The Victorian Era: A Time of Fashion Innovation and Eccentricity

The Victorian Era was an era of drastic cultural and societal changes that vividly reflected its fashion. Known for its often impractical trends, Victorian fashion became the subject of movies for decades. From cages under skirts to poisonous accessories, Victorian styles symbolized elegance and status.

Enormous Crinolines

Crinoline was one of the most iconic yet bizarre trends of the Victorian era. These stiffened and hooped petticoats designed to hold out a woman’s skirt created enormous bell-shaped skirts that were meant to symbolize elegance and femininity. Achieving their goals of being grandiose, crinolines were incredibly uncomfortable and extremely heavy. Women struggled to sit and walk through doors, and the skirts even sometimes caught fire from open flames, causing tragic accidents. Regardless of these dangers, crinolines remained popular, reflecting the era’s vibe of grand appearances.

Tight-laced corsets

Another staple of Victorian fashion was corsets.  Women wore extremely tight corsets to create the “perfect” hourglass figure at the time. While they were seen as essential for achieving the ideal feminine silhouette, tight lacing in the back of corsets could cause fainting, breathing difficulties, and even internal organ damage. Corsets remained a powerful symbol of social status despite the health risks. The continued popularity of tight-laced corsets highlights the social pressure of beauty standards of the time.

Poisonous Fabric

Until the accidental discovery of artificial fabric dyes by a chemistry student in the 19th century, people would use plants or minerals to color their fabric. After such discovery, people started using chemical colors to dye fabric as it looked more vivid and attractive. Using these colors to produce dresses and accessories of all types had a non-negligible drawback: the main components of the dye were arsenic and copper. Fabrics dyed with arsenic and copper were highly toxic and led to many health issues, such as open wounds and poisoning. Victorians were familiar with the deadly effect of arsenic, but they failed to link the tragedies with the chemicals used in their fabric.

Beetle Wings on Dress Design

Victorians used beetle wings to decorate their dresses. Beetle wings were praised for their bright and vivid color, which they would once again link with femininity and attractiveness. While the results were visually gorgeous, the trend raises ethical questions.

Hair Use in Accessories

Hair was an important indicator of wealth and fashion sense for Victorians. As well as using elaborate hairstyles, human hair was also crafted into accessories such as bracelets, necklaces, and brooches. These items served as emotional tributes to loved ones and were used as keepsakes.

Birds on Hats

Victorians started this trend by decorating hats with feathers, but it evolved into entire stuffed birds. This disturbing trend continued to the point where the bird population at the time started to decline, and movement for protecting birds started to arise.

The Victorian era was undoubtedly a time of fashion innovation, but it was also a period of extremes. The obsession with beauty and social status led people to embrace trends that were often uncomfortable, dangerous, or downright bizarre. Looking back, using poisonous fabric, insect designs, and corsets that distort human anatomy is almost impossible to imagine. Yet, these trends are part of what makes the Victorian era so endlessly fascinating.