Fashion In The 1800s

“In any era, fashion is a reflection of the time and what is going on in the culture politically, socially and economically.”1 The 1920’s witnessed a variety of dramatic changes for women; these changes, such as shorter dresses and stronger attitudes occurred primarily after World War I in spite of the prolonged development of women 's’ rights through 1914 and 1920. With their new hair, fashion styles, and attitudes, women had started what became known as the “Flapper Era”.

The 18th century, more precisely between 1715 and 1789, was a significant time period in the fashion sphere for women in France. The time period itself was a mark of great change for the history of France due to various political reasons as well as various art movements and often times fashion, despite being a branch of art, is overlooked by most viewers. However, fashion during this time excelled in France and was essentially the symbol of a new era in this domain; French fashion was now snowballing into something much greater that still echoes to this today. Ultimately, the goal of this essay is to describe women’s fashion during the period of 1715-1789 and the shifts it made through the analytical use of various sources including artwork, literature, museums’ online archives and internet sources.

This beautiful velvet dress and jacket would have been worn for an evening on the town, as would this satin hat. The purple velvet dress below also is representative of the period. These photos are courtesy of the museum

Before the 1920’s, women’s attire was considered fairly modern. Women would have worn clothing with more of a silhouette than clothing that was loose and flowy. The length of their dresses never revealed more of their leg than just their ankle. Women received bad reputations when showing their knees or even their calfs. Women in the 1920’s also had a different ideal figure than most women do today. The body types women wanted to achieve also transformed into a more feminine look. This look consisted of low bust lines, higher hems lines, and showing off more curves than ever before. These women became unapologetically fearless.

The 1920’s fashion was a period of liberation, change, and even more importantly a movement towards the modern era. Fashion in the 1920’s varied throughout the decade but one could see the noticeable change from the previous fashion statements and eras. At the start of the decade, women began emancipating themselves from the constricting fashions by wearing more comfortable apparel. As women gained more rights and World War I forced them to become more independent, flappers came to be, mass-produced garments became available, and artistic movements increased in popularity, one can see how the fashions from the roaring twenties characterized the time and redefined womanhood. (1920s clothing 1)

The Jazz culture inspired multiple dances, such as the Black Bottom and the ever-popular Charleston. These dances required lots of movement leading to a shift in women’s fashion. Women wore less undergarments, went without coresets, and designed dresses that allowed for more freedom of movement. In 1921, Coco Chanel introduced the “drop-waist” dress, which were worn with long strings of glass beads or pearls. By 1925 these dresses resembled the shifts that were worn under the dresses of the early 1900. Evening dress were made up of mesh material, sleeveless, low v-neckline or backless, and sometimes adorned with sequence. These new fashions were advertised in fashion magazines that made their appearance in the 20s, Vouge, The Queen, and the

Fashion in the early nineteen twenties was all about comfort. Men’s pants got wider and women stopped wearing their corsets and tight dresses, while older women of the age considered this scandalous and still held the thought that women should not show their ankle. Though the majority of adults disagreed with the fashion revolution, young women continually hiked up their skirts, stayed out late, and kept up with fashion trends. Times were changing, and thus the flapper age was born. Hemlines rose to the knee, and then later above it- exposing the muscular dancer’s legs-toned

In this essay I want to examine how the corset evolved from a staple of the British feminine wardrobe of the Nineteenth Century into a symbol of an outmoded tradition – only to later return as a statement of female liberation. I am going to look at different aspects of this development including technological advances, economic facts, external events, particularly the First World War and changes in social, political and aesthetic attitudes. I will also look briefly at the role of Chanel on the silhouette and how this impacted on the corset: focusing on the trend to towards ‘opulent androgyny’ in the 1920’s. Finally I will examine the resurgence of the corset

Let’s take a look at the women’s of the 1920’s, the changes that took place in fashion and the roles of women in society. Women’s fashion will be compared from early days up until the 1930’s, with a brief comparison of the roles of women before and after the 1920’s. A discussion of the different avenues that opened up for women after 1920 and the impact that it has had on modern day women will also be covered within this paper. you need a stronger introduction

Throughout the 1920s through the 1950s Women’s clothing in America was affected by World War II, which lead to the exploration of different styles, the encounter of new trends and the exchange of ideas and new styles.

In the Victorian era, corsets became longer and became not only about supporting and lifting the breast, but creating a tiny hourglass waist. ‘Women were so tightly corseted that they could not bend over’ but to add to the strain ‘the corset was hung with an extraordinary amount of gear, a combined system of garters and suspenders.’

The Victorian Era depicted a traditional woman. Women were expected to be beautiful but conservative. A notable fashion piece to mention is the notorious corset. Krystal D’Souza states that corsets were meant to, “… accentuate a woman's breasts and hips, while cinching the body at the waist, and dramatically curving the back” (D'Souza). The corset was created to slim the waist and make the hips and bottom larger. This was meant to create the ideal, “Hour glass shape,” women were expected to have. In the Victorian Era, dresses were worn all the time and the skirt length had to be passed the ankles. Pagoda sleeves were essential to dresses to cover shoulders and high necklines were made to cover the women’s neck and décolletage. If the skirts were not touching the floor, skirts were closely worn over the hip and flared out just above the knee. (Joshi). The Victorian Age signifies a time period where women had to follow stringent dress codes. The thought of showing any feminine flesh was un-lady like and unrespectable. (Alchin “Women

In the 1920s, fashion trends were the shorter low-waisted dresses and revealing styles worn by flappers. With their short-bobbed hairstyles and cloche hats, down to scarves and stocking with bold. The 1920s fashion strikes the design era for fashion by having change in the women’s fashion. The fashion changed and characterized the women in the 1920s, as they called it the roaring twenties the women started gaining their free rights and independence. Fashion for women had a positive impact in the 1920s and on the world today throughout the advancement in women’s rights.

Imagine it was 1860 and the latest outfit just came out! Now I know it probably would not matter to you now if just one outfit came out cause millions of new clothes came out everyday but back then even if they came out with a new fabric pattern it was huge. Yes it was the Victorian era. Women's fashion in the 1800s saw the biggest change(Lucid Crew). From the hats to the shoes, from their sports wear to house wear. Or even if you have ever wonder where we got this idea, although some people may not have but we stole it from others, yes we may have improved on it but those people had it all figured out before we did. It took that history and made it help form the clothes today. Everyone owes thanks to those people. Then, black was the new black, Luxe labels came, there was name calling and fashion was flourishing. These modern day obsessions with black and big name labels are nothing new. People should not think that they started these trends but think way back then (Lucid Crew). Women’s fashion in the 1800’s saw the biggest change because of it’s great development in it’s dressage timeline. The reason why this fashion timeline developed so much was because of all the new ideas of machines, fabrics, colors, and the people that created all of this that changed history. Every year there was something

I choose this question because I think that fashion plates accurately contribute to our understanding of fashion at that time they were produced. In the subsequent essay I intend on discussing fashion plates created in the early nineteenth century. As I believe they were an important part of an aristocratic ladies inspiration and they inform us about of the type of silhouettes, fabrics and even accessories in demand during that period. As Holland states it would be near impossible to study the evolution of costume without the existence of plates. (1988, p.21) The fashion plates I have chosen are originally derived from La Belle Assemblée and Ackermanns Repository, two very influential magazines of their time. I will discuss each plate in detail and evaluate their relevance in furthering our knowledge of fashion during the nineteenth century. I also