Apparel in Victorian Britain

Paper Summary:

This paper addresses the apparel of upper middle class British women, 1837-1887. The main ideas that this paper discusses are social context, advent of UK textiles and colonial textiles as result of Industrial Revolution and colonialism. The paper further discusses the meaning of apparel in a society that worshipped progress and that harboured large class gaps with a growing middle class of great prosperity.

From the Paper:

"The study of women's costume involves social and economic history as much as the history of fashion or aesthetics. The Industrial Revolution in the United Kingdom produced a middle class of propertied persons and a corresponding women's culture in which appearances were important. A woman of the Victorian upper middle class did not labour but was seen in public where it was important that she reflect Victorian morals and standards stressing modesty and respectability. The Industrial Revolution had generated a textile revolution in Britain, in addition to materials arriving from colonies led by those in Asia."

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