Edwardian Fashion

Renowned for its graciousness and elegance, the fashions of the 1910s would undergo some quite revolutionary changes. In the early years of Edward VII's reign fashionable ladies wore delicately colored, flower-and-lace-trimmed trailing gowns over tight corsets, accessorized by elaborate hairstyles. Women scoured the new fashion magazines to see the new designs from Parisian couturiers, such as Worth and Jeanne Paquin. From around 1906, these excessively luxurious fashions began to fade away, with a new designer, Paul Poiret, causing a stir with his richly colored column gowns and turbans. By 1914, women's wear was transformed with women wearing boldly colored, dramatically stylized Eastern-inspired kimono wraps, slender hobble skirts, ankle-skimming tunic dresses and turbans. Daniel Milford-Cottam explains these new developments in fashion, and how different fashions were worn by both the most fashionable ladies, and those on more limited budgets. The book will also look at the evolution of men's wear during this period, including the development of the more modern three-piece suit and more relaxed, less formal menswear.