(Here's one of those costumes fondly considered "historical" — an Elizabethan maid wearing an 18th-century mobcap, 19th-century corsetry, a hint of a bustle, and a very upper-class ruff.)
SERVING MAID (Elizabethan Period). Short fawn-colored stuff gown, made with pointed bodice; tight sleeves with stuffed epaulettes; ruff at throat; muslin cap; bag hanging at side.
The illustration (click to enlarge) is taken from the 1887 edition of Holt's Fancy Dresses Described and displays a hint of the bustle shape of the era in the pleated fullness at the back of the skirt. The identical description appears in the 1896 edition.
Sources:
Holt, Ardern. Fancy Dresses Described, 5th Edition. London: Debenham & Freebody, 1887.
Holt, Ardern. Fancy Dresses Described, Sixth Edition. London: Debenham & Freebody, 1896.
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