The Victorian Era

Victorian Fashion and Dress

Complete guide · Fashion & Dress · The Victorian Era, 1837–1901

❦

Victorian fashion was the most elaborate, the most codified, and the most influential of the nineteenth century. The clothes that men, women, and children wore in the United Kingdom between 1837 and 1901, and the clothes that the British carried with them to the four corners of the world through the British Empire, set the standard of dress for the English-speaking peoples and for much of Continental Europe. Victorian fashion was the product of a complex mixture of factors. It was shaped by the new industrial technologies of the period, by the new middle-class prosperity, by the new codes of respectability, by the new mass media of the period, and by the long nineteenth-century cult of the home, the family, and the woman as the moral centre of the household.

This page is the entry point to a broader examination of Victorian fashion. It sketches the principal styles of the period, the principal materials of the period, the principal institutions of the period, and the principal debates of the period. For deeper coverage of any single subject, follow the contextual links throughout the text, or browse the related pages at the end of the article. For the broader historical context, see The Victorian Era: A Complete Historical Overview.

The Periods of Victorian Fashion

Victorian fashion is usually divided into three broad periods, each with its own distinctive silhouettes, fabrics, and accessories. The first period, the early Victorian period from 1837 to 1850, was dominated by the romantic full-skirted dresses of the 1830s and 1840s, with their pointed waists, their gigot or leg-of-mutton sleeves, and their tiered skirts worn over stiffened petticoats. The second period, the mid-Victorian period from 1850 to 1870, was dominated by the crinoline, the great dome-shaped skirt of the period, and by the introduction of the sewing machine, of aniline dyes, and of the new mass-produced fabrics. The third period, the late Victorian period from 1870 to 1901, was dominated by the bustle, the trained dress, the tailored jacket, the leg-of-mutton sleeve of the 1890s, and the S-bend corset.

The divisions are not absolute, and the styles of one period often overlapped with those of the next. The crinoline, for example, was at the height of its fashion in the 1850s and 1860s, but it had been preceded by the full petticoat of the 1840s and was followed by the bustle of the 1870s and 1880s. The silhouette of the period also varied enormously by occasion, with morning dress, afternoon dress, evening dress, walking dress, riding dress, garden party dress, wedding dress, mourning dress, and country house dress all having their own conventions. The history of women’s dress is examined in Women’s Victorian Fashion.

The Materials of Victorian Fashion

The materials of Victorian fashion were extraordinarily varied. The basic fabrics of the period were cotton, linen, wool, and silk, joined by a growing range of new fabrics, including the machine-made lace of Nottingham, the Paisley shawl of Scotland, the silk of Macclesfield and Spitalfields, the wool of Yorkshire, and the cotton of Lancashire. The new industrial processes of the period — the spinning of fine cotton yarns, the weaving of figured silks, the printing of calicoes, the bleaching of linens, and the dyeing of woollens — made a wide range of fabrics available at prices the expanding middle class could afford.

The new dyes of the period, the aniline dyes developed in the 1850s and 1860s, gave the Victorian palette its characteristic colours. William Henry Perkin’s mauveine, accidentally synthesised in 1856, gave its name to the colour mauve and the fashion of lilac, lavender, and pale purple. Magenta, viridian, and ultramarine followed in the late 1850s and 1860s. The Jacquard loom, perfected in the early years of the century but only widely adopted in the textile industry in the 1840s, made figured silks and brocades available in quantity for the first time. The history of textiles in the period is examined in The Victorian Economy and Industrialization.

The Sewing Machine and the Mass Production of Fashion

The sewing machine transformed the production of clothing. Elias Howe’s lockstitch machine of 1846 was refined through the 1850s, and by 1858 Isaac Merritt Singer’s improved model was on sale in Britain and the United States. The Singer company, founded in 1851, was selling tens of thousands of machines a year by 1860, and the new machine made it possible to sew seams and run up hems at many times the speed of hand work. The mass production of clothing, including ready-made suits for men and ready-made dresses for women, became possible on a large scale for the first time, and the price of clothing fell substantially over the period. The mass production of clothing was particularly important for the working class, who could now afford decent clothes for the first time.

The department store, the great new retail institution of the period, was closely linked to the mass production of clothing. The first department stores, including Harding, Howell & Co in London (founded 1809 as a draper’s shop, expanded in the 1830s), the Bon Marché in Paris (founded 1852), and Wanamaker’s in Philadelphia (founded 1861), brought a wide range of goods together under one roof, with fixed prices, advertising, and a wide range of choice. The department stores were the great emporia of the late Victorian middle class, and they shaped the patterns of consumption of the period. The history of retail in the period is examined in Victorian Society, Class, and Daily Life.

The Fashion Plates, the Press, and the Cult of Dress

The fashion plate, the hand-coloured engraving or lithograph showing the latest fashions, was the principal medium of fashion communication in the early Victorian period. The fashion plates of the 1830s and 1840s, including those published in La Mode Illustrée, The Lady’s Magazine, The Englishwoman’s Domestic Magazine, and the American Godey’s Lady’s Book, set the fashions of the period and were copied across the country. The fashion plate was closely tied to the new technologies of reproduction, including lithography, chromolithography, and the early photograph.

The new mass-circulation press of the period, including The Times, the Daily Telegraph, the Illustrated London News, the Graphic, and the Strand Magazine, all carried fashion reporting. The fashion column, the fashion illustration, and the fashion photograph became central features of the new popular press. The fashion press was particularly important in the late Victorian period, when the new illustrated magazines carried photographs and illustrations of the latest fashions to a mass audience. The history of the press is examined in Victorian Literature, Theatre, and the Written Word.

The Great Couturiers and the Fashion Industry

The Victorian period saw the development of the modern fashion industry, with the great couturiers of the period establishing the model of the Paris and London fashion house. Charles Frederick Worth, the English-born dressmaker who established his house in Paris in 1858, is generally regarded as the founder of the modern haute couture industry. Worth, who dressed the Empress Eugénie, the Princess of Wales, and a roll-call of European royalty, was the first designer to put his name on the clothes he made, the first to organise seasonal collections, and the first to use live models to show his designs to clients. The houses that succeeded Worth, including the House of Doucet, the House of Paquin, the House of Worth (continued by his sons), and the House of Redfern (which opened a London branch in 1881), all established the conventions of the modern fashion industry.

The British fashion industry, while never as famous as the French, was also significant. The great London couturiers of the period, including the House of Creed (founded 1760 as a tailors, expanded into couture in the 1840s), the House of Reville, and the House of Tozer, all dressed the British aristocracy and the British court. The British textile industry, including the silk industry of Spitalfields, the lace industry of Nottingham, the wool industry of Yorkshire, and the cotton industry of Lancashire, supplied the raw materials of the British and Continental fashion industries. The history of British textiles is examined in The Victorian Economy and Industrialization.

Dress and Social Class

Dress was one of the most important markers of social class in the Victorian period. The clothes that a person wore signalled their wealth, their occupation, their region, their religion, and their respectability. The dress of the upper class was distinct from the dress of the middle class, and the dress of the middle class was distinct from the dress of the working class. The Victorian working man wore a cap, a shirt, a waistcoat, a jacket or coat, trousers, boots, and a handkerchief. The Victorian working woman wore a bonnet, a dress, an apron, a shawl or jacket, and boots. The clothes of the upper and middle classes were more elaborate, more expensive, and more subject to fashion than the clothes of the working class.

The dress of the working class was a particular concern of the social reformers of the period. The bloomer costume, the rational dress, and the various dress reform movements of the period all attempted to make women’s dress healthier, more comfortable, and less restrictive. The dress reform movement, examined in Women’s Victorian Fashion, was one of the most important reform movements of the late Victorian period, and it laid the foundations of the modern dress reform movement of the early twentieth century. The history of social reform is examined in Victorian Morality and Social Reform.

Mourning Dress

Mourning dress was one of the most distinctive features of Victorian fashion. The elaborate code of mourning dress, with its strict stages of full mourning, second mourning, and ordinary mourning, was codified in the etiquette books of the period, including The Queen magazine, The Lady’s Magazine, and the books of Mrs Beeton. The widow’s full mourning, which lasted for a year and a day, was entirely black, with a crepe veil, a crepe-trimmed bonnet, a long-sleeved black dress, black gloves, and black stockings. The widow’s second mourning, which lasted for a further six months, allowed the introduction of grey, white, and lavender. The relative’s mourning was less strict, and the mourning of a distant relative or friend was brief.

The mourning dress was a major industry, and the great mourning warehouses of London, Paris, and New York, including Jay’s Mourning Warehouse in London, the House of Worth in Paris, and Arnold Constable in New York, all supplied the elaborate fashions of the period. The mourning customs of the Victorians are examined in Death and Mourning in the Victorian Era.

Accessories

Accessories were an essential part of Victorian fashion. The Victorian lady’s accessories included the bonnet, the hat, the veil, the shawl, the cape, the muff, the gloves, the fan, the parasol, the reticule or handbag, the handkerchief, the brooch, the earrings, the necklace, the bracelet, the ring, the watch, and the chatelaine. The Victorian gentleman’s accessories included the hat, the cravat, the necktie, the waistcoat, the watch, the chain, the fob, the stick, the gloves, the handkerchief, the cuff links, the collar studs, the spats, and the gaiters. The accessories of the period are examined in Victorian Accessories and Jewelry.

The Hair and the Beauty

The hair was a central element of Victorian fashion. The Victorian lady’s hair was generally long, parted in the middle, and drawn back into a chignon or a knot, and it was often augmented with switches, hair pads, and false braids. The Victorian gentleman generally wore his hair short, with side whiskers or a full beard, and the waxed moustache was a sign of military service. The hair was a subject of great attention, and the hairdressers of the period, including the famous Maison Alexandre in Paris (founded 1814) and Truefitt & Hill in London (founded 1805), established the conventions of the modern hairdressing trade. The history of hair is examined in Victorian Hair and Beauty.

The Children’s Clothing

The clothing of Victorian children was a separate subject. The clothing of the infant, of the toddler, of the schoolboy, and of the schoolgirl was a matter of great care, and the clothes of children were photographed, illustrated, and described in the women’s magazines of the period. The clothes of the newborn, including the long christening gown, the swaddling bands, and the baby’s first cap, were a major industry, and the long christening gown of the period, often preserved in the family as a treasured heirloom, was a symbol of the family’s respectability. The history of children’s clothing is examined in Victorian Children’s Clothing.

The Menswear

The clothing of Victorian men was less elaborate than the clothing of Victorian women, but it was equally subject to the conventions of the period. The Victorian gentleman wore a frock coat or a morning coat, a waistcoat, a shirt with a stiff collar, a cravat or necktie, trousers, boots or shoes, and a hat. The dress code of the period was complex, and the morning coat, the frock coat, the tail coat, the dinner jacket, the smoking jacket, the lounge suit, the blazer, the Norfolk jacket, and the sports coat all had their own occasions. The history of men’s dress is examined in Men’s Victorian Fashion.

The Legacy of Victorian Fashion

The Victorian legacy in fashion is substantial. The modern suit, shirt, tie, overcoat, and boot all took their basic shape in the Victorian period, and the conventions of the modern fashion industry — the seasonal collection, the fashion show, the fashion magazine, the live model, the brand name, and the ready-to-wear line — all date from the era. The Victorian period also saw the development of the modern cosmetics, hairdressing, perfumery, and jewellery industries. The legacy of the period is examined in Women’s Victorian Fashion and in Men’s Victorian Fashion.