wide necklines. Pantalettes (or “drawers”) covered the legs for modesty.
Her corset is based on this one from the Met. I made it blue, because I like blue. Speaking of corsets, the term “stays” was mostly out of use by this time. Corsets provided support through seams and cording, but more boning was starting to be used. (Boning, as usual, doesn’t mean actual bones. It’s whale baleen. Whale baleen was a by-product of the whaling industry, but that’s a whole different post on a whole different website.) By the end of the decade, corsets are starting to look like this with a lot more boning and a much more complicated design.
Are you still enjoying the 1830s with me? Ready to finish out the decade? Did you miss any of the paper dolls? You can grab them all under the early victorian fashion project tag.
Reflecting on 2024: The Year with Paper Thin Personas
So, it’s now 2025 and I am feeling a little like “Oh, where did 2024 go?” but I always feel that way at the end of the year, so what else is new? I had a very quiet end of the year mostly at home with my cat and my husband. Since I saw all my family for Thanksgiving, we didn’t gather again in December, which was quite all right with me. Sometimes a little quiet is very good for me and I traveled nearly every month of 2024, so I was very okay with not traveling in December.
Let’s talk about how the year 2024 went for Paper Thin Personas and my paper doll creations.
Four big things happened in 2024, two are sort of behind the scenes and two are fun paper doll projects that I got to work with other folks on. I rarely get to do that, so that was really nice.
Behind the Scenes Things:
- I got a new logo and color scheme, which I really like. (More about that here.)
- I got the site properly registered with Google Search Console (This is super backend, but was pretty easy once I realized what I needed to do and looking at my stats, I do think it made a difference.)
Fun Paper Doll Projects:
- I got to design the menus for the 2024 Paper Doll Convention in Indianapolis. It was so much fun. Really. The designs were cute and they came out beautifully, though I remember struggling for ideas for a while.
- My art was licensed by Colouring Heaven for their Paper Dolls issue 74 of their magazine. The magazine is available to order in a print version or a digital printable version. You can get it from newsstands in the UK, but since I don’t live there, I don’t know the details on that. I did get some copies for myself and I’ve been coloring them and they’re very fun.
Paper Thin Personas By the Numbers
So, according to Google Analytics, I got about a 50% increase year over year in visitors to Paper Thin Personas. Given that the site is held together with digital chewing gum, duct tape and string, this has strained all the things. I’m in contact with someone who I hope can fix up some things. So, that’s a 2025 problem to solve, but it is a good problem to have.
Over the course of 2024, I posted 56 times (mostly paper dolls), but there were some WIP posts and other things. I did 39 new paper doll posts and 12 exclusive posts for my Patrons.
I had 13 historical paper doll posts, 12 fantasy/sci-fi paper doll posts and 6 contemporary fashion posts.
I think my 1930s project and my current 1830s project skew the numbers a bit. All in all, I am super happy with these. I am very proud of the work I put together this year. Because 2024 was a very busy year for me professionally, I didn’t have nearly as much time to work on Paper Thin Personas as I had hoped. Most of the year, I felt “way behind”. Seeing these numbers makes me feel a little better about things.
So, what was popular this year? Let’s find out…
Top 5 Most Viewed Paper Dolls Created in 2024
- Valentine’s Day 2024 was my most popular paper doll this year. I’m very proud of her, so I am super happy you all like her too. Her wardrobe is mostly so impractical for where I live in Alaska.
- Fall Fashionista My niece helped me pick out colors for this paper doll, so I am super excited to see it on this list.
- Cut & Color Couture Series: A Steampunk Lady I wonder if this is on the list because it was popular, or because it was up for a long time without anything new being posted. Hard to say.
- Ensemble Eclectica: Specs & Posies Another one I think is very cute, so happy she was popular.
- Snowflake Sophistication: Winter Princess Paper Doll Also, one I love. I loved it so much, I sent it into Paper Doll Studio for their winter issue. Over the top princess gowns fill me with a strange sort of joy.
Top 5 of Posts in 2024 Over All
- Marisole Monday Modern Girl in Black and White remains the most popular post on the site by a huge margin with 13K views this year. It’s always the most popular post on the site, not idea why, but I strongly suspect it’s positioning on Google Image Search has everything to do with it’s popularity.
- Citrus Summer has impressively managed to push aside other contenders to slip right behind Modern Girl in popularity.
- Black and White Printable Paper Dolls…. Marisole Monday & Friends is a collection of three different black and white sets. Again, I have no idea why it remains so popular.
- Female Proportions for Drawing was a post I made for my own reference, but I am glad other people seem to find it helpful. It’s not very detailed, but it is popular.
- Calculating clothing combinations… is another one of my posts which always shows up in my top lists as I compile them. I have no idea why it shows up so often, but hey- a little algebra never hurt anyone. I think people use it for calculating packing for trips. I don’t think most people are using it to calculate paper doll statistics.
I really don’t think of the above list as being at all trust worthy. It rarely changes, honestly, these have beern the most popular posts on Paper Thin Personas for literally years. I debated even putting it out there, but who knows? Maybe someone finds it interesting.
Ever wondered something about Paper Thin Personas? Let me know in a comment. I’m always happy to answer questions and who knows? It might become another post.
A Ball Gown from 1834 for the Ensemble Eclectica
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For my 1830s fashion paper doll, I have drawn a ball gown. It seemed totally appropriate to share on New Years Eve, a night for a ball if ever there was one. Ball gowns in the 1830s were the epitome of elegance and sophistication. These gowns were typically worn for high-society events. Often the most luxurious and intricate dress a woman could own, the ball gown was a symbol of both personal and social prestige.
A voluminous skirt characterized the silhouette of a ball gown during the 1830s. The cage crinoline doesn’t show up until the 1850s. So, in this era women are using horsehair reinforced petticoats to help keep the skirts wide. These skirts must have been very heavy. The neckline was cut off the shoulders to expose the upper chest, a daring departure from the more modest necklines typical of daytime fashion during the period. These low necklines and puffy sleeves made the shoulders look wider, creating the illusion of a smaller waist.
Never doubt, fashions of the 1830s wanted to make the waist look as small as possible.
This 1834 ball gown is based on a fashion plate from Petite Courier des Dames, a French fashion magazine. Founded in Paris after the Napoleonic Wars, dress for women filled its pages. Published about every 5 days, one or two high-quality fashion plates in each issue illustrated specific outfits and accessories. Listing the names of dressmakers and stores added an advertising element to the designs. This was a big part of the magazine’s appeal. The magazine had London offices as well, so it influenced English fashion too.
The plates in Petite Courier des Dames are really beautiful and usually show the back of the gown on the seated figure, as well as showing a different color scheme for the dresses. So, in this case the primary color scheme is blue and white, but there is a yellow and dusty purple color scheme also illustrated.
In addition to the revealing necklines, lavish embellishments decorated 1830s ball gowns. The one thing I loved from this illustration was the bows, because they felt so very “more is more” which is what is making this 1830s fashion paper doll project so much fun.
An Opera Gown from 1833 in another Color for My Patrons
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An Opera Gown from 1833 for the Ensemble Eclectica
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It’s Christmas eve and had this project gone the way I had originally intended, there was going to be whole potential Christmas Carol tie in with the 1840s. Obviously, that didn’t happen. So, instead, I have this entirely not holiday related 1833 opera dress for our 1830s fashion history paper doll. Truth be told, I find the holidays a little exhausting, so I am actually okay with not being the most festive place on the internet.
There’s plenty of hyper-festive places out there if that’s your preference.
So, let’s talk about opera dresses. In the 1830s, opera dresses occupied a unique position in fashion, blending elements of both daywear and evening wear. Since attending the opera required going out, these dresses often included a bonnet, which was a daytime accessory. However, because the opera was an evening event, opera dresses typically featured lower necklines, similar to those of evening or dinner dresses. Despite this, they were still less formal than full ballgowns. Later in the 19th century, opera attire evolved further with the introduction of highly decorative opera coats, worn over dresses for added elegance.
As I mentioned when I was talking about the 1831 walking dress, evening dresses can be identified by having necklines that are much lower than day dresses. I chose this opera dress, because I really loved the bow details on the skirt. I decided against blue for the color scheme, because I’ve already done a blue dress for this 1830s fashion history paper doll. How many blue dresses does one paper doll need? After reading up on the 1830s in English Women’s Clothing of the Nineteenth Century by C. Willett Cunnington, I settled on rose instead. According to Cunnington, rose was one of the colors popular in the early 1830s. My own observations of fashion plates seems to corroborate this observation. There’s a lot of pink.
For those of you who celebrate, I hope you have a lovely Hanukkah and Christmas tomorrow. I plan to spend mine doing very little, though if I feel up for it, I might bake some cookies.
Later this week, there will be a second color scheme for this gown for my supporting Patrons as a thank you for all their incredible support this year. There might be a third post this week. I’m not sure yet. Things are a little complicated at present.
A Printable Day Time Dress from 1832 for the Ensemble Eclectica
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Today’s 1832 paper doll dress is a bit of a mystery to me. One of my personal pet peeves is that so many fashion plates aren’t clearly labeled with the type of dress. I suppose people in the 1830s did not need the labels, but I do. Because fashion plates are often separated from the magazines, it’s a big headache trying to sort out the context of the costumes. I just don’t really want to bother most of the time.
Here’s what I can say with some confidence about this 1832 paper doll dress. I know it is day-wear because of the high collar. Because the dress has slippers and a parasol, my wager is that it’s a daytime walking or promenade dress.
Might I be wrong? Yes, I might be totally wrong.
But that’s my wager based on the fashion plate and my growing knowledge of 1830s fashion.
A few elements about this dress that I absolutely loved. I loved the way the stripes emphasize the waist on the bodice It’s just so smart. I loved the bright yellow bonnet which contrasted rather than matched.
In the 1830s, roller printed cottons were very popular and they often had elaborate striped patterns on them. Roller printing is a method of printing fabric using a large copper roller, like a giant rolling pin, engraved with the design. Because the design is on a cylinder, stripes are very easy to print. Developed in the end of the 18th century, these fabrics got cheaper and cheaper over time. By the 1830s, they were widely available. So, stripes took the fashion world by storm. Plus, stripes really show off the silhouette of the era.
I decided to make my stripes white and pink and green based on this fashion plate from 1831, which is a bit of a deviation from the source material, the french fashion magazine La Mode. La Mode‘s fashion plates are really neat- they show the back and the front of the same costume, but often in different prints. So, you can see the dress on the left and the dress on the right are the same dress- just from two different angles. So cool.
Last, but certainly not least, I really am enjoying this process and I hope you all are too!
A Walking Dress from 1831 for Ensemble Eclectica
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Today’s paper doll gown is an 1831 walking dress. When I wrote about the 1830’s carriage dress last week, I talked about the silhouette of this era. So, I’ll save you all from having to listen to all that over again and focus on walking dresses.
Like that carriage dress, this 1831 walking dress is designed for daytime wear and intended for outdoor activities like walking. Dresses like this could also be worn when attending informal events, such as visits, shopping, or afternoon social gatherings. Like most day dresses of the 1830s, the necklines were high, covering the collar bone. Along with the dress, there were essential accessories- bonnets and gloves. These bonnets were often quite large with wide brims to shield the face from the sun and covered in lots of ribbon trim. Just like the dresses of the 1830s, bonnets were lavish.
This gown appeared in the The Lady’s Monthly Museum in June 1831. This magazine is a treasure trove of 1830s culture with serials, poetry, music, and, of course, lots of fashion.
When I was reinterpreting this dress for my paper doll, there were several elements that I really loved, both because of the design and in terms of how they reflected 1830s fashion. One of the first things that stood out to me was the color combination. I really liked the periwinkle blue paired with the green. This color combination felt fresh and historically appropriate, as the 1830s saw a wide range of bold and contrasting color choices in women’s fashion. Green was particularly popular, because of the development of artificial green pigments, like Paris green in 1814 and the earlier Scheele’s green.
Unfortunately, this type of green pigment was made from arsenic compounds, so it was very toxic. That didn’t dull it’s popularity. Generally, people didn’t realize how toxic these green dyes could be and it wasn’t until the 1890s that they were discontinued, though green fell out of fashion as a fashion color in the 1860s which might have something to do with the toxicity of the dye. Who knows? It did stick around as an insecticide into the 1930s and 1940s.
Man, history is weird. It boggles my mind to think that this dye/paint pigment, which was so popular in the 1830s, later became used as an insecticide. The things I learn researching paper dolls…
Fashion history often intersects with other unexpected parts of culture in such funny ways. I digress, as I often do.
Next up will be a dress from 1832 later this week.