• DOI:10.1177/174837270002800201
• Corpus ID: 193319585

Dexter, Dextra, Dextrum: The Bloomer Costume on the British Stage in 1851

@article{Urwin2000DexterDD,
  title={Dexter, Dextra, Dextrum: The Bloomer Costume on the British Stage in 1851},
  author={Tiffany Urwin},
  journal={Nineteenth Century Theatre and Film},
  year={2000},
  volume={28},
  pages={113 - 89}
}

• T. Urwin
• Published 1 December 2000
• Art
• Nineteenth Century Theatre and Film

O n 27 September 1851 the Illustrated London News printed a page showing three very different pictures of mid-nineteenthcentury womanhood: Amelia Bloomer, the "originator" of the Bloomer costume for women and the subject of a contemporary dress debate; the celebrated travesty actress Madame Celeste in her role as hero of the Queen's Secretat the Adelphi Theatre; and a trio of models arrayed in the latest fashions from Paris (Plate 1). Difference was signified here by costume, and the choice and placement of the pictures encouraged readers of the paper to draw analogies between the women based on their implicit knowledge of the sartorial codes operating in Victorian society. While each of the three pictures suggests a distinct social context in which the wearing of such costumes might be appropriate, they have several things in common which are central to the concerns of this paper: each depicts a woman appropriating elements of masculine attire, and each contains a tacit reference to racy female sexuality. Victorian newspaper engravings of Paris fashions set out to delineate the most current and most desirable attire in which English women of sufficient means could array themselves for the coming season. Two of the models in the present example wear the flounced, heavily petticoated dresses and ornamented poke bonnets in vogue at the time. The third represents a woman in a riding habit, consisting, the accompanying commentary suggests, of a plain, tightly fitted bodice and long skirt of subdued color, white collar and cuffs, necktie and "gentleman's hal.'"