About My Collection
I have a collection of over 1000 cartes, these I have scanned in both the front and back in the condition in which they are found. It would be possible to improve them using Photoshop etc. but this gives a false idea of what they are like, so for good or bad here they are! Many collectors of cartes are interested in the back of the carte for they show interesting printed designs. They give the name and address of the photographer and some rare ones can be found this way. At least it shows the part of the country in which the image was created. I have sorted the cartes roughly by alphabet using the photographers name, and adding the address and any personal information written on the back. I have added thumbnail views to make selection easier. Most studios provided a space for the negative number, but few were filled in, where they are numbered and dated, they can help to date other cartes.
Fashion through Cartes-de-visite photographs
Here are some photographs of the fashions of Victorian times from the late 1850's onwards. The great advantage gained from studying these photographs is that they are not restricted to one class, indeed the fashion distinctions between the middle and upper classes were not as marked as they were in previous times.
To be fashionable was the aim of far more people than ever - even servants were now wearing clothes that were better than those their employers wore twenty years before. It is not easy to sort out a person's class just from the clothes they wore, but the condition of the clothes can give some clues: is this the maid or the mistress?. Not all people kept up to the latest fashion, many older people wore the same style of clothes that they had first wore in their twenties and had no truck with modern fashion.
Fashion through time
From 1858 through to the early 1860's ladies wore their hair in a centre parting with the hair swept back over the ears to the back, where it was formed into a low bun, the ears did not usually show. By 1865 the ears were always shown but still with a centre parting, the bob at the back was larger and higher on the neck, even added to by false hair. The crinoline was a hooped framework over which the petticotes and skirt was layered. At first these were circular and many early cartes show this. Corsets were worn less tightly than previously - the wide skirt made any waist look slim. Cartes of the early 1860's sometimes show the wide cape and bonnet that had been in use for much of the 19th century, now worn by middle aged women, often these cartes are copies of earlier photographs of the 1850's.
The crinoline was at its widest in the early 1860's and began to shrink to a half dome, flat in the front by 1865 and the crinoline was abandonded after 1867. Instead dress shape relied on padding and petticotes to hold the shape. Bustle dresses came in during the 1870's. At first during the early 1870's the dresses became more tighly fitted, skirts were worn double, one being an overskirt caught up and held at the back by a bustle pad. By the late 1870's the bustle had for most people gone and figure huging skirts, at least at the front and long jackets were popular. The bustle had a revival between 1881 and 1883 but much higher and larger, generally womens clothes became plainer and severe, fabrics were firm and pleated on the edges and a small stand up collar was the fashion often with a frill or small ruff. The last decade of the 19th century was the era of the tailor-made suits for women, fitted at the waist and the skirts made in panels and easy to wear. Blouses were elaborate and dresses were high necked. Hair was worn in a bun, Sleeves gradually became wider at the shoulder - the leg of mutton shape which by 1895 could be a double sleeve. By 1897 the wide sleeve was no longer fashionable and close fitting sleeves were worn instead.
Now go and visit my huge collection of over 2000 images linked by one page - allow the page time to load - please enjoy them.
© R.F.Vaughan 2000