Doll News Winter 2019 - 55

separate sleeves to wear under dress bodices and full
chemisettes to wear with skirts would also have been
considered "underwear" in the period. These styles
continued to be popular with the child dolls of Huret
through the end of the 1860s when dress styles began to
change and other dollmakers' lady dolls gained popularity.
As the decade of 1860 progressed and adult-style lady
dolls were being produced and gaining popularity by ﬁrms
such as Barrois, Gaultier and Jumeau, the contemporary
styles of human underwear carried over to their miniature
likenesses. Chemises, drawers, petticoats, corsets, and
stockings came in numerous shapes and styles. With the
advent of affordable machine-made underwear in the human
world it became possible to have a dozen of everything in
one's wardrobe and this attitude soon carried over to the
trousseau trunks of dolls. Chemises were made of extremely
ﬁne linen being characterized by very ﬁne hand sewing,
elaborately cut sleeves, yokes and ﬁne tucking. Likewise,
drawers were made of ﬁne linen and consisted of two separate
sections joined just below the waist onto a band where they
were fastened by crossing over at the back with tapes circling
around to secure them.
As time went on both human and doll underwear
gradually became more decorative. Machine-made trims
and ﬁner weaves of cloth were adopted. Short crinolines
(hoops) were popular for country wear styles as were ﬂannel
petticoats, often in bold colors that had been inspired by the
advent of aniline dyes. Colored petticoats continued to be popular
throughout the Victorian period and more than one lady doll might
be found to have a soft red petticoat in her trousseau. Corsets also
began to change, sporting quilting and cording and appearing in colors
beyond white, such as grey, putty, red and black. It was not until about
1865 that the classic bell-shaped crinoline disappeared to be replaced
with an evolving new silhouette.
By the mid-1860s, Empress Eugenie caused quite a stir when
she appeared in public in a dress with a ﬂat front, unsupported by
a crinoline. Shortly after, Fredrick C. Worth, the most fashionable
designer of the time, campaigned for the abolition of the hoop
and by the end of the 1860s - the crinoline was no more. Bodice
styles remained tight-ﬁtting and it was the skirt that now began to
change. The lady dolls followed suit, abandoned their crinolines and
adopted this feminine new shape. The new style followed the ﬁgure,
accentuated the bust, deﬁned the waist and showed the curve of the
hips. The skirt was drawn ﬂat over the front of the ﬁgure with the
fullness concentrated at the back, sometimes aided by looping up the
skirt and sometimes including a train. This style was worn without
any type of crinoline but included a return to multiple petticoats with
rufﬂes concentrated at the back to support the elliptical shape of the
skirt. Girls' and young ladies' styles mirrored the ﬂat dress front and
full skirt at the back, but with an appropriate skirt length based on age.

An illustration depicts the Crinoline Era fashions.
La Mode Illustree,1864

A typical Victorian Era corset is illustrated.
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Doll News Winter 2019
