April 7, 2011

Victorian Fashion + Dressing, A Quick Guide to the Silhouettes of the Victorian Era

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I was browsing through different vintage blogs here and there and noticed a trend... girls mistaking Edwardian for Victorian fashions. While I do not claim to be a Victorian era expert of any sort, I am familiar with the silhouettes differentiating a Victorian dress from an Edwardian dress.


The Victorian Era spanned from 1837 to 1901 during the reign of Queen Victoria. During her 64 year reign womens' dress styles changed every decade it seems. The above image quickly illustrates the differences in Victorian dress change, most notably the shape of the skirt. Towards the end of the Victorian era we enter into the style sometimes referred to as Gibson Girl fashion. (I'll do a post on that another day). The Edwardian Era followed the Victorian era during the reign of Prince Edward.


The dresses started off quite full with caged crinolines (1840s-1850s) and dresses were bell shaped, and towards the end of the Victorian era the dresses became more narrow with cuirasse bodices and bustles (1870s-1890s).


Victorian fashion plate dating from 1874


Victorian Afternoon dress c.1864 + Claude Monet's 'Women in the Garden' c. 1866


Image Credits: Silhouettes from Enchanted Serenity Period Films. All other images from Historical Fashion and F Yeah Victorians. Victorian afternoon dress via Defunct Fashion, Claude Monet 'Women in the Garden' from Musee d'Orsay via Historical Fashion

Additional Resources for Victorian Fashion:
Abiti Antichi - Brief History of Fashion (Italian site)
Early Victorian Fashion - Fashion-Era.com
Victorian Fashion - Wiki
Categories,,

7 comments:

  1. MeaganApril 07, 2011 12:13 PM

    This was very informative. I've always loved looking at these full dresses. Thanks for sharing!
    -Meagan
    http://spunkychateau.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. laurenApril 07, 2011 12:16 PM

    great post, i love nerding out on this kind of stuff, can't wait to see the Edwardian post!

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  3. LindaApril 08, 2011 10:01 AM

    This is an amazing blog. I (heart) this blog. How do I get on your mailing list? I'm in the middle of researching my latest novel which features Victorian hairstyles. My last novel featured Victorian Fashion.
    Write me.

    ReplyDelete
  4. cc_sweetpeaApril 09, 2011 11:40 PM

    Thanks for this post. Can you show some examples of Edwardian fashion too? I always get confused when i watch those BBC movies.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Raoni PontesAugust 17, 2011 5:59 AM

    Hi
    Your blog is great!!!
    My name is Raoni Pontes, I'm a brazilian historian and alway stay visiting your blog. You have very good posts. I love victorian fashion!!!

    I have a hand fan collection too, you can see this collection at: http://pontescollection.blogspot.com/

    Please visit.

    Thanks very much
    Kind Regards

    ReplyDelete
  6. UnknownSeptember 06, 2011 1:08 AM

    This is great. A fellow soul, I see. Love to find things that are Edwardian or Victorian inspired. People always talk about how they love vintage, but that always means from the 1930s and above. I am pretty much only interested in 1920s and below. So, thank you for this!

    ReplyDelete
  7. UnknownSeptember 06, 2011 1:14 AM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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