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Victorian fashion

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**Victorian Women’s Fashion**:
– Women’s fashions during the Victorian Era.
– Women’s roles in the private sphere and the shift towards domestic work.
– Clothing reflecting social status with different styles for upper-class and middle-class women.
– Specific styles and trends like tightly laced corsets, layered skirts, and heavy garments.
– Evolution of silhouettes with the use of crinolines and cage crinolines.
– Popular necklines, sleeves, and accessories like engageants and Bertha style.
– Minimal use of cosmetics due to societal associations with promiscuity.

**Evolution of Victorian Fashion**:
– Styles and trends in Victorian fashion from the 1830s to the 1890s.
– Changes in dress styles, fabrics, and accessories over the decades.
– Influence of advancements like sewing machines and synthetic dyes on fashion production.
– Impact of fashion magazines and industrial revolution on the distribution of clothing.
– Influence of architecture, literature, and arts on the decorative and ornate fashion of the era.
– Reflection of societal changes and gender roles in clothing styles.

**Victorian Men’s Fashion**:
– Trends in men’s fashion during the Victorian Era.
– Evolution of men’s clothing styles, including frock coats, waistcoats, and cravats.
– Changes in collar styles, ties, and fabrics over the decades.
– Introduction of three-piece suits and patterned fabrics in the 1870s.
– Traditional mourning attire in black for men and women with specific etiquette rules.

**Fashion Technology and Influence**:
– Technological advancements influencing Victorian fashion.
– Adoption of new technologies like synthetic dyes and sewing machines.
– Impact of mass production on clothing availability and affordability.
– Popularization of haute couture and the role of fashion magazines.
– Influence of societal changes, architecture, and literature on fashion trends.

**Accessories and Cultural Influences**:
– Importance of hats for respectable appearance for both men and women.
– Evolution of women’s shoes in style and design over the Victorian Era.
– Influence of cultural factors like mourning traditions on clothing choices.
– Hairstyles and facial hair trends among men during the Victorian Era.
– Impact of home decor trends, contemporary stereotypes, and notions of modesty on Victorian fashion.

Victorian fashion (Wikipedia)

Victorian fashion consists of the various fashions and trends in British culture that emerged and developed in the United Kingdom and the British Empire throughout the Victorian era, roughly from the 1830s through the 1890s. The period saw many changes in fashion, including changes in styles, fashion technology and the methods of distribution. Various movement in architecture, literature, and the decorative and visual arts as well as a changing perception of gender roles also influenced fashion.

1844 fashion plate depicting fashionable clothing for men and women, including illustrations of a glove and bonnets
Illustration depicting fashions throughout the 19th century

Under Queen Victoria's reign, England enjoyed a period of growth along with technological advancement. Mass production of sewing machines in the 1850s as well as the advent of synthetic dyes introduced major changes in fashion. Clothing could be made more quickly and cheaply. Advancement in printing and proliferation of fashion magazines allowed the masses to participate in the evolving trends of high fashion, opening the market of mass consumption and advertising. By 1905, clothing was increasingly factory made and often sold in large, fixed-price department stores, spurring a new age of consumerism with the rising middle class who benefited from the industrial revolution.

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