• The corset was a popular fashion item in the mid-19th century.femme d'??poque image by YvesBonnet from Fotolia.com
  
  The 1850s were the end of what is now referred to as antebellum, the era before civil war broke out and much of America underwent major changes. One of the more distinctive trends of the 1850s, which was still pre-Victorian, was in women's clothing, including a new style of corsets and the rise in popularity of the hoop skirt.
  
  

Common Daydresses

• Every time period has its own take on the day dresses that women wear on an average day. In the 1850s, most of these dresses had a short underarm seam while remaining billowy in the upper torso and flowing in the skirt region, which typically went at least to the ankles. Lace was often used around the collars, and popular day dress patterns were plaids and calicoes. Toward the latter part of the decade, "Bishop sleeves," with long, loose sleeves tucked in around the wrist, were common.
  
  

Corsets

• Although corsets were popular as far back as the mid-18th century, during the 1850s, new styles of these undergarments began to emerge. These new corsets were shorter than those of the past, wrapping only from the top of the waist to the lower half of the bosom, where they could be much more tightly laced. This new version became part of the outfit that helped fashion styles like the basque waist and hoop skirts become fashionable.
  
  

Hoop Skirts

• While tighter corsets were designed to physically shrink the waist, hoop skirts were meant to add to that illusion by expanding the diameter of the dress as it billowed around the legs. Although originally designed in Europe, hoop skirts first came into fashion in America the mid-1850s. These dresses got their name from the thin, metal skeletal wiring that held the fabric in place as it grew in diameter from the waist down. Hoop skirts where usually complemented by large, puffed-up shoulders that also added to the illusion of a slim waistline.
  
  

Basque Waist

• Like the hoop skirt, the basque waist, another popular fashion trend for women in the 1850s, complemented the corset by achieving the illusion of a smaller mid-section. The basque waist was most often used with thin jackets that were worn over the dress, ended just above the hips and buttoned tightly, contouring the shape already defined by the corset. These basque waist jackets would flare out a few inches at the bottom, as well as at the sleeves. The jacket designs usually matched the dress or skirt worn underneath.