Today I want to talk about the fascinating world of Edwardian fashion and I want to talk about the influence that Queen Alexandra had.
When Queen Victoria died in 1901, her son became King Edward VII, and Britain entered what we now call the Edwardian era. His wife was Queen Alexandra and she quickly became one of the most admired women in Britain. Alexandra was elegant, graceful, and incredibly fashionable. Women across the country wanted to copy her style.
Fashion in the Edwardian period changed from the darker styles of the later Victorian years. Wealthy people went to lots of events like garden parties, races and dinners. What you wore to these events became a way of showing your status.
Queen Alexandra had a massive influence of Edwardian fashion. She was well known for her fashion choices. She wore high lace collars, fitted bodices, long skirts, delicate gloves and pearls. She also added amazing hats that were decorated with feathers, flowers, and ribbons. Many women wanted to dress just like her.
One of the most recognisable features of Edwardian fashion was the famous S-bend silhouette. This shape was created by a specially designed corset that pushed the chest forward and the hips back. It created what was often called the “pigeon breast” look, which was considered highly fashionable at the time.
Can you imagine just how uncomfortable it was. Getting dressed was not quick or easy either. An Edwardian woman usually started with a chemise and then her drawers, followed by the corset, petticoats, blouse, skirt, and sometimes a fitted jacket. Then they had to put on stockings, boots, gloves, jewellery, and of course to finish off, a hat.
For wealthy women, servants usually helped them to dress, they helped to lace corsets, and with arranging hair. Working-class women still tried to follow the fashion when they could, but obviously practicality was more important. They needed to be able to move for work, housework, and childcare. They may well have admired royal fashion from afar but knew that such luxury was beyond their reach.
Fashion was not just about personal taste. What you wore could strongly influence how society judged you, your respectability, and even your character. Wearing the right clothes could help you to fit in.
But clothing could be restrictive, but it could also be expressive. The S-bend corset was designed differently from the Victorian hourglass corset. It pushed the chest forward and the hips back to create the fashionable silhouette. While it was often said that tight corsets caused women to faint or permanently damaged their internal organs, modern historians believe these stories were sometimes exaggerated. But, very tightly laced corsets could make deep breathing difficult, restrict movement, and become uncomfortable. Doctors at the time actually debated their health effects, some warned that prolonged tight lacing could affect posture, digestion, and even displace internal organs. Compared with many late Victorian corsets, the Edwardian S-bend style placed more strain on the lower back because it forced the body into an unnatural forward-leaning posture. Looser clothing gradually became much more popular, and by the start of the First World War the S-bend silhouette was already starting to disappear.
So let me ask you this… if you had to wear full Edwardian clothing for just one day, do you think you would enjoy the elegance, or would you be desperate to take that corset off?
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