Fashion History Blog

… the Queen of Spain and goddaughter of Eugenie of France was the next key fashion influence.  Her “hey day” was the Edwardian Era, although she was stylish well into the 1920’s. (Photo:  Ena in about 1906 after her marriage)

… Empress (later wife of the President when the empire was dissolved) Eugenie of France was another key fashion figure of influence.   You can imagine the mix of admiration, curiosity, jealousy, and giggling when Eugenie first showed Victoria the new 8′ crinoline hoops. (Portrait: Eugenie in about 1862 in just …

… surprise!  Queen Victoria of England who dominated almost 60 years of fashion worldwide.  Her exacting dictates regarding “costume” – every event had a specific fashion – led to white for weddings and black for mourning, which switched the previous rules. Even to her end, she was fashionable, and demanded …

.. Empress Josephine of France.  From the days of the French Revolution starting in 1793, until 1815 when Napoleon was overthrown and exiled, Josephine ruled the world of “little white dresses” as they became more embellished through 3 stages of Regency fashion. While Regency would continue until about 1828, there …

Marie Antoinette – wife of King Louis XVI of France during the Georgian/Colonial era (1760’s until her beheading in 1793).  She introduced Court “high” fashion of paniers and stomachers, and “low” fashion of the Gaulle.

… which was roughly 1890 until the “explosion” of ideas and concepts at the start of World War I in 1915, featured the dominant “S” monobosom silhouette before the waist dropped quickly with the sub-category of Edwardian, Art Nouveau and Titanic fashion eras (1900-1909 and 1912 respectively). (Sketch:  1900-1910l 194 …

… Edwardian.  The 1860’s to 1880’s under the English Queen went from crinolines to bustles to no bustles to big bustles to gigantic sleeves and just kept going. By the 1890’s, Victoria’s fashion dictates were being usurped by the new English King Edward’s ideas.  Fashion exploded as it split into …

… There were 3-4 evolutions of Victorian style, with crossovers and modifications, but basically there was “early”, which was like ornamented Regency, “middle” with bustles and crinolines, and “late” with more bustles and the black for mourning and white for weddings dictates. 1830-1855 as shown was “early”.

… 3.  1790-1805 (ish) had Greek and Roman influence.  Evolved from political factors such as the French Revolution, social developments like the counter revolutionary “Incroyables” fashion movement, and informational from what queens and empresses were wearing – this time period introduced “the little white dress”. With discoveries in archaeology and …

… 1775 to 1800 were “late” Georgian or Colonial if you were in America.  This was a time of the basic “sacque” robe (gown or dress) and it’s many variations as it went up, then out, then up and out, etc.  The common factor during all the changes were the …