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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.