Victorian Studio Portraits

Here are two ladies wearing identical ballgowns and photographed in the same studio. The names on the backs of the pictures are different, so this isn't just one woman with two different expressions. The gowns are gorgeous. Note the wonderful lace collars and the patterned silk of the skirts. I heard from a photo archivist in New York City after I first posted these, and he affirmed that many photo studios in the 1800s kept beautiful gowns for their customers to wear for portraits!