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Victorian fashion facts for kids

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Princess Beatrice mourning
Victoria's five daughters (Alice, Helena, Beatrice, Victoria and Louise), photographed wearing mourning black beneath a bust of their late father, Prince Albert (1862)

Victorian fashion refers to the various fashions and trends in British culture in the United Kingdom and the British Empire throughout the Victorian era, roughly 1830s to 1900s. The period saw many changes in fashion, including changes in clothing, architecture, literature, and visual arts.

In the early days of the fashion, female dresses were simple and pale. Modesty was a very important feature of Victorian Fashion, dresses that covered the arms and went right down to the ankles were favoured.

By 1907, clothing was increasingly factory-made and often sold in large, fixed price department stores. Custom sewing and home sewing were still significant, but on the decline. New machinery and materials developed clothing in many ways.

The introduction of the lock-stitch sewing machine in mid-century simplified home and boutique dressmaking. It made it easy to add trimmings which would be costly if done by hand. Lace machinery made lace at a fraction of the cost of the old hand-made lace. Inventors developed new, cheap, bright dyes like mauveine which replaced the old animal or vegetable dyes.

Images for kids

  • Magasin för konst, nyheter och moder 1844, illustration nr 8

    1844 fashion plate depicting fashionable clothing for men and women, including illustrations of a glove and bonnets

  • 1850's Evening Dress

    Picture of 1850s evening dress with a bertha neckline

  • The Engageants sleeves

    Engageants

  • This dress features a low waistline, and the bodice is worn over the hips to further emphasise the silhouette

    1837 dress

  • This evening dress features low straight necklines at the shoulder, bodices ending at the natural waistline and converging to a point at the front, and sleeves flaring out from the elbow. Organ pleats were used to further create the fullness of the skirts.

    1840s dress

  • Necklines plunged further, needing a chemisette to be worn underneath. Sleeves widened at the elbow, while bodices ended at the natural waistline. Skirts widened and were further emphasised by the addition of flounces.

    1850s dress

  • 1st patented cage crinoline.Fullness of the skirt is even further emphasised.

    1856 cage crinoline

  • Emphasis has moved to the back, in order to create a Train.

    1860s cage crinoline

  • Bodices ended at the natural waistline. Wide pagoda sleeves are in fashion, and skirts are longer at the back; depicting a train.

    1860s dress

  • Dresses featuring the Bustle & Polonaise

    1870s dress

  • Tournure

    1870s tournure

  • 1840s Victorian Dandy

    A Victorian dandy pictured in the 1840s

  • Ford.madox.brown.last.emma.study

    Emma Hill by Ford Madox Brown (1853), a woman wearing a later version of the poke bonnet

  • Mens Coats 1872 Fashion Plate

    Drawing of Victorian men 1870s

  • The royal children in mourning Mar 1862

    Victoria's five daughters (Alice, Helena, Beatrice, Victoria and Louise), photographed wearing mourning black beneath a bust of their late father, Prince Albert (1862)

  • 1868-skirt-lengths-girl-ages-Harpers-Bazar

    "The proper length for little girls' skirts at various ages", from Harper's Bazaar, showing a 1900 idea of how the hemline should descend towards the ankle as a girl got older

  • Tissot-hide-seek-detail

    id-Victorian interior: Hide and Seek by James Tissot, c. 1877

  • Winterhalter Elisabeth

    ress designed by Charles Frederick Worth for Elisabeth of Austria painted by Franz Xaver Winterhalter.

  • Frith A Private View detail

    [William Powell Frith]]'s painting of 1883 contrasts women's Aesthetic dress (left and right) with fashionable attire (center).

  • Tissot lilacs 1875

    ay dress, c. 1875 James Tissot painting.

  • James Abbot McNeill Whistler 011

    Whistler]]'s Portrait of Lady Meux, 1882

  • Jeanna Samary-Renoir

    Renoir]]'s portrait of Jeanne Samary in an evening gown, 1878

  • Melville - Queen Victoria

    ortrait by Alexander Melville of Queen Victoria, 1845

  • Henry Treffry Dunn Rossetti and Dunton at 16 Cheyne Walk

    An artistic interior: Dante Gabriel Rossetti reading to Theodore Watts-Dunton in the drawing room at No. 16 Cheyne Walk, 1882

  • Punch - Masculine beauty retouched1

    Men's swimwear: Cartoon from Punch by George du Maurier

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