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.