Color My World

 When I was a young thing in my early twenties and beginning to skip down the slippery slope of costume history research I was told I could NOT wear red dresses. Cue the horrified reenactor voices, "But HONEY, only BAD women wore red!" This statement had the effect of making me dive into research as I never had before.  Reading through pattern magazines and fashion tomes of the 1880's I would find that red was a very fashionable and often chosen color for the "proper woman." Red was a bright color that could be relied upon to be fairly color fast even in cottons.  When I had the opportunity to add red work dresses to my personal collection, they were included while I smirked in my mind at all the times I was told I couldn't wear red.  This was the beginning of me truly digging into textile colors of the 19th century.  

1885 Red cotton Princess back Mother hubbard Wrapper from Marna's collection.

Many people think of the Victorian dress as dull and drab, and to be sure there were many browns and blacks chosen as best dresses, because they were appropriate for nearly any occasion one might require.  Demorest Magazine reported in 1883, "In this country prettiness in prints has had to give way: to utility, to such samples as could be depended upon to stand the brutal kind of washing to which they were subject to; having no confidence in the permanence of pretty colors, the housekeeper took refuge in dingy neutrality, giving an impression, based on experience, that the uglier the pattern the more certainly it could be relied upon to 'wash'. " The more neutral the color the more confident the average woman felt it would last well throughout its wearing. All of this however did not mean there were not some VERY vivid colors available.

In 1856 William Perkins, home on break from chemist school, was experimenting with a way to make a synthetic quinine, accidently discovered the first of the aniline dyestuffs- a bright pinky-purple that would become known as magenta or "aniline red". Initial experiments with this color showed that it would dye silk in a manner that would make it colorfast even in light- a severe problem with most natural purple dyestuffs.  Other brilliant colors such as Fuchsine, Perkin's green, Britannia Violet and many more (Check out the Dreamstress's article on his dyes!) 

 At any rate, by the time the 1870's rolled around there were some phenomenally bright colors available in textiles, especially the protein fibers of silk and wool that were easier to dye than cotton textiles. While the cotton prints might remain somewhat more subdued and prone to light sensitivity- fabrics for dressy outfits might really shine. 

The outfit to the left is one of my favorite "brilliantly colored" extant dresses online.  You can find it in the museum section of antiquedress.com website.

When choosing fabrics to reproduce beauty's such as this remember to shy away from cottons and cotton prints.  

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Mid 1890's Silk faille wrapper or tea gown from Marna's collection.

A few more of my brightly colored favorites in the nicer dress category! 

Mid 1890's silk dress from Whitaker Auction

Cherry red turn of the century dress from antiquedress.com

Magenta silk faille dress from House of Worth circa 1890

1870's silk taffeta from vintagetextile.com gallery

1902 cotton wrappers- chambrey- from Marna's collection

    So does this mean there are NO brightly colored cottons? Purple dye on cotton was notoriously fugitive until after the turn of the century. So while there are "some" brighter colors to be found in cotton fabrics you are going to see pinks and reds as your most common options for bright colors.

The KEY is to do your research!  English Women's Clothing in the 19th Century is a good place to start- each decade and year is listed with some popular colors during that time frame (note these are likely referring to silks and wools). Read the articles in the fashion magazines rather than just looking at the dress plates.  Books like Manners Culture and Dress have chapters on dress colors and harmony of colors in dress.  Check out original dresses on the Met  and Whitaker's Auction SmugMug pages.  Swatch books from the 19th century are another great resource like these  from The Met. Don't rely on "but everyone knows" get out there and do your research and be prepared to name your sources- but be proud you can color your world beautiful!

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1892 wrapper pink cotton print from Marna's collection

Dark Plum purple cotton wrapper circa 1878 from Marna's Collection

Sources & Further Research
English Women's Clothing in the Nineteenth Century by C. Willet Cunnington
Wearable Prints 1760-1860 by Susan Greene
​Elephants Breath and London Smoke by Deb Salisbury
Costume Language by Stephanie Davies
A Dictionary of Costume and Fashion by Mary Brooks Picken
Dating Fabrics - A Color Guide 1800-1960 by Eileen Trestain