Clothing in the Victorian Era: Getting the Right Balance of Fabric, Figure, and Flashiness
Striking silhouettes, sumptuous fabrics, bright colours, frills galore, and all manner of ornate accessories define the clothing of the Victorian period, that is, during the reign of Queen Victoria, which spanned seven decades of the 19th century. This was a time of dynamic change as the Industrial Revolution resulted in an expansion of the middle classes. Victorians were persuaded to part with their growing disposable income by mass advertising that ranged from gorgeous colour supplements in popular magazines to striking posters in railway stations. People of all classes were decidedly keen to wear the right clothes for the right occasion, but deliberately not doing so did become a way to express individuality and non-conformity to the rather rigid social rules and gender expectations that pervaded the 19th century.
The Importance of Fashion
New fashions quickly spread thanks to new forms of transport and communication, and keeping up with them became, for the first time, a common ideal. Although Victorian society included great contrasts between the haves and have-nots, another development of the period was the aspirational desire to dress slightly above one's station so that a clerk tried to be as well-dressed as his manger, a tradesman could copy the fashion of a man of independent means, and a shop assistant might endeavour, perhaps at the weekend, to dress like one of her lady customers. Even for those who did not follow the fashion trends, clothing certainly became an important aspect of daily life and expectations of a decent public appearance, for all classes, became something few could afford to ignore.
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⇒ Clothing in the Victorian Era: Getting the Right Balance of Fabric, Figure, and Flashiness
