Comme il faut

To be "comme il faut" was extraordinarily time-consuming simply because of the number and variety of activities that demanded changes in costume, creating unprecedented opportunities for the fashion artist as well as the dressmaker. In 1866, a French observer enumerated the sartorial requisites: "A society of woman who wants to be well dressed for all occations at all times needs at least seven or eight toilettes per day: a morning dressing gown, a riding outfit, an elegant simple gown for lunch, a day dress if walking, an afternoon dress for visiting by carriage, a smart outfit to drive through the Bois de Boulogne, a gown for dinner, and a galadress for evening or the theater." (Henri Despaigne, Le Code de la Mode, Paris, 1866)
Fashion plates, in addition to depicting the latest styles, were also conversation pieces reflecting an idealized version of the atmosphere in which society moved. Ladies were portrayed in setting evocative of a world where it was always fair, the temperature moderate, with never more than a gentle breeze, where beautifully behaved children never rumpled their clothes or spilled their cocoa. Dressed in their finery, with no more expression on their serene faces than an occasional half-smile, these ladies turn an untroubled gaze onto nothing in particular wherever the artist decides to place them. Not a flicker of emotion shows on their faces whether they find themselves in the country, at the shore, shopping in town, paying calls, or receiving visitors at home in impeccably furnished interiors.
From Full-Color Victorian Fashions, with an Introduction by JoAnne Olian

I love the descriptions for the illustrations:
Dressy toilette for a young person starts with a coiffure adorned with a chaperon and cornflowers. Dress in tarlatan or white mousseline, with lavaliere bows of taffeta ribbon.