Clothes In The Victorian Era

The Victorian Age in England was a time when crime was rampant, people were starving, and life was generally difficult. In these times, there were really only two social classes, the upper class, and the lower class. Everyone in the lower class had troubles, but children had it the hardest. While most everyone had a difficult life, it was worst for children; forcing them towards crime and leading them into the arms of prison.

In Victorian England, the rich were very well off and had a lot of putative luxuries. One nice thing about being rich then, were the beautiful, elegant houses and what went on inside them. “A wealthy family… would have lived in a large house with at least three storeys” (Durham University), many rooms, and servants. It may not seem important to living someone here in America today, but their children got very good educations. As crazy as this may seem, many of the families “would not use their kitchen [because] all their food would have been prepared by servants” (Durham University). Another luxury the rich had were their clothes. Unlike the poor, the wealthy had plenty of clothing, and often the women “needed help getting dressed” (Durham University) because under most of their dress were extremely tight corsets and large hoop skirts called crinolines. The men wore, along with their suits, various assortments and combinations of waistcoats, hats, pocket watches, handkerchiefs, and gloves. The children wore “miniature versions of adult clothes” (Durham University); “boys wore dresses until they were about five” (Durham University), and some kids wore sailor suits, but crinolines were not wore until much older. Both housing

At this time men wore three piece suits. This included of a sack coat, trousers, and a waistcoat. For women the start of the 1910s fashion was supple. Women wore a tunic over a long skirt. Women wore their hair

Clothing in the 1900’s was different than it is today because people always covered up everything, made their clothing out of natural material, and there was really only one style on how to dress. Men and women covered up everywhere from head to toe, and when it came to showing skin, it was almost unacceptable. Another drastic change that puts clothing at a different standpoint then it s today is the material used to make their clothing. They had only one option, and that was just natural materials. Men and boys, women and girls, all dressed alike; all females wearing long dresses with under garments that covered arms and legs, and and males wearing the same kind of suit-type uniform.

As Europe continued to grow and prosper, the middle classes, skilled workers, began to wear more complex garments. At the time, the fashions were set by the elites. In this time period, fashion was respected as a temporal aspect. During the early middle ages, townspeople could be dated by their clothes. Not being necessarily up to date with the current fashions was a new social disquiet. European fashion north of the Alps was dominated by the glittering tender of the Duchy of Burgundy, especially under the fashion connoisseur power-broker Philip the Good. The Dukes of Burgundy had access to the latest fabrics of Italy, the East and to English wool exports through the trading cities of Bruges and Antwerp. In Florence, sumptuary laws prevented the citizens from sporting luxurious clothes. The materials of men’s garment often appear plain in paintings, but most contemporaries who knew the difference in quality of cloth well enough would have shown appreciation.

During the Elizabethan time period, in order to understand a person’s life style including clothes, we must first understand how the society at that time worked. The Elizabethan society was divided into three classes, first upper class including nobles and royalty, second middle class or hard-working class, and finally lower class or peasants. The availability of fabrics, colors, and designs were extremely limited for lower class compared to

In today’s society fashion itself is a way we express ourselves and how we as human being tends to show the world who we are. People can dress up, dress down, wear jeans, dresses, or any type of clothing that allows them to share their individuality. Fashion in the late 1800’s people did not looking at fashion as a way to express themselves but rather a way of covering themselves so that they don’t show their body so people dont judge them. No one wanted to appear to be a member of the french aristocracy of the french revolution , and clothing were being used more as a form of individual expression of what we call true self , than as pure indication of social status. In the 19th century fashion had a turn around that granted people the opportunity to present new public identities that helps the people to provide insights into their private selves.Katherine Aaslestad indicates how "fashion, embodying new social values, emerged as a key site of confrontation between tradition and change

During the Elizabethan time period, in order to understand a person’s life style including clothes, we must first understand how the society at that time worked. The Elizabethan society was divided into three classes, first upper class including nobles and royalty, second middle class or hard-working class, and finally lower class or peasants. The availability of fabrics, colors, and designs were extremely limited for lower class compared to upper class who has unlimited access to a variety of expansive fabrics and colors. These divisions in clothing were stated in the Sumptuary Laws or also known as

If they “[sunk] below the acceptable level of clothing standard, doors would be slammed…opportunities closed off.” This only exemplifies how hard it was to maintain appearances while quickly punishing those who do not. Furthermore, it would become harder and harder to climb back to one’s previous social class because employment opportunities would be limited, preventing one from purchasing new garments. Worse yet, this extended to all social classes – not just the middle class. Cleanliness was paramount and “a beggar who looked like a working person…generally took far more money than one who was dressed in rags and tatters.” In short, I learned that clothing exacerbated social divisions in Britain and stability for women was not guaranteed because their wellbeing was based off what they wore – not their

How the Victorian era had different dresses for each occasions so they would never wear the same thing all the time. The Victorian era dress was determined by special occasions for their special events. The Victorian people wore a lot of black they did this because if they wore light colors they would come home with stains on their dresses.

During the Victorian era many events had taken place. The people were ruled by a monarchy, had many different jobs depending on their skill, and many things had taken place in the Victorian era. There is a reason that the Victorian era it is because during the time the woman that had ruled was named victoria. The era was ruled by a queen.

A women wore a corset under her dress. It was popular to wear a corset under a skirt. These hoops made the skirts very big. After, skirts had a bustle in the back. An dress that had a lot of layers meant that a Victorian women got helped dressed. During the day women wore simpler dresses if they went out with friends. At dinner, a lady would change into a

The clothing of the special occasion clothes in the 1820s and 1830s were completing different from now because back then it was more layers than what we would wear because they would have so much in the summer it would probably be really hot because have no air conditioning and all the layers.The man would wear suits for special occasions and most men do or something like that.Every day clothes for the wealth were they picked more comfortable clothes and shorten their clothes woman or man.Work clothings of then were more phyical laborer they were long fitted and less fabric and than full gowns. Long fitted gown was too impractical for the work to be done ,with shorter gowns it is easier for thing to be done.It was a major deal to dress your

Perhaps the most important article of clothing for a Victorian woman was a dress. Without a dress, most of the other items would have no purpose! The Victorian era was the first recorded time pockets were sewn inside dresses for storage (Rowland-Warne 30). It was also when mass clothing production began a reality using the innovative sewing machine (Rowland-Warne 40). Towards the beginning to middle of the Victorian era, the dresses were bell-shaped and thick, especially after the invention of the crinoline (Rowland-Warne 42).

along with one another; this is called the Victorian Era. The Victorian Era is known for being a