Punch Magazine Fashion Cartoons

Punch magazine was published between 1841 and 2002.  One of the best features of Punch was the cartoons, full of great satire from 100-150 years ago, not only about Fashion, but on Domestic & Foreign Affairs, Culture, Art, Society, and Science & Technology.  I'd like to share some of my fashion favorites.


The Hourglass Lady.   A cartoon by Linley Sambourne drawn in 1877, shows a woman with the new form fitting, hourglass silhouette.  The photo on the right is Author Edith Wharton, circa 1877.
 
       

















Veto.   "Shall we - a - sit down?" "I'd like to; but my dressmaker says I musn't!"    Drawn by George DuMauier in the late 1870s.  This lovely ruffled and pleated train was painted by James Tissot of the same era.       
 
       














   

"The Chatelaine: A Really Useful Present" Cartoon from Punch, 1849 By John Leech

Copy reads "Oh, look! Ma' dear;  see what a love of a chatelaine Edward has given me."   A chatelaine is a decorative belt hook or clasp worn at the waist with a series of chains suspended from it. Each chain is mounted with useful household appendages such as scissors, thimbles, watches, keys, vinaigrette, and household seals.

 

 

















The "Extinction" of Species, or "the fashion plate lady without mercy and the egrets."   At the turn of the 20th century, thousands of birds were being killed in order to provide feathers to decorate women's hats. The fashion craze, which began in the 1870s, became so widespread that by 1886 birds were being killed for the millinery trade at a rate of five million a year; many species faced extinction as a result.  The most popular plumes came from various species of egret, known as "little snowies" for their snowy-white feathers; even more prized were the "nuptial plumes", grown during the mating season and displayed by birds during courtship. On March 14, 1903, President Roosevelt established Pelican Island as the first national wildlife refuge in the United States to protect egrets and other birds from extinction by plume hunters.    Source         
                       

                      




A satirical cartoon showing a woman/snail with her shell as a bustle, by artist Linley Sambourne.  I love how the others on the beach stop to stare at this fashionable creature.
 

Right is the painting  "On the Shores of Bognor Regis" by A. M. Rossi, 1887.






During the 19^th century, there was no such thing as a holiday from fashion.  Seaside resorts in England—whether in Brighton, Bournemouth, or Burnham-on-Sea—were as much a place to flaunt one’s style as London itself during the season.








Punch did a series of cartoons about women's desires to wear designs based on Nature.  Here are a few:

 One of the most satirized items of women's apparel was the crinoline, or cage hoop.  The fashion was so popular that Punch nicknamed the crinoline craze 'Crinolinemania'.

Not only were they drawn in farce, they also made stereoscopic cards showing women dressing with large, exaggerated cage hoops. BELOW: In 1860, The London Stereoscopic Company produced the Comic Series ‘scene from a ladies dressing room, preparing for the crinoline’.  Source

Stereoscopic cards for a viewer. (Think of it as a Victorian ViewMaster!)

Submitted by:  Shenandoah Rose