Gorgeous and Elegant Bustle Dresses in Victorian Style

The vintage clothes look fascinating. Unlike the clothes in nowadays, they placed much emphasis on workmanship and exquisiteness. The fabrics are high quality and the look they send is beautiful. The styles and the details embellishing the garments will make you look back to the fashion in the old age.

Vintage Green and Brown Steampunk Bustle Dress

The dresses above show a full image. The bustle in the back of the dress gives a typical shape of the dressing fashion in that period. The bustle design makes the dress fuller, but the additional decoration on the dress also brings the attention to the fullness it reveals.

Dark Blue Flower Printed Victorian Dress

The skirt design with bustle is one of the most prominent features in the victorian dresses. It is always made of heavy fabric intended to pull the back of a skirt down and flatten it. Fullness of some sort was still considered necessary to make the waist look smaller and the bustle eventually replaced the crinoline completely.
You may have doubts about how the bustled dress could stay in setted place and draped so well. There is a cage made of the metal material inside of the dresses. There are other kind of bustle applied into the victorian dresses. Except the added cage inside, the luxuriant ruffled design also could achieve the fullness of the dresses.

Victorian Women and Women's Clothing

Women were different from those today. Women’s social status at that time was very low. And it was a striking illustration of the discrepancy for that the Britain at that time was powerful and wealthy and the social conditions were appalling. Women did not have the suffrage rights, the right to sue, or the right to own property. There was a concept called “pater familias” which meant that the husband as head of the household and moral leader of his family. Women was to love, honour and obey her husband, as her marriage vows stated.

Spaghetti Straps Bow and Ruffle Gothic Victorian Dress

Off-the-Shoulder Aristocratic Gothic Victorian Dress

Though the status was not high, the victorian clothing had been a prevailing and significant milestone. The clothing trend in the victorian period were focus on the elaborate dresses, skirts with wide volume created by the use of layered materials and heavy fabrics. Through such clothing designs, women could show their wealth and elegance to the other people. Besides, the fitted waist design at that time was one of the most prominent characteristics in women’s clothing. And this narrow waist was achieved by constricting the abdomen with a laced corset. While the silhouette was striking, and the dresses themselves were often exquisitely detailed , the women really had to suffer a lot. This is one aspect that they are different from women in today’s world. Because the dresses in modern fashion keep the good designs of the victorian clothing and discard the bad ones. The dresses still look great but women do no have to suffer when wearing the dress any more.

Ways to Preserve Victorian Clothing?

There are three things that matter when it comes to the clothes: how to match, how to wash and how to preserve. Preserving is critical to avoid damage to the fabrics, trims and seams. While the specifics of care may depend upon the garment and fabric, some general guidelines can help you care for victorian clothing properly, preserving it to be enjoyed for years to come.

Vintage Ivory Embroidered Victorian Dress

Elegant Champagne Sleeveless Victorian Evening Dress

Firstly you’d better decide how you wish to store your vintage and antique clothing. You will need flat, folded storage in a dry, acid free environment. The best option to preserve antique clothing is a custom made textile box; however, these are quite costly. Plastic boxes are more affordable and an acceptable choice in a dry environment.
Then decide wrap the antique garment carefully in acid free tissue paper or unbleached muslin that has been washed and dried. Be sure to carefully place layers of tissue or fabric in between the folds of the garment and lightly pad any fold lines to avoid creating wrinkles in the fabric.
It is better to add cedar blocks to prevent moths and insect damage. Be sure that the antique garments are fully wrapped and not touching the cedar block.
Store your antique clothing in boxes in a dry and dark space. This will prevent light damage. Label boxes thoroughly to make it easier to access a single antique garment.

Dress Your Children Up With Victorian Style Clothing

There are plenty of occasions that parents have to dress their kids with costumes. For the different themes the occasion might be, parents need to have more ideas on dressing their kids in various style costumes. Here I would like to introduce you the children clothes in victorian style.

Though infants and toddlers of both genders wore gowns and pantalettes, little girls began to wear shorter versions of the same clothing fashionable for Victorian women around the age of four. The length of girls’ skirts grew as they aged, ending about two inches above the ankle by age 16. Hoops and pantalettes were common for girls from ages four and up, with young girls wearing pinafores over their dresses throughout the day to keep them clean. Though it may be difficult to imagine, even little girls of the Victorian era were known to wear large bustles and stiff skirts.
For very small children, fashion differed little between the sexes. Young boys might wear long hair and dresses, just as their sisters did. As they got older, however, well-to-do boys of the Victorian era wore coats and trousers fashioned after those of adult men past the age of four. During the Victorian period, Knickerbockers and Knickerbockers suits became popular for little boys.

History of Victorian and Edwardian Fashion

The Victorian age and the Edwardian age are the most well known eras in British culture. The two ages swept swept the entire Western world and are named for the successive ruling Queen Victoria and King Edward.

Since the Victorian age spans a much longer time period than does the Edwardian age, the fashions of both are very similar and are usually related together. The Victorian fashion in an overall sense was prudery and proper etiquette. Women wore clothes that revealed their social status of whether being wealthy or working class. For the women who got higher status, they would dress specifically for every occasion, including morning, afternoon, and evening. And each one were different from the other. Men were also expected to follow similar rules of propriety, allowing for their staunch suits and accompanying derby or top hats.

Other than the victorian style clothing, the Edwardian was another big success in the history of clothing. Many changes took place for women’s dress throughout the period and into the Edwardian age. Men’s fashions, on the other hand, changed little. This can be accounted for by the fact that women’s social statuses were changing, so their clothing changed along with them.
The clothing fashion in the victorian and edwardian period were incomparable. It has its own style and design and left great influence to the clothing fashion after them.