Fashion and Eroticism: Ideals of Feminine Beauty from the Victorian Era Through the Jazz Age

by Valerie Steele

The traditional image of the Victorian woman presents her as strait-laced and prudish, her clothing an outward sign of her sexual repression and exploitation. This situation supposedly persisted until the Women's Rights Movement and World War I forced the world to acknowledge that women were
liberated individuals with legs. Yet Valerie steele demonstrates that eroticism formed the basis for the Victorian ideal of feminine beauty and fashion--indeed, that the concepts of beauty and fashion are essentially erotic. She shows that, far from being passive "sex objects," Victorian women,
like their modern counterparts, themselves chose to emulate an erotic ideal as an aspect of their own self-fulfillment. Even the notorious corset was neither fetishistic nor an unhealthy instrument of torture, she argues, although its comlex and ambivalent sexual symbolism aroused controversy.
Fashion and Eroticism shows how the New Look of "sexy" modern naturally from within the pre-war world of fashion and not as part of an intifashion movement.
Steele's conclusions are based on prodigious documentary evidence, including visual and material research, in costume collections in the United States, Great Britain, Europe, and even Japan. Fashiona and Eroticism is not only a radical revision of the Conventional understanding of Victorian
fashion; it is a major contribution to the histyory of women and sexuality.
About the Author :
Valerie steele received her Ph.D. from Yale University in 1983, and was the 1984 First Ladies' Fellow at the Division of Costume, National Museum of American History, the Smithsonian Institution.

Genres: Fashion, History, Nonfiction, Art, Fashion History, Sexuality, Design

327 pages, Hardcover

First published May 9, 1985

About the author

Valerie Steele is director and chief curator and Melissa Marra is associate curator of education and public programs, both at the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, New York.

Reviews

[leti · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5/5

Mmm sentimientos encontrados. Por una parte tiene imágenes y tablas muy útiles pero se repite en los argumentos... Las citas no son claras, no ayudan al lector a buscarlas y tira mucho de fuentes primarias no fiables en algunas ocasiones, que aunque son un testimonio de la época, debería hacer contraste con otras fuentes. Le falta usar la historia del arte y la publicidad en prensa, no sé qué formación tiene pero cojea mucho en ese sentido porque podría haber ilustrado muchísimos más absolutamente todos los aspectos. Se centra DEMASIADO en la ropa y trata muy poco otros aspectos de la belleza en la época victoriana...

[Dfordoom · Rating 5 out of 5]

The main focus of Valerie Steele’s Fashion and Eroticism: Ideals of Feminine Beauty from the Victorian Era to the Jazz Age, published by Oxford University Press in 1985 and now sadly out of print, is women’s fashions from the end of the Regency period to the beginning to the First World War. Steele argues that there was much greater erotic component (an erotic intent) to the way women dressed in this period than is generally supposed. She is also somewhat sceptical of arguments that women’s clothing in this era was repressive, either in intent or in effect.

Steele believes that women in the 19th century dressed as they did because it made them feel attractive, and sexually attractive, and that while attracting masculine attention was certainly a consideration it was not the only one by any means. Women dressed as much to please themselves as to please men. She also points out that the clothes were intended as much to attract attention to a woman’s body as to conceal it.

It’s interesting to compare Steele’s views on the corset with those of David Kunzle, in his fascinating and provocative book Fashion and Fetishism. She feels he goes a little too far in his belief in the erotic appeal to women of corsets, although she doesn’t entirely disagree with his arguments. Steele also believes that the Victorians were in general much less repressed sexually than is usually thought. That’s not likely to come as a revelation to anyone here, but in 1985 it was still a fairly radical viewpoint. She also argues strongly that feminist opposition to fashion and beauty (both in Victorian and modern times) is ill-conceived and very much mistaken.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the book is her assertion that women’s fashion did not change radically as a result of the First World War. The radical changes were already well under way as early as 1909.

Steele’s well-illustrated book is entertaining, enlightening, intriguing and thoroughly enjoyable.

[Mary Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

A marvelous overview of the shifting fashions (and reasons behind them) from the early nineteenth century to the early twentieth. There are excellent examples given throughout in terms of quotes from fashion and moral journalists of the time and pictures of popular garments. The entire thing has a very up-to-date and feminist lens on it which shrugs off the usual patriarchal and Freudian interpretations of female fashion and the shifting erogenous zones. Instead, the book is much more in favor of one which stresses the changing technologies, political events, moralities, and other issues which have an impact on women's fashion. Overall, I adored this book. Definitely worth a look.

[York · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed Steele's addition of complexity to the debate around if Victorian fashion was prudishness or repressed fetishism. The sections on tight-lacing primary sources being of questionable accuracy was especially entertaining.

[Marit · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I found the main ideas of this book to be thought-provoking, I can't rate it that highly for several reasons. The first and biggest is that Steele's arguments become so repetitive that I often felt like I was re-reading the same passage I had before. She is often making fine distinctions of different schools of thought and theories about the reason behind fashion and especially the reasons behind fashion in the Victoria era, most of which she considers to be highly exaggerated and over-played. But perhaps her fine distinctions would have been better made in a book that was half the length of this one. I appreciated how she structured her setup (background theories, history of fashion in her focal period, and how each changing fashion period reflected changing perceptions of feminine beauty and eroticism). I also critique this book for its complete lack of explanation of how she found her sources, what her research methodology was, how she "analyzed." I find it difficult to be fully persuaded to someone's arguments when I can't tell if they're just using anecdotes from carefully-selected sources or actually did a comprehensive review with some sort of logic and criteria in mind. She does put forth counter-arguments and multiple viewpoints but again, I can't really tell just from her writing how solidly backed any of those are (except in adjectives and adverbs). Critiques aside I did feel that I learned much more of why fashion may change in general and the reasons behind Victorian fashion, far beyond "women were repressed and forced to wear corsets."

[Susan L · Rating 5 out of 5]

Steele's provocative account of feminine beauty is a perfect scholarly accessory for those fascinated by the evolution of 19th century femininity and its cultural, literary and fashion links. She draws on psychoanalytical theory to tease out the eroticism at the heart of Victorian fashion and, indeed, Victorian femininity. She recalls that the great Charles Worth of the Paris fashion house instinctively understood that women liked their bodies, liked being beautiful and therefore created dresses that accommodated these desires.

Steele discards stereotypes of the sexually repressed Victorians. She accepts these were prescriptive ideals, rather than active realities. This yields one of Steele's most evocative terms, the Victorian's "satorial assault on the body" (88). Above all, she reminds us that the desire to be beautiful, elegant and well-turned out, is a timeless cultural concern for femininity, whether as a Victorian social hostess or as a 21st century profesional. Published in 1984, but sadly out of print, this book remains a key resource for Victorian scholars.

[M Jay D M · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an intellectually stimulating, highly informative book. While it was written in the 1980s, and concerns mainly dress, fashion and the aesthetics of Victorian culture, many of the arguments, such as one with fashion and gender, are still valid today. Steele's idea that (women's) fashion is not only about attracting admirers and competition, but also about satisfying the aesthetic pleasures of the wearer is both mesmerizing and important. Steele's writing is elegant and scholarly yet very accessible. A must-read for those who are interested in fashion, body, appearance, and femininity.

[Rebecca Stevens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heavy reading, especially if you're not super familiar with the Victorian Era... Interesting nonetheless, and I did learn a lot, which is the point I guess!