1880s fashion

In the spirit of complaining about the difference between afternoon tea and high tea (I feel so seen in this community!), can I take a minute or two of your time to complain about Emma’s approach to fashion?

The 1880s bustle era is truly something. Emma certainly doesn’t have to like it. She is wise to plan for a future where her aunt is no longer purchasing a wardrobe for her. However. Her instruction to Madame Tasset to make her skirts and gowns more ”classic,” doesn’t make sense. what is classic in the 1880s? Less lobster tail bustles a là the 1870s? Hoop crinolines of the 1860s? Circular skirts of the 1850s that hadn’t quite got to the excesses of the 1860s? Classic certainly cannot mean 1890s, which has not happened yet and the silhouettes have never been seen before in western fashion, but it seems like that is what Emma is describing.

Anyway, if Emma is truly trying to be wise and frugal, she would embrace the excesses of the bustle era, since she does not know when it will end, and bustling requires lots of excess fabric. Then, when the tides of fashion change, in what way she does not know, she has plenty of fabric to work with to remake her gowns in whatever silhouette comes next. You and I and Beth Brower know that skirts will be slimmer and sleeves puffier, but Emma does not know that and she should get as much free, quality material as she can get her hands on.

Thank you for listening. Fin.