It is the winter of 1870 and New York's fashionistas parade through Central Park, ostentatiously ignoring each other as they showcase the highlights of the season. This sheet, issued by E. Butterick and Company, offers a touch of do-it-yourself glamour, for it does not advertise the clothes themselves. Instead, it gives a glimpse of the clothing that the small-town tailor or home seamstress could make from patterns published by the Butterick Company. This example is unusally large and finished, and was clearly intended to be shown in a general store or sewing shop, rather than in a domestic environment. Advertisements like this, and the catalogues they promoted were one of the key carriers of up-to-date style in the nineteenth century.

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