In the complex system of nineteenth-century politeness, social visits were usually paid in the afternoon. Once outside the house, hats and gloves were required and were not usually removed until one's return. Whether you stayed in to receive your guests or ventured out, a plethora of gowns were available for you to pick from. As the century passed some styles were abandoned while others were created. It is often hard to differentiate the early carriage and promenade dress types from the walking suits of the last quarter of the century. One must often look at the other types of dress from the same period to find that the walking suit did not have a train like other day dresses. The slightly shorter skirt provided easier movement, a detail that was not relevant earlier in the century when all but the evening gowns were hemmed several inches above the floor.

A wide selection of coats and capes were also available for outside day time wear. To adapt to changing temperatures in and out the home, shawls were very useful. Throughout the century, these textiles were highly appreciated and often worn regardless of the weather as they could serve as an excellent outward sign of one's wealth. Early in the century, one could pay for a shawl imported from Kashmir the equivalent of what we spend on luxury cars today. As the bourgeois aesthetic became established at the beginning of the nineteenth century, men's clothes ceased to display the same degree of splendor that had been theirs and women's fashions became the venue for conspicuous display.

During the last quarter of the century, a new type of interior gown appeared that was to be worn by the hostess of five o'clock tea.  Tea gowns exhibited early and consistently abundant signs of historicism. These one-piece gowns were often characterized by the presence of "Watteau pleats", the draped back pleats set at the shoulders found on the eighteenth-century robe à la française. As the century progressed, these elaborate and often exotic tea gowns began to meld with other dinner and evening styles. By the turn of the century, tea gowns could be worn as reception gowns, which were characterized by their long sleeves and deeper necklines appropriate for less formal late afternoon, early evening events.