.. for the first time, and new customers checking us out.  It’s a good time to give you another cat photo!  Victorians were really big on taking photos with their pets. (Photo: late 1870’s kittens.  Those who have been following our blog will be able to date the photo because …

.. to become just a pad over the rear end.  This added on pad would be replaced by padding integrated within the new Edwardian “S Monobosum” corset of the new fashion era that was evolving at the end of Victoria’s reign. Some sort of padding would be worn over the …

.. because everyone was trying to look large.  The change in fashion matched a change in culture and economics.  As the power of women to manage businesses, own property, to have rights over their children, and in many states like Wyoming – to vote!  so did fashion ideals change to …

.. when one looks at garments hanging on mannequins in museums.  While statistically women WERE much smaller on the average in the late Victorian era; e.g. median waist was 25″ vs today’s 32″, there were in reality women of ALL sizes from very small to very large. The Natural Form …

…18th century “rumps” and false bums”, but the application of new technologies in metal working, overuse of baleen and horsehair and so the new introduction of synthetics for padding and structures, made them very different than those of the prior century, although the overall result might have been very similar. …

..completely new inventions!  Designer Worth with the other Parisian fashion houses at the time were INVENTING the style from nothing.  Worth was taking what had been and pinching and pulling and draping to try to come up with something new.  While we see bustles as logical (though somewhat odd) parts …

.. in the hands of designers like Charles Worth of Paris, almost seemed to “mature” through the 1880’s and 1890’s as it became more tailored and more custom fitted and molded to each woman’s body.  Worth’s early ensembles almost seem “clumsy” compared to the later ones. (Extant Photos:  House of …

.. in Paris (discussed in detail earlier this summer during the “mid-Victorian” era section) was leading the bustle styles and the use of fabric and trims.  Designing for key fashion influencers such as French, English, and Russian royalty throughout the mid to late Victorian era, the Worth House of Fashion …

.. is that in 1883-90, the dress was made of plush fabrics like velveteen, plushette, and sateen.  There was a depression in 1880-90 in Europe, so even women of wealth used cheap, mass produced fabrics and trims. Regardless of the fabric or trim, the idea for all classes and status …

..sides, or to the front panel of the skirt for daily wear.  Ballgowns were more draped and similar to the prior era. To recognize this later bustle, look for a smoother and more shelf like shape over the rear end being worn with a very tailored and quite structured square …