The turn of the 20th Century was an exciting time throughout the world. The 1900s brought increased leasures, innovations, and ideas. In the former Victorian era, Euro-centric beauty was centered around an idea of fraility. However, the life of 20th Century women took place evermore outside of the home as they found more employment opportunities, participated in politics, and scandelously picked up on riding bicycles. While this era in fashion still had its frills and corsets, the overly restrictive bustles, layers of long fabric, and dramatic hour-glass shaped corsets of the Victorian era just had to go.
In America, as we discussed in last week's post, Western Expansion was still continuing during this period. Women traveled west both with families and on their own in search of indepenence. Women closer to the East Coast were much more up-to-date with the trends, but western fashion ran at least two years behind. Also given their more rugged lifestyles, western women had different fashion needs and were among the first to shorten their skirts. Being catalysts of the settlement of the American West, women's fashion in this region also came to reflect the changing times.
What comes to mind for quintissential everyday Edwardian style:
narrow, s-shaped silhouettes
pigeon-breast busts
ruffled or lacy blouses of light fabric
high necklines
tea gowns for indoor and lawn-wear
walking skirts, perfect for being out-and-about
This of course is not a comprehensive list, but it's what guides me when I try to "historybound" in modern clothes.
Get the look with modern clothes
Poshmark Finds
You can aways shop secondhand for both modern and vintage garments. Here are a few items I found just by searching the keywords listed above:
Comments