Fashion In The Victorian Era

The era of dandies are what some people call the Victorian Era when thinking about the fashion in Victorian, England at the time. Corsets and crinolines were big in fashion for women during the time. Women wanted to have an hourglass figure where the torso had to be as small as your age. “Victorian clothes were very much a symbol of who you were, what you did for a living, and how much money was in your bank account” (Rose, Tudor. “Victorian Clothes.”). Fashion is forever changing from how it was made, and the style of men’s fashion as well as women’s fashion in the Victorian Era.

The industrial revolution took the world by storm and during the nineteenth century in Victorian, England it was a major component of how fashion and style was made in this era. During this time, the clothing industry changed quite a bit. “These changes were influenced by shifts in taste, of course, but more significantly by the introduction of machines to the construction of clothing” (Pendergast 585). “Victorian dress was traditionally very elegant and lavishly trimmed with all manner of lace frills, braid, fringes, and full gathers” (Rose, Tudor. “Victorian Dresses). Some of the machine that were

created were “sewing machines, power looms, or weaving machines, steam power, electricity, new dye formulas, and other inventions increased the speed and ease by which clothing was manufactured” (Pendergast 585). “The inventions were used to add embellishments to women’s clothing; machine-made trimmings were applied in bulk to the enormous flowing gowns worn by women in midcentury” (Pendergast 585). “By the end of the century, the introduction of ditto suits for men increased men’s interest in ready-to-wear clothing, which would ruin many tailors’ careers by the mid-twentieth century since the clothes could be purchased off the rack and rarely needed alterations” (Pendergast 585). From start to finish this era is filled with new inventions and fashion which benefited greatly throughout and helped develop men’s fashion to where it is today.
In this era, men dressed accordingly to what time of day and what activities they were taking part in. “The early part of the 1800s had been a time of careful dress for men, sometimes called the era of dandies” (Pendergast 601). Men were to dress formally and fittingly to the standards that were expected. “Dandies were men who paid careful attention to their clothes and followed the latest trends” (Pendergast 601). What they wore is a big part of how wealthy they were.
Men wore certain clothes for day wear and at night would change into a different set of clothes. “For day wear they wore a frock coat with straight trousers, a short waistcoat and a shirt with a high stiff collar” (“Introduction). “The wealthy man had silk stockings covering his legs, while the poor wore wool socks” (Rose, Tudor. “Victorian Clothes.”). “Men were also able to show their shins” (Rose, Tudor. “Victorian Clothes.”). Males were permitted to show more skin than females, but were only allowed to show their shins. Also, “the single- or double-breasted frock coat fitted quite closely to the torso and had a waist seam” (“Introduction). This coat would be the start of how suits were evolved into what they are today. “The color black, introduced during this century as proper for male dress attire, has endured to the present day in the form of tuxedos and formal suits” (Pendergast 586). Another, piece of clothing that helped the creation of modern day suits were called the ditto suits. “Introduced in 1860, the ditto suit offered a loose-fitting ready-to-wear outfit made from the same color and type of fabric” (Pendergast 601). This choice of clothing became more popular towards the end of the century. “Middle-class and working-class men quickly adopted the ditto suit as an easy, less-expensive alternative to the expensive tailor-made dress clothes modeled by the dandies” (Pendergast 601). While clothing was a big part of fashion the accessories also were prominent to show your status in society.
Accessories were also a big part of men's fashion. “Victorian dress was not complete without a walking stick, or cane” (Rose, Tudor. “Victorian Clothes.”). “Some canes contained compartments which were useful for holding vials of perfume” (Rose, Tudor. “Victorian Clothes.”). Another part of men’s fashion was the style of hair. “Hair was carefully styled into a windswept look or worn short and curled” (“Introduction). Both men and women in the Victorian Era dressed gracefully and ideally to the model of the wealthy.
Throughout the Victorian Era women were to have a slim waist and that influenced the style of clothing and fashion for the majority of this era. At the beginning of the era, “the natural silhouette was transformed into a dramatic hourglass shape accentuated by a tightly corseted waist, a full bell-shaped skirt, puffy gigot sleeves, and floppy hats” (Pendergast 604). To achieve the full looking skirt the dresses had to be supported by something. “Full skirts were supported on a rigid frame called a crinoline and later bustles at the rear were the height of Victorian fashion for well-to-do ladies” (Rose, Tudor. “Victorian Dresses). Along with the crinoline women wore layers upon layers of petticoats. “Several layers of petticoats with frilled hems, sometimes of horsehair, were worn to support the full skirts” (“Introduction). The crinoline was made to help reduce the layers of petticoats. “Elegant ladies of the mid-nineteenth century wore very wide skirts, and stiff horsehair crinolines held the skirts out from the body” (Pendergast 598). Later on the materials out of which the crinoline was made of changed. “Around 1850, women were much relieved when a new kind of crinoline was invented” (Pendergast 598). “The hoop crinoline, as it was called, was made of a series of steel rings, which got gradually bigger in size, connected by cotton tape into a sort of cage that fit under a skirt to hold it out” (Pendergast 599). While the skirts were very wide and had a lot of volume the waist was a different story.
Another part of women’s fashion was known as the corset. So much so, that “the importance of a slim waist throughout the nineteenth century influenced some mothers to confine their young daughters in binding corsets as well” (Pendergast 586). An example of how strict they were about their corsets was that it had to do with your age. “For younger ladies, having a waist in inches the same as your age was the goal” (Rose, Tudor. “Victorian Clothes.”). “If you were seventeen years old, that meant you strived for a seventeen inch waist” (Rose, Tudor. “Victorian Clothes.”). The corset was a steady part of Victorian fashion throughout the Victorian period and did not change much.
The Victorian period had a lot of different fashions for both men and women.

Throughout this era, fashion evolved and was made simpler in design and creation. Clothing was extravagant and had many characteristics to each piece to show who you were. The wealthier people had the more indulgent fabrics, while the destitute had more common fabrics and had to make their own clothes. Victorians indulged themselves in their fashion sense. It is prominent to realize that during this period the industrial revolution was taking place and helped in the process of their clothes advancing. Fashion in this era had a lot of influence from many sources to create a unique twist on what they wore in Victorian, England. From their preferences to the rules of society it changed quite a bit throughout this

era.