Vestuário cotidiano no Brasil do século XIX: um estudo por meio de registros fotográficos 

Abstract

The nineteenth century stands out for being a moment of intense scientific breakthrough all over the world and it was a time of changes in the Brazilian society as well. Photography appears around the middle of the century formerly used for landscapes' documentation, but there also can be found photographic records of people in everyday events, which allows the research on garments from the second half of the nineteenth century, farther from the planned portraits of the photo studio. This study conducts a historical qualitative investigation aiming to evoke the visual memory of Brazilian garments, besides expanding the field of studies on nineteenth century clothing in Brazil from these photographs, yet unexplored as a documentary source of everyday costumes. Based on previous research, it was possible to identify libraries' and museums' collections in order to find photographs as sources of data. Eight photographs were chosen for analysis of the registered garments regarding their aesthetic aspects, patterns, shapes and silhouette, ornaments and accessories. Once the analysis were completed, the main garment elements identified were compiled on a list, thus it was possible to be aware of the variety of clothing in those images. Also, questions were raised from the analysis and discussed, such as the coexistence of styles and transitions between decades. In conclusion, there's the relevance of the nineteenth century photographs to explore the everyday costume diversity at that time, its connection with social standing and regional characteristics, and the importance of the style's transition movement, essential to consolidate garment transformations.