Victorian Fashion Websites

During the course of my own research into Victorian costume, first for my thesis and now just for the love of it, I have run across many useful and informative sites, and some rather less helpful ones. So I thought I would make a list of those sites that I have come across, so far, that have been of the best use to me and which I feel I can recommend to other scholars of Victorian fashion and anti-fashion, and of Victorian history and literature in general.

http://www.corsetsandcrinolines.com/
A site which sells vintage clothing, including Victorian and Edwardian pieces. I have not ordered from them, so I don’t know how reliable or legitimate their pieces might be. But if nothing else, it does show the range of Victorian clothing that is out there for sale. Also many of the pieces are displayed in multiple pictures, depicting their construction and ornamental details, which is an aid to those who are studying actual costume construction.

http://content.lib.washington.edu/costumehistweb/index.html
A wonderful online collection of images from a collection put together by the costume historian and designer Blanche Payne, a professor at the University of Washington. The fashion plates in the collection cover the period from 1806-1915, and are both in color and black and white. Absolutely invaluable for scholars wishing to know exactly what the latest fashions for these years would be.

http://www.meg-andrews.com/
Ms. Andrews’ site sells antique costumes and textiles, and again I cannot vouch for the site, but the photos of her objects for sale are beautiful and, in some cases, quite detailed and enlargeable, which make them, again, a wonderful source for researchers. Her pieces are quite beautiful and I would recommend going there simply for the sheer aesthetic appreciation that the site affords.

http://costume.osu.edu/Reforming_Fashion/reformdress.htm
One of the few actual exhibitions that has been done on this subject. Sadly I did not see it in person, but the online exhibition is just as good. The exhibition covers both the Victorian fashion that the reformers were seeking to transform and the resulting garments and undergarments. From one of their photos of a reform corset, a very talented seamstress friend of mine managed to create a wearable reproduction of it for my thesis project. A wonderful online resource of both information and images about this important 19th century movement, so dear to the hearts of Oscar Wilde and Walter Crane, etc. There are also examples of artistic dress from England and Europe as well as from America. A site well worth spending some time reading and examining.

http://www.loyno.edu/~history/journal/1989-0/rodrigues.htm#46
An interesting online article on “Rational Dress” vs. fashionable dress and the attitudes of both feminists and anti-feminists to both styles of dress. The article does not mention artistic dress, confining itself mostly to the “ugly” bloomers and woolen undergarments and reform corsets contrasted with the restricting corsets and bustles of the fashionable ladies. The historical background that Ms. Rodrigues gives is informative and well-footnoted. There are no illustrations to the article, which is a tiny drawback for those unfamiliar with some of the reform garments mentioned, but the text strives to describe the costumes in enough detail to give an adequate idea of the clothing.

http://www.fathom.com/seminars/21701726/
An excellent online seminar in five sessions on the development of the corset and the crinoline in the 19th and 20th centuries. Two eminent costume historians, Suzanne Lussier and Lucy Johnston, take the reader through from the beginning of Victoria’s reign through to the age of Vivienne Westwood and Jean-Paul Gaultier. They are very sensible in their approach to the subject matter, debunking many of the horror-stories, while not denying that there were some misuses of the garments that led to the stories in the first place. Well-illustrated and very informative. They do not dwell much on the reform movements or garments, preferring to concentrate on the fashionable garments which they had more access to at the Victoria and Albert museum costume collection, of which Ms. Johnston is a curator. All in all, I recommend this as a precise and well-written introduction to the subject.

http://www.victoriana.com/
“The Victorian Era Online”. This is rather a catch-all site for a number of different Victorian subjects, but they do have a whole page of links on Victorian fashion, some useful, some not. Still, a fun site to poke around on.

And to finish, a couple of recommendations for general costume sites:

http://milieux.com/costume/
A large site mostly of links to other sites, but an excellent compilation of resources for all periods of costume.

http://www.costumes.org/index.html
Tara McGinnes’ excellent and immensely copious collection of links and pages on all manner of costumes, and on design and construction, as well as purchasing and patterns. This is my main source of costume knowledge on the net. She updates the site fairly regularly and most of the links work. There is a page for every period of history you can think of, and every nation. Some pages are more comprehensive than others, but she does her best, either with links or articles or images. My only tiny problem with the site is that it’s a little too busy, too many ads and images on sidebars to distract from what you’re trying to find. But that’s a small price to pay for such a fabulous reference site.

So that is my list, to this date. I’m sure I have missed out on many wonderful sites, and if indeed anyone has sites to recommend to me, I would love to hear about them.

Meanwhile, I encourage you to visit the sites I mentioned above and hopefully, I will be able to post another list in the future with still more sites.

This list will also be posted on the O-Scholars newsletter in July.