.. era.. emphasized the class structure and disparity (as discussed last month) as the rising merchant classes in Europe and America used fashion to define status. In fashion, royalty, class, status, and financial status was getting mixed up. (1860 fashion plate showing the industrial merchant class mingling with nobility)
Fashion History Blog
Another influence was photography of course…
… as fashion concepts were initiated by designers, promoted by queens and empresses, distributed through periodicals, and reinforced by photography. (Photo: Early 1860’s dog-on-skirt)
Beautiful portraits by artists like..
.. Franz Winterhalter showed what the elites and royals were wearing. (1840 Portrait by Winterhalter)
Periodicals available to American women…
.. like Harper’s New Monthly Magazine told them what was being worn in Europe and around the world. Since this was the Mid-Victorian era, it was still Queen Victoria leading the way, but she was getting her ideas from her friends like Eugenie of France, who was getting HER ideas …
Back to the 4 factors that changed early to mid-Victorian…
… Number 2: fashion would be led by fashion designers. Previous to the 1860’s, clothing was designed and built by tailors and seamstresses. Information was shared by the 1860’s through printed material and word of mouth; advertising. Hand colored beautiful illustrations were available in high end Parisian generated magazines like …
In 1905, the sewing machine..
… went electric. By the 1960’s, the world of home sewing had exploded like this Singer Model 500m plastic and electric “The Rocket”. Plastics and digital technology would continue to develop and change the industry.
The machine that started Mid-Victorian era..
.. ended the Victorian era too, as home sewing and easy mass production with mass marketing and catalog sales worked alongside fashion designers to redefine Victorian fashion into Edwardian at the turn of the 19th into the 20th century. (Photo: Singer ad looks more like High Fashion design marketing at …
By 1889, sewing machines were common…
.. in the home. The hand wheel had been replaced by the foot treadle by the 1860’s, and competition was hot between the many manufacturers, although Singer held the market share. (Photo: Singer advertisement and sale of toy sewing machines boosted home sales in 1900)
Meanwhile, the sewing machine continued…
.. to be improved and advanced in technology. The reciprocating shuttle had been invented by Allen Wilson in 1851, but a big change came with Helen Blanchard’s invention of the Zig Zag in 1873. Helen was from Maine, and had already invented “hat-sewing machines”, surgical needles, and other sewing machine …
Singer of sewing machine fame built another mansion…
… in England during his “exile” (running away) in 1875, but he never saw it completed. His son altered it in 1907, and it became the Torbay Country Club in 1929. During WWII it was used by the Royal Air Force, but has been otherwise empty since 1913. When Isaac …