Apparel of the victorian women

From 1850 to 1866 the dress bodice remained very close fitting, the shoulder a little less sloping, the waist pointed, although some early-1850 bodices had a basque giving a jacket effect, and might even be in jacket form, opening over a chemisette. During the late 1850s the 'princess' dress, cut without a waist seam, appeared, and in the 1860s the round waist was slightly raised. Any seaming and decoration still emphasized the small waist.Blouses were often worn under a zouave jacket, based on the costume of the Algerian zouave troops in the Italian wars of 1859. Made of silk, velvet or cloth, it reachedjust to or slightly above the waist, the fronts rounded off and fastened at the neck only; it was< one of many bolero-type jackets worn between 1860 and the 1900s.

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