Fashion in Photographs : 1860-1880

Over 150 period photographs are featured in this book, showing a wide variety of dress worn between 1860 and 1880.

Although some of the photographs are studio portraits by the leading photographers of the day, there are also photographs of 'working-class' Victorians: estate workers, nurses, and gamekeepers, whose sober, practical garb is in telling contrast to the lavish fabrics and impractical designs worn by those for whom they worked.

The main source of illustrations is the National Portrait Gallery Archive, which contains a collection of over 100,000 photographs and original negatives. Miles Lambert's selection principally comprises photographs never before published. It also contains some unfamiliar images of well-known historical figures, such as the Princess of Wales, Charles Dickens, Florence Nightingale, John Everett Millais, and many more. Each photograph is accompanied by a full caption that not only describes both costume and accessories in great detail, but also goes on to explain how and where the clothes were made; what they felt like to wear; and how the fashions developed. To do this, the author has supported his original research with contemporary quotations and anecdotes from diaries, fashion magazines, newspapers and other Victorian memorabilia.

This book is an absorbing and informative account of the fashion and social history of this period, and will be enjoyed by everyone interested in fashion, photography, and the Victorian age.