Victorian Fashion

by Jayne Shrimpton

The sweeping crinolines, corsets, bustles, bonnets, and parasols of Victorian Britain are indispensable to our period dramas, and their influences can still be seen within burlesque and steampunk fashions. This is no surprise, as nineteenth-century clothing was so wide-ranging and decorative. We might unfairly think gentlemen's costume to be rather plain and uniform, but this is more by contrast to the overwhelming ostentation, luxury fabrics, fine accessories, and constantly evolving silhouettes of ladies' fashion. This colorful introduction to what the Victorians wore describes the vibrant, fancy materials and lace edging at one end of the spectrum, and the tightlaced sobriety of mourning apparel at the other. It examines both high fashion imports from Paris and more modest everyday wear, evening costume, bridal styles, children's clothes and sportswear, and explores the social and cultural backdrop to clothing in Britain's great age of industry and empire.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Fashion, Research

96 pages, Paperback

First published July 21, 2015

Reviews

[S.Vinterhed · Rating 1 out of 5]

this book was so bad i *did* write a 7 page rant about it, but couldn't be bothered to post it until now, two months later.
its basically just feels like 100 pages of slut-shaming victorian woman, while simuntanisly patronising them for being to dumb to understand they where oppressed. [inserting quote from a random incels diary to prove point].

i wouldn't say this book is 100% garbage... just like 90% maybe lol. some of it was even interesting, like the mens wear, or when they explain the evoulution of a certian sleeve-form. however, way to much of the book was hung up on corsets, and how bad they where... sigh.
i dont have the energy to explain why that is absolute bullshit, but there is *loads* of people that actually wear reproduction victorian corsets that will :)

i think the worst problem this book had was that nobody involved in writing this actually have tried wearing reproduction clothing. and at the same time, they want to, in every fucking page, insist on how uncomfortable it was. "uh, if you look at these fashion plates you will se how absurd womens proportions were back then, everyone must have tight-laced to the extremes!" its a fucking drawing you goddamn moron. (also its not a fucking secret the way to get those proportions were padding and optical illusions, where the fuck is those 20 years of studying this?)

anyhow, here are some random very funny things i found in this book (because i dont know where else to fit it:
- when describing the development of skirt supports she (the author) says something like (i lost my copy so i cant have the quote :/ ) "from the 1890s skirt shed their supports" and its the funniest fucking thing, because no??? lmao imaigne being a victorian woman, wearing a corset, a underskirt, two petticoats, bumpad, and your carefully crafted skirt, done up with all the fancy things to make it hold its shape perfectly, just for a random 21st century woman calling it "no supports". sure its much less than the 1980s but we're not here to simplify things are we!
oh but the absolute best part about it, is that right under it there is a picture from the timeperiod (1895) and it is so clearly supposted to be padded! she misproved her point right under it.
-another very, very amusing thing in this was n the mens wear, 1870s section. the author rambles on for half a page with how "some men", like, "oscar wilde", broke from the norm of very basic clothing and instead dressed in "flowy effeminate fashion", and all the other men carefully avoided the "flamboyant" fashion.
... its okay karen you are allowed to say queer men, jisses fucking christ.
- lastly, the sportswear chapter. can i just rant about it for a teensy bit. late victorian sportswear is just the most rich, complex interesting, and wonderful subject and oh my fucking god was this chapter boring. there is so much fun things to discuss about sportswear, and if you want to discuss tight-lacing, this is your fucking shot! this is where a lot of modern myths abot corsetry and aahhh the missed oppertunity :(

tl;dr, this book sucks fucking arse and i hated reading it, if you are thinking about reading it, be very very aware of the authors skewed view on corsets and victorian women. but it was a fun hate-read

[Liselotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book to start your studies into Victorian fashion! I absolutely adore the Shire Library books that Jayne Shrimpton wrote, they are incredibly informative, use great images and are quite in-depth for such tiny books! Highly, highly recommend! :)

[Tatiana Múčková · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,5*

[Susan Janneck · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very enlightening on the Victorian fashions of the middle to late 1800s.

[Mol · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5*
This was so informative. I really enjoyed learning about the etymology of crinoline/horsehair !!