This lady wears a plain dress, but notice the brooch at the neckline. This could be a mourning outfit (no white collar or cuffs), and the brooch could contain the hair of the deceased (a very common practice). This lady is wearing a snood.

The back of this photo reads "Mary Sherwood Mapes." Mary is wearing a very plain and serviceable day gown, and it looks like she is wearing a flat lace cap that hangs down each side.

This woman is holding a straw bonnet and wearing a saque jacket, which was often used to disguise pregnancy. It is difficult to tell whether or not this young lady is expecting

Another portrait in an ornate chair. Note the tucked diamond-shaped center panel on this lady's bodice. Unusual and pretty. Her sleeves have been trimmed with a flat ribbon or braid in a criss-cross pattern.

The dropped sleeve seam of the time period is easy to see in this photograph of a woman in a plaid dress. It looks like there is a small tuck over the sleeve seam as well. This gown features cloak sleeves trimmed with lace at the cuff. It looks like the lady is wearing a snood, thus the flat bow on top of her head. Note the ornate chair with all of the turned wood.

Isn't this clear-eyed young lady just beautiful? She is wearing an elaborately trimmed dress, and it is too bad the balustrade hides most of it! Note the wide, scalloped bateau neckline.

Here is an attractive young woman wearing a lovely printed cotton dress with a beautiful jacket over the bodice. Note the trimming of the jacket and the brooch at the collar of the dress. The lady also has a barrette or comb of some kind over her left ear,

This lady is wearing a bodice with a squared yoke created by trimming. She has cloak sleeves. Note her ringlets hanging down behind her ears, indicating that she is likely a young lady.

These two ladies are wearing dresses made of a similar floral print fabric. Both dresses are very simply designed and have real or decorative buttons down the front. The lady on the left has fancier sleeves with small double puffs at the top. She also appears to be wearing a chatelaine or something else with a chain pinned at her waistline.

The knife-pleated trimming on this gown is just amazing. All those crisp pleats around the hem and sleeves! This lady is also wearing a type of jabot or dickey at her neck, rather than a collar

This lady is wearing a dark gown with pagoda sleeves, a pretty woven trimming and three tucks in the skirt. Also note her snood with the ribbons hanging behind her left ear.

Here is another photograph where the corset's outline is visible beneath the bodice! It makes for a very odd appearance when the dress and corset have not been properly fitted, doesn't it?

It is easy to tell that this lady is wearing a corset. Her gown fits very closely over it, and there is a clear line at the top. Note her full pagoda sleeves and lovely undersleeves.

I had a Regency themed party and all the guests dressed up together. It was a lot of fun! The original Regency dress pattern was used on all of them.

Here are two ladies wearing identical ballgowns and photographed in the same studio. The names on the backs of the pictures are different, so this isn't just one woman with two different expressions. The gowns are gorgeous. Note the wonderful lace collars and the patterned silk of the skirts

Here is a wonderful photograph that demonstrates the transition between the 1840s and early 1850s. The short-waisted bodice and stitched-down sleeves with the puffy "bells" above the cuff are typically 1840s. The main difference is in the width of the skirt

I just love these spoofs from the 1860s! So many artists found women's new fashions completely comical and worthy of high satire. The first three cartoons poke fun at hoopskirts, while the one on the lower right demonstrates how unflattering a "spoon" bonnet can be on the wrong size head!

The gowns above used to be on display in Jane Austen's house, Chawton, England. Note the beautiful shawl and the draping detail on the bodice at the right. Below is a photo from A&E's "Emma," and you can see the same draping detail was used for Jane Fairfax's ballgown.

Left:

One of Elizabeth Bennet's beautiful Spencer jackets from the recent A&E "Pride and Prejudice" miniseries. This one features nice sleeve details with "toothed" sleeve caps.

Here are several shots from the Miramax "Emma," starring Gwyneth Paltrow. Clockwise from top left: Day dress of a lovely sage green with a patterned muslin overdress; plainer day dress with gathered bodice and a gorgeous shawl; day dress of striped pink with a more squared neckline; morning dress with "drop-front" bodice; ball gown with sheer sleeves