The Real Victorian

Free Victorian Trade Card (VTC): Vintage Parker's Tonic Ad Featuring Young Lady in a Sunny Yellow Bonnet

Labels: Cards & Templates, Victorian ladies, Victorian trade cards, Vintage advertising

I wonder what it would be like to live in a world where it was always June.
― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of the Island
A Victorian trade card featuring the image of a demure young lady wearing a sunny yellow bonnet and holding a posy of red flowers in her left hand. This illustration initially appeared in a late 19th century advertisement for Parker's Tonic. You can download the high-res 5” x 7.5” @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark here.

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Victorian Fashion History Illustration: Gossip, 1860

Labels: 1860s fashion, American fashion, Antebellum period, Fashion history, Pre-Civil War fashion, Victorian fashion, Victorian ladies

Original, first-generation digital scan of an engraved fashion plate (in full color) from the March 1860 issue of Godey's Lady's Book in my personal collection. This image shows four Victorian ladies, two in evening dresses and two in walking dresses. Illustration has only been lightly retouched to retain authentic antique details. Colours remain bright and vibrant. Suitable as a framed print (perhaps for a sewing or crafts room), a cover for a card or a journal, or even as a background in a design project.

The description for the costumes (from left to right):

Fig. 1. -- Costume for full dress reception, wedding, or opera. Dress of peach blossom taffeta, the skirt covered by groups of pinked flounces; corsage round, and ornamented by macaroons of the silk; bell-shaped sleeves, cut open on the forearm, and confined by a lacing of ribbon, displaying a lace undersleeve terminating in ruffles at the wrist. Bonnet of rose-colored crape and blonde.

Fig. 2. -- Carriage dress, also suitable for dinner. Emerald green taffeta, covered by narrow flounces of black silk; the sleeve and corsage having narrow ruffles to correspond, set on in hollow box plaits; drooping bows on the front of the corsageof black taffeta ribbon and lace. Leghorn bonnet, lined with emerald green silk, with strings and plume of the same shade; a single line of blonde borders the face, instead of the inevitable bonnet cap.

Fig. 3. -- Walking-dress for a young lady. Dress and mantle of gray poplin, a lighter material than that was worn the past winter, and very well suited for travelling dresses; it is crossed by a silk bar or cord of black. Mantle trimmed by a broad ruche of the same, goffered on. Drawn hat of blue silk and ribbon ruches, the brim rolled slightly from the face. The whole costume is simple, new, and stylish.

Fig. 4. -- Walking-dress of dark stone-colored silk, chinée with black. The skirt is arranged with one deep flounce, headed by five narrow ones, all both bound and headed with crimson silk. The sleeves correspond in style. Shawl-shaped mantelet of the same. Chic bonnet, with rose-colored ribbon and flat black velvet loops.

You can download the high-res 9.5" x 6" @ 300 ppi (2850 x 1800 pixels) illustration without a watermark here. Lovely as a framed print but can also be used as a cover for a journal or in other graphic design projects.

Victorian Fashion History Illustration: Taking an Airing (Dressed for the Outdoors), 1860

Labels: 1860s fashion, American fashion, Antebellum period, Fashion history, Pre-Civil War fashion, Victorian fashion, Victorian ladies

An antique fashion illustration that shows a group of four women and one child in a park, elegantly dressed in styles from the year 1860. The description of the outfits, from left to right, are as follows:

Fig. 1. -- Dress of apple green taffeta, shaded with black, a spray of leaves broché in black, at regular intervals; corsage plain and high; sleeves demi long, and of a narrow pagoda shape, trimmed with flat bows of apple green ribbon, as are the skirt and corsage, in a continuous line. Bonnet of peach blossom crape, with a fall of blonde. Rich lace shawl, lined with black marceline.

Fig. 2. -- Dress of summer poplin, with bars of mauve, or down stripes of black, crossing the white ground; each breadth is separated by a ruche of mauve-colored ribbon, and bows of the same extend down the side breadths. Ceinture or waist ribbon of the same, with flowing ends, also shoulder knots. Black lace bonnet, with field flowers.

Fig. 3. -- Dress of blue challais, solid color, trimmed with ruches of the same material. Leghorn garden hat.

Fig. 4. -- Walking-dress of plain taffeta, in ten flounces; each flounce bordered and headed by a plain row of black velvet. Drawn hat of white silk.

Child's dress of pink challais, with tablier front. Net for the hair, tied to the right with a knot of black velvet ribbon.

You can download the high-res 9" x 14" @ 300 ppi (1800 x 2850 pixels) JPEG without a watermark here. Lovely as a framed print but can also be used as a cover for a journal or in other graphic design projects.

Victorian Fashion History Illustration: Dresses of Silk, 1857

Labels: 1850s fashion, American fashion, Antebellum period, Fashion history, Pre-Civil War fashion, Victorian fashion, Victorian ladies

A fashion illustration in full colour from my collection of Peterson's Magazine, December 1857 issue. The magazine describes the dresses as:

On the left, a dress of black silk, trimmed with nine rows of black velvet, graduated in width, and edged with black lace. The body is made with a basque and berthe, and trimmed to correspond with the skirt. The sleeves are of the pagoda shape, open on the inside of the arm.

On the right is a dress of chestnut-colored heavy silk. The skirt is very full, and trimmed on each side with two rows of velvet of a darker shade of brown than the silk. A row of velvet buttons is placed down the side of each band of velvet. The body is made without a basque, but with lappets in front, edged with a brown silk fringe. There is also a berthe formed of velvet and fringe. The sleeves are very wide, made with a cap or jockey, and trimmed to correspond with the body.

To download a free, high-res 6" x 9" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark, please click here.