Dating 101: The Pagoda Sleeve of the Mid-19th Century – Maryland

Description

This summer, I and the other Fashion Archives interns have been charged with the rediscovery, processing, and rehousing of costumes from the Maryland Historical Society’s Fashion Archives. Many of the costumes lack accompanying information about the original wearer, or even the time period, so it is necessary for us to be able to date the garments to a specific decade of fashion history. We do this by looking at the fabric from which a garment is constructed, the neckline, skirt size, waistline, type of sleeve, and other pieces of the garment.