Edwardian Wear
March 3, 2008
An interesting note about late Victorian dress and its effect on later dress is the way that underwear gained special importance as an item of dress. And there is the chemise part of the underwear and the drawers too! I think that lingerie began to be developed as a specific area in the late Victorian and Edwardian period and it is strange perhaps to still talk about the chemise and drawers as the main underclothes. Still they were the main underwear and most people wore them. Combos too were beginning to be popular and in widespread use.
I would like to write about men’s underclothes and the developments in their wear. For one thing, the use of the flat front in trousers was something that gradually became widespread throughout the nineteenth century and certainly was in use in the late Victorian period. Anyway tailoring as an important discipline was gradually succumbing to industrialisation. One can imagine how specific industrial methods were established to make all items of dress. These notes contain reference to various events influencing dress such as industrialisation but the main object of interest is the exact nature of clothes in the late Victorian and Edwardian period.
Specialisation seems to be important. See how the corset with its specific methods of construction and its use of a specific fabric as well as lining is obviously so different to the cotton chemise re: fabric and construction beneath. Some images of drawers too have that silky look and with the chemise and corset, you can perhaps imagine the different materials and fabrics and then one hasn’t got to the bodice itself ! It is the same with men. Remember the glamorous silk waistcoats that men wore in the mid Victorian period. Glamorous silks came from the East and Victorian men were keen to use these silks for their waistcoats. This is an interesting point.
Still the different materials and contrasts in materials seen with the corset and the chemise/drawers could lead to the development of new and sophisticated items of underwear. As said it is known that lingerie began to be developed as a specialised form of clothing in the early twentieth century. Remember too the analysis of the corset and how it affected the physical form. The corset has a natural look and one can imagine how the Victorians and Edwardians would think it natural for the body to be supported and shaped. The chemise and drawers were put on and then the body needed to be shaped and thus there was the corset! Still if the corset was used in early Edwardian times, one has to remember the developing views of the Victorians re: the corset and whether it was good for the body. What could replace it? Maybe one needed to get rid of all the layers i.e. the chemise and the drawers. Anyway you could make the chemise into a specialised item of wear e.g vest. The combo could be developed into a slip or maybe pyjamas. The corset, the aim of which was to shape the body, could be done away with. If the bust needed support, there was the brassiere and if you really wanted shape at the waist and hips, specialised items of dress could be developed e.g. the girdle.
http://pineapplesoup.deviantart.com/art/Edwardian-78990859
