Victorian Fashion

Fashions and Trends in British Culture During the Victorian Era

• Victorian fashion emerged and developed in the United Kingdom and the British Empire throughout the Victorian era, roughly from the 1830s through the 1890s.

• Changes in styles, fashion technology, and the methods of distribution were observed during the Victorian era.

• Upper-class women often wore a tightly laced corset over a bodice or chemisette, paired with a skirt adorned with numerous embroideries and trims; over layers of petticoats.

• Middle-class women exhibited similar dress styles; however, the decorations were not as extravagant.

• The layering of these garments made them very heavy, and corsets were stiff and restricted movement.

• During the early and middle 1860s, crinolines began decreasing in size at the top, while retaining their amplitude at the bottom.

• By 1890, the crinoline and bustle was fully abandoned, and skirts flared away naturally from the wearer's tiny waist.

• Hats were crucial to a respectable appearance for both men and women.

• Women's shoes of the early Victorian period were narrow and heelless, in black or white satin.

• During the 1840s, men wore tight-fitting, calf-length frock coats and a waistcoat or vest.

• In the 1850s, men started wearing shirts with high upstanding or turnover collars and four-in-hand neckties tied in a bow, or tied in a knot with the pointed ends sticking out like "wings".

• In the 1860s, men started wearing wider neckties that were tied in a bow or looped into a loose knot and fastened with a stickpin.Victorian Fashion, Mourning Customs, Technological Advancements, Home Decor and Contemporary Stereotypes

• Frock coats and top hats were popular business attire while sack coats were slowly becoming popular for less formal occasions.

• Three-piece suits and patterned fabrics for shirts grew in popularity during the 1870s.

• Formal evening dress remained a dark tail coat and trousers with a dark waistcoat, a white bow tie, and a shirt with a winged collar during the 1880s.

• The mourning period and attire for men and women were rigid during the Victorian era. Black was the traditional color associated with mourning for the dead.

• Technological advancements brought a major change in the fashion styles worn by men and women, and advancements were in favor of the upper class.

• Charles Frederick Worth, a prominent English designer, became popular among the upper class, and Haute couture became popular at the same time when sewing machines were invented.

• By the 1860s, tailored looks improved posture and were more practical for women, leading to women's liberation.

• Home furnishing was not necessarily ornate or overstuffed, but those who could afford lavish draperies and expensive ornaments would often do so.

• There is no actual evidence that piano legs were considered scandalous, and discretion covered a multitude of sins in Victorian manners.

• Women's evening gowns bared the shoulders and the tops of the breasts, while corsets exaggerated hips and bust by contrast with a tiny waist.

• The Victorian era was based on the principles of gender, race, and class, and advancements were in favor of the upper class.

• Synthetic dyes were introduced that added new bright colors to garments, and by the 1850s, more fashion technological advancements were made.