Ballgowns, ca. 1860-1862.

Beach fashion, Gody's Ladies Book, July 1867.

Bathing dresses, also called bathing costumes. This is from ca. 1864.

In the nineteenth century, fashion plates could be found in most ladies magazines. It was not unlike thumbing through the pages of Vogue today in order to keep up with the latest styles and trends. Some fashion plates were ink drawings, while others were hand-painted pieces of art inserted in between poetry, child rearing articles, and so forth. Some of the most popular American magazines for women in the nineteenth century were Peterson's Magazine and Godey's Ladies Book. Have you seen Ladies Home Journal in grocery stores? That particular magazine has been in publication since 1883! Magazines of the nineteenth century were sent to subscribers through the mail just as today.

Here is an example of a hand-painted fashion plate. Each week, I will post a new one. These particular selections were in the October 1864 edition of Godey's and were the height of fashion for that season. As with most magazines today, the images are exaggerated glamorous versions of the trends found on the street in everyday life.