The clothing that was in style between the late 1890s and 1914 or the beginning of the Great War is referred to as Edwardian fashion.
The era popularly known as the Gilded Age, and La Belle Epoque (the Beautiful Era) was a period when women’s fashions wore a new look of luxury and extravagance, inspired by the hedonistic lifestyle of Britain’s King Edward VII.
The trends in the design of this era tended to have the s curve. This was a result of corsets that gave an individual the S-shaped female silhouette. It was a drastic change from the Victorian hourglass figure.
The S bend corset pushed the hips back and the bust forward. The ideal female figure was of a mature woman with a pigeon-shaped monobosom
The outdoor dressings were also different from other times in the Edwardian era. They preferred tailored clothes for outdoor activities and the shirtwaist was a favourite of the time.
It was a dress with an upwards bodice very similar to a man’s high-collared shirt. It became a hit among working women. Numerous other outdoor clothes were birthed in this period.
The headgears were not immune to the fashion change in the era as a new generation of hats also came to light. The most popular were the automobile bonnet which was to be used while riding and the sailor’s hat which was preferred for tennis matches and other activities.
Edward Linley Sambourne, a prominent illustrator and chief cartoonist of the English magazine Punch took a lot of pictures that depicted the street style of that era. His house is currently a museum.
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Photo Credit:
- The Library Time Machine
- Wikimedia Commons.
- Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
- Edward Linley Sambourne
