Women Fashion in Victorian Era
Victorian Era was a period of Queen Victoria’s reign from 1837 to 1901. The period was characterized by establishing national self-confidence, promoting cultural and moral development, and developing new traditions in culture. Featuring clothing style was one of the concerns of the time. From 1870 through 1890, Victorian England experienced the evolution of bustle skirt styles. Though the major changes were only in the silhouettes of skirts, the shift from Crinoline to the Bustle period altered the corsets worn in each period and increased emphasis on rigid etiquette surrounding mourning costume and the customs, so that attention to clothing grew, resulting in an increase of manufacturing ready-to-wear clothing in the last third of the nineteenth century.
The innovations in clothing result mostly from growing relations between costume and developments in fine and applied arts. In that time, Gothic and Renaissance styles played a significant role in formation of this tendency. Such features of these styles as striving for perfection, creating complicated, elongated, delicate, slim, and beautiful but not comfortable outlooks influenced the way people dressed in that time. For instance, according to Ulinka Rublack, in Gothic times men wore long pointed shoes which can be regarded as a waste of leather. Renaissance was a turning point in fashion development, because “Textiles, furnishings and items of apparel formed a key part of this unprecedented diffusion of objects and increased interaction with overseas worlds” (Rublack).
The famous alteration in the shape of skirts was the first step in establishing peculiar traditions of clothing in England. Starting in 1870s, the evolution went throughout two next decades and was affected by several factors. First, there was a tendency to look slim, and a wide and full skirt helped to emphasize a narrow waistline and back. Second, full skirts were the symbol of wealth (Goldthorpe 45). The first step to make such full skirts was taken with introduction of the horsehair crinoline in 1847 (Goldthorpe 32). The tendency to wear full and wide skirts preserved until 1880s, when a new tendency, referred to as tailoring, came to be used in clothing industry. The newly introduced trend in skirts presented an opportunity for creating more eye-catching images (Breward, 145-180). In the last decade of skirt style evolution, the modernization of women’s garments was highly influenced by the Bustle period. The bustle allowed “featuring exaggerated horizontal protrusion at the back” (Steele, 51-84). The drapery at the back was puffed and protruded. The feature of tailoring reflected in other garments as well.
The evolution in skirt fashion became a reason for a sequence of further innovations. During the transition from Crinoline to the Bustle period, other women’s garments were also reshaped. In particular, women began wearing hats which were constantly changing their shape, being designed to match the outfits (Steele, 51-84). Corsets, along with skirts, were exposed to most numerous and significant changes. Thus, the corsets, worn in Crinoline period were tight. Meanwhile, corsets of Bustle period were loose and naturally outlined the wearer’s waist. …
