By the 1860s, skirts had reached their fullest point. They were worn over wire ‘cage crinolines’, which gave maximum volume with minimum weight. This dress illustrates the style of the early 1860s. It has only a slightly pointed waist and a sleeve wide at the elbow, but narrow at the wrist. The puffed epaulettes at the top of the sleeves indicate historical influences, particularly the 16th century. They would have been seen in early English portraits.