Edwardian Fashion

 Hello!! Hope you're having a great day so far.

Today I decided to talk about the Edwardian fashion for a bit, so let's get started!

First of all it's known as Belle Époque  in France (1890-1914) and Edwardian Era in England (1901-1910), I'll be focusing on Edwardian Era.

This period is known for it's luxury, extravagance, large hats, embroidery.

Queen Victoria (fig. 1) died in 1901 and her son, Edward VII (fig. 2) became the king. He was known for being extravagant, for having many lovers, and this contributed a lot to the fashion of the time. At that time, the ideal body was to have a slim waist, wider hips and full breasts (monobosom). To achieve this, a woman would wear a corset, int the time, this corset was known as "health corset" because it was different from the hourglass corset from the victorian era that compressed the abdomen, forcing it downward. So wearing the Edwardian corset a woman could achieve the silhuette of the time, the S-shaped curve.

(IImage from sew historically)

In this picture we can see how the dresses changed during 1900-1909. In the beginning, the skirt was flare towads the ankle and in 1909 the silhouette is completely different. The sleeves change as well between leg-o-mutton, short and bishop.

EDWARDIAN ICON

Camille Cliford was a real example of this ideal, both of body and beauty.

(Camille Cliford)

Gibson Girl

Created by American artist Charles Dana Gibson, it appeared in magazines and illustrations and was considered the ideal beauty of the Edwardian era.

Dresses for day, afternoon and night? 

Yes, you read right! An Edwardian lady would have a garment for every occasion. 

FABRICS

Most common fabrics for rich people were crepe de chine, satin, chiffon, muslin, silk, lace.

Middle classes could use linen and cotton.

COLORS

Pastels, white, lilac, soft pink, blue,black etc.

SHIRTWAIST

This blouse was used by both middle class woman or rich. It could have lace trims, pin tucks, embroidery, insertions of lace and pleats. It could be worn with a skirt. 

( Norsk Folkemuseum)

HATS

(Lily Elsie)

They were extravagant, huge and full of feathers.

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In 1910, King Edward VII died and for some, the Edwardian era continued until 1914, as in France, until the first world war. WWI made everything change, clothes started to be completely different, in fact, in 1910 the silhouette already changes a lot, but this is for another day, ok?

 

(King Edward VII) - fig. 2

(Queen Victoria) - fig.1

Books

If you are interested in learning how tto make period dresses, especially Edwardian "Making Edwardian costumes for women by Suzanne Rowland" is amazing! And to learn more about Edwardian fashion, "Edwardian Fashion by Daniel Milford-Cottam" is also very good.

Hope you liked it, I love all the garments from that time, this era is one of my favorites. Tell me, what you thought about that period, would you wear any clothes? and the corset, would you wear it? 

Have a beautiful day, see you next Saturday!

See my previous posts: 

http://fernandacarmo.blogspot.com/2020/10/edwardian-bust-improver.html

http://fernandacarmo.blogspot.com/2020/09/edwardian-chemise.html

http://fernandacarmo.blogspot.com/2020/09/making-edwardian-bum-pad.html

WHERE YOU CAN FIND ME:

https://www.instagram.com/fernandacarmo123/