The fashionable Victorian woman cut quite a figure in the high-necked, full-fronted, bustle-backed styles of the day.
Her outfit could weigh 11 pounds, 5 of them in undergarments alone. She needed a maid to help lace her corset. Her hats were accented with stuffed birds and ostrich plumes, her neck encircled in velvet ribbons and cameos.
“The idea was that women were fragile and the emphasis should be on their femininity and modesty,” says Jennifer Ogle, assistant professor at Colorado State University. “They were expected to marry and raise children, and that was reflected in their dress.”
Their clothes emphasized the hips and bustline, says Kerri Atter, curator of the Molly Brown House Museum. “It was a very feminine look. The figure was curvaceous.”
Heavy ornamentation was also the rule. “It’s similar to what you see in their houses. It’s rich, elaborate, decorated,” Atter says.
In photographs, many Victorian outfits look like a dress, but they were typically a skirt and fitted bodice, sometimes with an under-blouse and jabot.
Undergarments gave the outfit shape. Closest to the skin were pantaloons (underpants as we know them weren’t popularized until the 20th century), and a tightly laced corset made the bosom prominent and the waist small. Petticoats were next, and a chemise went on top of all the underwear. Only then was the lady ready for her skirt, bodice and jacket, Atter says.
As the era progressed – and it was a long one considering Queen Victoria served from 1837 to 1901 – bustles got smaller and then larger again before disappearing in the 1890s.
Just like today, the Victorian woman’s accessories were critical to her appearance. Fur muffs and stoles, black glass and jet beads, hatpins and jewelry were key elements, Atter says.
“Lace and other trims were also big. Velvet ribbons, fringe, tassels and ruffles decorated the clothes – everything was flashy.”
Suzanne S. Brown
Sources: “Costume and Fashion: A Concise History,” by James Laver; “Fairchild’s Dictionary of Fashion.”
