Victorian Imitation Fabric Buttons presented by Melanie Macdonald

Susie Smith posted on June 15, 2010 10:21

Victorian Fashion During the Years of National Mourning

Imitation fabric buttons came into their own with the production of black glass buttons following the death of Queen Victoria’s beloved Prince Albert (1861).

Following Albert’s death, England went into national mourning and even three years later, in 1864, the fashion journals indicate that black, dark grey or perhaps dark merino blue were still fashion staples. The fashion of the day dictated a modesty that was almost ‘cloistered’– layers of fabric from head to toe; heavy padding, quilting and trim, with fabric choices of natural fibers (twill, velvet, cambric, satin or silk).

In this environment of mourning, how could button designers make their buttons interesting and, more importantly, profitable? How could fashionable young ladies show a little, albeit modest individuality? It seems that the best ‘fashion statements’ of the era were made through the addition of trimmings of heavy cord, gimp, tassels (black or gold), ruching and ribbon, embroidery, black lace, crochet etc. It was often from these trims that black glass button designers took their cue by manufacturing molded ‘imitation fabric and trim’ buttons. The earlier buttons can be identified by their heavy motifs, less refined workmanship (rough edges, pocked/creased backs) and early shank designs (self-shanks with very deep thread grooves or wire shanks, often without loop plates).

Although most trim remained in black, silver or brass-color, by the end of 1865 white or red ‘inserts’ covered with black lace might be seen set into a skirt, cuff, pocket or collar. Plaid underskirts of basic design and color (black, red, white, dark blue) peeked out under the hemlines of more avant-garde ensembles. In keeping with this, one might also find brass, enamel or ‘clam broth’ buttons (translucent white) with black outlined trim designs from this era of mourning and, later, ‘half mourning’.

Some early Victorian terms:

Gimp

Whereas, ‘cord’ is essentially braided or plaited together, gimp is a specialized type of cording that is composed of heavy thread which, in turn, is bound with other silk or cotton thread and sometimes stiffened with wire (BBB, p 123)

Ruching

Gathered or fluted edging or frill – most often of gathered black silk, following Prince Albert’s death.

Twill

Common Victorian textile where the weft threads pass over one warp thread (as normal) but under two or more threads, thus producing a pronounced diagonal and heavier appearing fabric. Often seen in imitation fabric backgrounds.

Cambric

Very fine white linen or cotton fabric.

Later Victorian Fashion (1880’s and 90’s)

Although Queen Victoria, herself, remained in mourning all her life, by the 1880’s British fashion was ‘stepping out’, and, by 1888-89 it had come into its own. In fact, it appears that those of high society who dictated Victorian fashion style and etiquette were not above a few sniping remarks about French fashion, with The Girl’s Own Paper (November, 1888) carping: “In the vagaries and changes of fashion we can find much cause for satisfaction, as we… got rid of some French ideas and returned to our own quieter English tastes” (for instance, feathers alone came into vogue, “having dismissed the ridiculous and cruel hats of the year previous…[which bore the whole or part] carcasses of poor deformed and distorted birds”!)

Despite the efforts of people like William Morris (see OVBC’s September, 2009 newsletter), British women of the era remained modestly covered, bustled, tightly bound and ‘nipped in’ with stays. High fashion dictated a daily round of clothing changes for mornings at home, for walking, for tea, for dinner and for evening wear. The following poem from the The Girl’s Own Paper of 1889, about newly introduced princess-style tea gown, is nicely descriptive of the fashion of the era:

Now floats the tea gown into use,

Elaborate, costly, neat, but loose,

A rustling plush of twilight grey

Lined with shot silk of opel ray.

From neck to feet the front should float

With beaded agrafes at the throat.

Embroidered gold or satin white

The front, drawn in with smocking tight.

Lace trimmed with Wattau pleats before.

While dainty frillings, trebly deep,

Adown each side with ribbons creep.

And flowers in bouquets here and there

Teach Art and Nature to compare.

Each of the fashion elements (ribbons, flowers, feathers, pleats, frills etc) gave wide berth for the creation and marketing of fabric, trim and buttons. As mentioned in the poem, primary colors for the 1889 ‘season’ included variations of grey, some of which were nearly blue or purple, and called by names such as ‘vapeur’, ‘twilight’, ‘princess grey’ or ‘nunnery grey.’ Variations of dark red or crimson with the new name of ‘carnation red’ were also introduced. The prevalence of that season’s grey and purple color tones sparked the popularity of carved abalone shell buttons, sometimes found in beautiful metal frames, Curvilinear designs, stripes, cross-hatching (gingham), and, feathers can provide clues that date an abalone button to the 1888/89 season.

Amongst this fashion awakening, imitation fabric buttons remained very much in vogue. Stripes of two contrasting colors were the ‘ruling idea everywhere’ (Girls Own Paper, Oct, 1888) and soon found their way into metal and glass button designs. Buttons became complimentary fashion gems that could be remarkably true to the trim and fabric designs that they were meant to imitate. The refinement of imitation fabric buttons was given impetus by the development of more skilled and varied mass manufacturing techniques for buttons, with designs enhanced by the invention of vibrant fabric and glass dyes during the late 1870s and 1880s (eg purple from alum along with orange, teal and turquoise etc). Button designers were ‘pushed’ to keep up with fabric designers’ new-found abilities to design, dye and mass produce more complex fabrics, such as gingham, brocade and moiré,

The designs for these buttons in the later Victorian years tend to be much ‘lighter’ in nature than those produced twenty-five years earlier. Flowers and curvilinear patterns were prevalent, unlike the heavier mourning themes or geometric patterns of earlier times. Further, the backs of glass buttons from the 1880s-90s have a more finished or ‘polished’ look and shanks have come a long way, commonly including four-way box shanks, two-way box shanks and loops with plates.

These buttons are little gems that often get passed by………make use of your magnifying loop and you can find some hidden treasures! With a loop one can often pick out the individual threads within an imitation design of embroidery, gimp or moiré and it can truly become hard to believe that some of these molded buttons are actually made of glass!

Note: “Imitation fabric” is not a button classification category in its own right, but in the upcoming pattern classification (Division 22), an imitation fabric button can make a striking contribution to a tray of patterns, demonstrating a pattern form such as ‘all-over patterns’ (22 -1.1); curvilinear patterns (22 –1.2 ) or geometric designs (22 -1.3). (See www.buttoncountry.com.)