Victorian+Fashions+and+Ideas

Lady was a vision of elegance and grace in  beautiful  gowns lavishly trimmed with frills, flounces, lace, braid, fringe, ruche and ribbons. The fashion conscious Victorian lady created this appearance with a mysterious combination of the "uncomfortable and inconvenient" with the "frivolous and decorative." Numerous heavy petticoats, layers of underclothes, metal hoops, tight corsets under-pointed boned bodices of whalebone and steel were hidden by an array of ornately accented under sleeves, collars, pelerines, fans, gloves, hats, and parasols. The finished look was of elegance and grace with an illusion of ease and comfort. The men wore frock coats, morning coats (cutaway), tail coats, sack coat, great coats, dusters, capes, shirts (collared and collarless), detachable collars (linen and celluloid), cravats, string ties, scarf's, bandannas, pants, chaps, leggings, vests (waistcoats), underwear, socks, hats (including: top hats, bowlers, slouch, sombreros, straw, vaquero and a variety of others), boots and shoes (brogans) .. Methods of clothing production and distribution varied enormously over the course of Victoria's long reign. In 1837, cloth was manufactured (in the mill towns of northern England, Scotland, and Ireland) but clothing was generally custom-made by seamstresses, milliners, tailors, hatters, glovers, corsetiers, and many other specialized tradespeople, who served a local clientele in small shops. Families who could not afford to patronize specialists made their own clothing, or bought and modified used clothing. By 1907, clothing was increasingly factory-made and sold in large, fixed price department stores. Custom sewing and home sewing were still significant, but on the decline. New machinery and materials changed clothing in many ways.