Commercial portrait photography began in the s and old family photographs can portray ancestors from the early-Victorian era onwards. Many historic photos surviving today are undated and unidentified and we can use various methods to work out their time period:.
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This can help, but studio data may be elusive, patchy or too broad to pinpoint a close date for a given photograph. All available evidence old be considered, but often most useful for accurate photo dating are the picture clues, especially the fashions worn by their subjects: clothes, accessories and hairstyles. Victorian dress styles were complex, determined by age, status and location: fashion also accelerated between the s and s. Here is a brief guide to the main trends. Gentlemen generally wore a slender frock coat with deep V-fronted waistcoat, broad black cravat and tall top see more often removed for oldwhile working men might favour looser jackets and trousers, low-crowned caps and a narrow neck tie or neckerchief.
Menswear grew easier-fitting in the later s, and mature men often adopted the newly-fashionable beard, grown from the sideburns beneath the chin. Hair was sleek, typically drawn down low over the ears; sometimes outdoor bonnets and shawls or short wide jackets were worn for mid-century photographs.
Photographs, more numerous from the s, reflect changing fashions of the decade. Gentlemen retained formal frock coats and top hats but many adopted loose lounging jackets and contrasting trousers, with the new round-crowned bowler hat.
From late-decade garments were layered, a shorter overdress being raised over a bustle projection behind the waist.
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Hair was ornate, tresses drawn off the face and dressed higher on the head. From around mid-decade the silhouette slimmed down, prompting more fitted lounge jacket or coat with small, clothes lapels, the choice of top hat, bowler or other headwear reflecting the form of garments and occasion.
For women, the decorative, feminine bustle style of the earlys shifted with the development of the rigid, elongated cuirass https://telegram-web.online/dating-in-your-40s.php. Hairstyles were smoother, more discrete and headwear clothes moderate height.
During the s menswear narrowed further, a suave morning coat with campground electric hookup fronts much in vogue and white handkerchief in the top pocket a key fashion accessory. Trousers were slim-fitting, often pin-striped, and the crown of the bowler hat photos tall — a useful fashion dating clue. Skin-tight bodices with high collars and narrow sleeves gained contrasting panels, mock waistcoat detailing and plastron fronts.
Top 10 Resources to Help Date Your Old Photographs
All female headwear was tall and modish young women grew their hair into a short fringe. The s witnessed the end of the Victorian era.
The male three-piece lounge suit was regular wear, accessorised with a high standing, or turned-down starched shirt collar and, typically, a long knotted tie. For dating help with your Victorian images, please contact medownload my service list or see my relevant books. Jayne Shrimpton. Many historic photos surviving today are undated and unidentified and we can use various methods to work out their time period: 1.
Identifying the photographic format the type of photograph 2. Dating the style of printed card mounts 4. Carte de visite cdv : early s Victorian dress styles were dating, determined by age, status and location: fashion also accelerated between the s and s.