These dresses may have survived precisely because they were so tiny and therefore difficult to be handed down or made over. The same is true of old sample shoes which were too small to be worn by most women.
Yes, and they also were owned and worn by wealthy women who may have only wore the items a handful of times (or in the case of the wedding gown, just once) and then packed them away for posterity. Women of more average means would not have the luxury of wearing an item only while it was fashionable or for a special occasion and would have likely worn a garment out until it required mending or remaking. ❤
Loved seeing these dresses from the past and all of the information you were able to provide. Just curious as to how tall you are because the two earlier dresses look like they were worn by very short women. At first, I thought the first dress might have been worn by a young girl until you explained the family history. Thank you for your excellent video with all the details of the dresses shown & explained.
That is true. However it also true that people were smaller. We know this bc of science of medicine, as well as historical documents tracking these things.
I was fortunate to wear a size 5 shoes, when they were made in that size, then the went to a 6, and after I reached my late 40's (Child then M-pause) I got to a 6 and am quite pleased ! 😉
@@Angel-ts8rcvery true, but the example from the 1840"s is well below the average for the time. The wearer would have been tiny even by the standard of the time
You could make this a weekly series and I would watch as I'm sure others would as well. This was fascinating and the curator was interesting and lovely to listen to.
I also cant help but notice the ascending height of the dresses - all has very small waists, but the overall height and upper body size increased too. Most people dont know that by the 1830' to 1850's or so, people were the shortest they had been since the Tudor period, and only matched in the dark ages (post Roman occupation but pre 1066). On overage by the tudor and early to mid 1600's, this period saw the average height to be similar of the early 20th C, but gradually declining to the point where by the 1830's, people were the shortest they had ever been. Heights began to increase int he late Victorian and Edwardian period, and continued thru to modern day. Its a stark contrast here with these three dresses andd altho they are isolated examples, this does represent a known trend in human variability over the centuries.
Keep in mind, that a smaller dress would probably been more likely to survive, as larger sizes, as these had more fabric in them, so often would have been made into something new.
@@mellisartandcrafts I understand why you say that, but if they do - its the exception rather than the rule. The actual reality is that 1) if someone really wants to make something out of an existing garment, size is not really a factor - im not only a historical costumer myself but the curator of a local museum where I live. The fabric volume is in the skirt - not the bodice where we change size. Secondly the most important gowns in a womans life in particular tends to be prom dresses, coming out dresses, and wedding dresses. These tend to be lavish, made of silk or Silesia cotton (just as expensive as many silks in the Victorian period) and worn only a few times, and the young women frequently bought different gowns for different occasions, but once married stuck to a smaller number of ensembles. This has been studied prolifically among costume historians. A young woman is typically the smallest she will be during these years of her life as often she hasnt even finished growing. ANd wedding dresses were worn after until tthey didnt fit - there is only so much fit change you can make out of an garment and keep the same silhouette - and by then the fashion has usually completely changed. A bride may have had her dress made to be let out, but once babies arrive, and the years go by, and their body shape changes all together, they tend to store their wedding dress etc. And if they were financial enough they would not only be making another one later after children not because its bigger, but because its no longer in style, and as in Victorian times the silhouette changed so much even within a 5 year period, it was often not possible to make a dress from a previous dress. We have one such example in our museums collection - a Titanic era blue wedding gown, which came from an 1880's bustle skirt, of which we still have the structured bodice, and the original stitch lines can be seen on the new gown. However, this was a much reduced shape of dress. This was the mother using her wedding dress to make her daughters, but only becaause there was between 4 and 6 yards of fabric in the skirt alone.
I agree with you. It is one that I would have enjoyed when I was much younger. So frothy and it looks lightweight. Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful information with us. I'm amazed what the V and A museum has been able to discover in order to successfully preserve clothing for the future. Thank you so much for sharing these beautiful examples of fashion.
Bernadette Banner has videos showing how the lingerie dresses were made, even referencing Mary Poppins. She hand sews and uses 19th century sewing machines.
I would cheerfully listen to any aspect of fashion/garment history Curator Claire cares to discuss: she is knowledgeable, well-spoken and forthright about the problematic history of some garments' content or manufacture. The dresses themselves are wonderful, even without her commentary. And do you notice how incredibly petite the women of those earlier centuries were? Great programme, look forward to many more.
The Smocking alone is incredible! You learn so much from these wonderfully written documentaries. Anyone who's into clothes as much as I am would just love this series!
Fashion history is one of my favorite things to learn about. Please do more videos about the clothing that you have in your museum. When I visited the V&A some years ago my favorite section was the clothing exhibit.
Please do more videos showing off your exhibits and inventory up close! It's such a treat for those of us, who can't afford to travel and visit amazing museums in other countries.
What a fabulous video!!! The speaker's knowledge, voice, and presentation are perfect, and the topic is completely engrossing. Thank you for producing this for us. ❤
These dresses likely survived because of their size. As a woman ages and experiences pregnancies, she will naturally gain weight. She will not be able to fit into the same dress she wore as a young bride, so the dress will be packed away. A larger garment can easily be altered to fit smaller body types, while it is nearly impossible to make a small dress fit a larger body. Also due to the size of the dress, it is likely that it could not have been given to other family members.
I thought the SAME thing. The 1st dress especially, looks like the woman who wore it was very short! The Edwardian dress is my FAVORITE! I LOVE the lace and romantic look. Plus wearing it with a hat and fancy umbrella 🤍
Love the classic gowns. Quite special to see that Charles James gown. His vision were simply contemporary, pretty much ahead of his time. It seems contradicting of those exsisted within the sameness era, but still retain the essence of the whole look
The V&A fashion collection is huge that only a small amount is on display at any one time. I saw the brown cotton wedding dress in 1965 displayed along with other wedding dresses in various colours, many of them dark.
Such beautiful dresses. I've always been fascinated by women's clothing from these time periods. I'd love to be able to try them on for at least a day. It's absolutely crazy how a single person influenced wedding attire and set the cultural norm for centuries to come. I reallyyy wish colored wedding dresses would come back into fashion in the West. I'd so love to see more variety, and just think how gorgeous it'd look.
When I saw the thumbnail for this video, I immediately assumed the 1930’s dress was a ballet costume. I had forgotten that initial impression until she said it was called La Sylphide. At which point my inner dialogue responds with, “obviously!”. Speaking of ballet, and underwear as outerwear, those arm puffs from the first dress are a mainstay of the classic ballet tutu since the 1830’s. Which is itself a take on underwear as outerwear. I never realized until this moment just how risqué the early images of the ballerina were. The ballet La Sylphide, the very work that introduced that aesthetic to the art of ballet premiered in the year 1832.
More please. Really fantastic presenter. Very very thankful to see the references to the colonial provenance of the pieces - an important step to revealing the true histories of objects
The yellow Charles James dress is gorgeous, as is his Four Leaf Clover dress. It was a bit shocking when the camera panned out, and I saw how tiny the brown dress is. I'm guessing that Ms Allen-Johnstone is of average height (by seeing her standing next to the yellow dress), so whoever wore that wedding dress must have been 5', at the most.
Superb video! I love reading 19th and 20th century British novels so this is giving me lots of insight into what the women in those novels would be wearing.
I like how the host explains, I was paying attention to everything she said, she seems very knowledgeable but also approachable. That white dress is dreamy.
I have my mothers wedding dress which is now 80 years old. It was bought from a department store in London called Bourne and Hollingsworth in Oxford Street. It was a beautiful store to visit but is long gone.
It's so refreshing to see this from the V&A after seeing so many videos from other channels on fashion "history" with no cited sources or extant garments 😅
These are so gorgeous and just fascinating amd so well presented by Claire. I find myself wishing I could see the movement of the Charles James dress with that hemine, sigh.
So fascinating, please let us have more videos like this. I'd like to see as many of the dresses as possible from the V&A collection. In fact, after the Dior and Chanel exhibitions, why not one showcasing the wonderful exhibits stored behind the scenes in the V&A, the ones they don't have space to keep on permanent display?
I knew if sorted the comments I'd find someone upset by it being pointed out that slavery played a major role in the creation of the "riches" generated in the industrial revolution. it should be pointed out that slavery is not dead yet and is exploited by wealthy corporations and individuals to maintain the "profitability" of their enterprises.
It was a complicated time. Britain maintained a neutral position in the American Civil War...Lincoln had hoped Britain would join the Union cause because of Britain's anti-slavery position and the South hoped Britain would join their cause because of Britain's dependence upon American cotton. It should be noted that British private blockade runners sent munitions and luxuries to ports in the South in return for cotton. However, by 1862, Britain had to look to Egypt and India for cotton. A large part of the novel, Gone With the Wind, deals with blockade runners as that is how Rhett Butler made his fortune.
It would be nice to see the corsetry that would have gone underneath on a form to illustrate the support that was necessary for these styles. Its a fascinating area of study and has close links into the social history of the times.
Could the fasteners on the brown cotton dress be missing because they were removed for recycling? I know I have removed buttons or other fasteners and zippers from clothing I’ve discarded.
Every bit of this was fascinating but all I can think about in the first dress is that they were sewn into it! I wonder why they didn’t have hooks added later? To make it a daily wear dress! It’s great for us that it wasn’t though as it survived so beautifully
People were generally shorter in Victorian times. I think only from the 20th Century onwards, with better nutrition, better hygiene and advances in medicine, people become stronger, healthier and taller - and they live longer too.
Excellent presentation! However, I have a question about the provenance of the cotton textile used in the creation of the paisley fabric of the first dress. I understand India has been in the cotton trade since the 1600’s. In fact, Ghandi himself spun cotton. You mention the enslaved in the US having a hand in this cotton textile creation; I would like to question this. Since the dress was created in the UK, and the UK had not only the East India Company but British rule over India at the time, this textile more than likely came from cotton in India, as did many pashmina shawls, both authentic and faux. Is this a possibility? Thank you.
The U.S. supplied Britain with the majority of it's cotton during this time period. The inexpensive price provided by enslaved labor contributed to Britain's reluctance to honor the US blockade of southern states during the American civil war in 1860's.
The white dress: your suggestion of a perhaps ill fitting reason for the construction is very unlikely. This technique is still used to this day in the "flou" ateliers of Haute Couture. Its purpose is to support the shape and drape of the very light and soft top fabric without deterring to its delicate look or to its less opaque quality, like one would if one used interfacing or boning (as was done with the high collars of the era made in the same delicate fabric though. I remember my grandmother and my great grandmother showing me these skills when I was still a young child, as they had both worked for some time in Haute Couture before getting married.
It absolutely is! It's even more surprising that they confused it with an actual corset since they got the 1860s era right (though they were also popular at times through the rest of the century). So odd!
Can you even imagine being sewn into a dress each time you put it on. The ladies maid must have been worth her weight in gold! The Edwardian dress is lovely. I can't imagine wearing anything so delicate. The third dress is almost costume-y. Mustard yellow is not my favorite color, but the cut is interesting.
I just learned today that the printed cotton fabrics first found their way to Europe from India. At first it was problematic for the European textile market who didn't have such intricate colorstories or motifs. This caused the textiles to be banned at first, but because they were so popular with their long lasting pigments and a softer feel, they were eventually not banned anymore. In France's case, the ban was lifted right as they began producing their own printed cotton.
I love this subject matter, I'd love a whole series of these videos examining the different dresses in the V&A collection
Noted! Make sure you're subscribed 👀
same!
Me too, i'd love more similar content
same i love this so much!!!
Agreed, yes please!
These dresses may have survived precisely because they were so tiny and therefore difficult to be handed down or made over. The same is true of old sample shoes which were too small to be worn by most women.
Yes, and they also were owned and worn by wealthy women who may have only wore the items a handful of times (or in the case of the wedding gown, just once) and then packed them away for posterity. Women of more average means would not have the luxury of wearing an item only while it was fashionable or for a special occasion and would have likely worn a garment out until it required mending or remaking. ❤
Loved seeing these dresses from the past and all of the information you were able to provide. Just curious as to how tall you are because the two earlier dresses look like they were worn by very short women. At first, I thought the first dress might have been worn by a young girl until you explained the family history. Thank you for your excellent video with all the details of the dresses shown & explained.
That is true. However it also true that people were smaller. We know this bc of science of medicine, as well as historical documents tracking these things.
I was fortunate to wear a size 5 shoes, when they were made in that size, then the went to a 6, and after I reached my late 40's (Child then M-pause) I got to a 6 and am quite pleased ! 😉
@@Angel-ts8rcvery true, but the example from the 1840"s is well below the average for the time. The wearer would have been tiny even by the standard of the time
Ms. Allen-Johnstone is so articulate - informative, clear, interesting. Well done!
You could make this a weekly series and I would watch as I'm sure others would as well. This was fascinating and the curator was interesting and lovely to listen to.
the yellow dress is just GORGEOUS
Here I was thinking just the opposite lol
It's so beautiful, I don't want to stop looking at it!
Really impressed.
The floral one is a masterpiece.
✨️🎗
I never realized edwardian gowns/shirts were made with so many little pieces of different types of lace!
This was so well done! The dresses are beautiful, and I learned so much from the commentary.
I also cant help but notice the ascending height of the dresses - all has very small waists, but the overall height and upper body size increased too. Most people dont know that by the 1830' to 1850's or so, people were the shortest they had been since the Tudor period, and only matched in the dark ages (post Roman occupation but pre 1066). On overage by the tudor and early to mid 1600's, this period saw the average height to be similar of the early 20th C, but gradually declining to the point where by the 1830's, people were the shortest they had ever been. Heights began to increase int he late Victorian and Edwardian period, and continued thru to modern day. Its a stark contrast here with these three dresses andd altho they are isolated examples, this does represent a known trend in human variability over the centuries.
Somehow,better genes came to the island,and improved gene pool,it seems
Keep in mind, that a smaller dress would probably been more likely to survive, as larger sizes, as these had more fabric in them, so often would have been made into something new.
@@mellisartandcrafts I understand why you say that, but if they do - its the exception rather than the rule. The actual reality is that 1) if someone really wants to make something out of an existing garment, size is not really a factor - im not only a historical costumer myself but the curator of a local museum where I live. The fabric volume is in the skirt - not the bodice where we change size. Secondly the most important gowns in a womans life in particular tends to be prom dresses, coming out dresses, and wedding dresses. These tend to be lavish, made of silk or Silesia cotton (just as expensive as many silks in the Victorian period) and worn only a few times, and the young women frequently bought different gowns for different occasions, but once married stuck to a smaller number of ensembles. This has been studied prolifically among costume historians. A young woman is typically the smallest she will be during these years of her life as often she hasnt even finished growing. ANd wedding dresses were worn after until tthey didnt fit - there is only so much fit change you can make out of an garment and keep the same silhouette - and by then the fashion has usually completely changed. A bride may have had her dress made to be let out, but once babies arrive, and the years go by, and their body shape changes all together, they tend to store their wedding dress etc. And if they were financial enough they would not only be making another one later after children not because its bigger, but because its no longer in style, and as in Victorian times the silhouette changed so much even within a 5 year period, it was often not possible to make a dress from a previous dress. We have one such example in our museums collection - a Titanic era blue wedding gown, which came from an 1880's bustle skirt, of which we still have the structured bodice, and the original stitch lines can be seen on the new gown. However, this was a much reduced shape of dress. This was the mother using her wedding dress to make her daughters, but only becaause there was between 4 and 6 yards of fabric in the skirt alone.
I love the description of “frothy” for the Edwardian dress
The caliber of these videos from V&A is unparalleled! Just so incredibly well done, informative and thoroughly enjoyable. Thank you. 👏👏👏👏👏
Wow dress number 2 is a dream!
I agree! It reminds me of Mary Poppins’ dress from the Jolly Holiday scene 😍
I agree with you. It is one that I would have enjoyed when I was much younger. So frothy and it looks lightweight.
Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful information with us. I'm amazed what the V and A museum has been able to discover in order to successfully preserve clothing for the future.
Thank you so much for sharing these beautiful examples of fashion.
Bernadette Banner has videos showing how the lingerie dresses were made, even referencing Mary Poppins. She hand sews and uses 19th century sewing machines.
@@amandagreen4332 seen it! Beautiful. Obsessed! Bernadette is 👌
I would cheerfully listen to any aspect of fashion/garment history Curator Claire cares to discuss: she is knowledgeable, well-spoken and forthright about the problematic history of some garments' content or manufacture. The dresses themselves are wonderful, even without her commentary. And do you notice how incredibly petite the women of those earlier centuries were? Great programme, look forward to many more.
The Smocking alone is incredible! You learn so much from these wonderfully written documentaries. Anyone who's into clothes as much as I am would just love this series!
What smocking?
Fashion history is one of my favorite things to learn about. Please do more videos about the clothing that you have in your museum. When I visited the V&A some years ago my favorite section was the clothing exhibit.
Make sure you're subscribed and notifications are on! We've got some very special things to come ✨
@@vamuseum
I would never sub to a channel that continuously throws in white guilt BS comments. They ruined an otherwise nice video.
Please do more videos showing off your exhibits and inventory up close!
It's such a treat for those of us, who can't afford to travel and visit amazing museums in other countries.
What a fabulous video!!! The speaker's knowledge, voice, and presentation are perfect, and the topic is completely engrossing. Thank you for producing this for us. ❤
It never ceases to amaze me how small people were. She looks like a giant standing next to those dresses!
These dresses likely survived because of their size. As a woman ages and experiences pregnancies, she will naturally gain weight. She will not be able to fit into the same dress she wore as a young bride, so the dress will be packed away. A larger garment can easily be altered to fit smaller body types, while it is nearly impossible to make a small dress fit a larger body. Also due to the size of the dress, it is likely that it could not have been given to other family members.
I thought the SAME thing. The 1st dress especially, looks like the woman who wore it was very short!
The Edwardian dress is my FAVORITE! I LOVE the lace and romantic look. Plus wearing it with a hat and fancy umbrella 🤍
Love the classic gowns. Quite special to see that Charles James gown. His vision were simply contemporary, pretty much ahead of his time. It seems contradicting of those exsisted within the sameness era, but still retain the essence of the whole look
That Edwardian day dress is so beautiful I very nearly cried.
My favourite museum in London, and completely free! Thank you
The V&A fashion collection is huge that only a small amount is on display at any one time. I saw the brown cotton wedding dress in 1965 displayed along with other wedding dresses in various colours, many of them dark.
Fabulous! Long enough to learn something, short enough to keep one’s attention. Thank you!
The 1930s Charles James piece is stunning.
He was doing Madonna, B4...Madonna! LOL
Fantastic series, I hope it continues and we get to see more pieces from the collections. I'd also be so excited to see children and men's wear!
I loved this video, very interesting and illustrative ✨🌻🧡 Plus, still has that ASMR tone so needed nowadays 🪻Please, do more of this 🌸
Wonderful video. The V&A always does such a wonderful job!
Such beautiful dresses. I've always been fascinated by women's clothing from these time periods. I'd love to be able to try them on for at least a day. It's absolutely crazy how a single person influenced wedding attire and set the cultural norm for centuries to come. I reallyyy wish colored wedding dresses would come back into fashion in the West. I'd so love to see more variety, and just think how gorgeous it'd look.
I love seeing these dresses in detail and getting the historical context of each, thank you for this video and more please!
When I saw the thumbnail for this video, I immediately assumed the 1930’s dress was a ballet costume. I had forgotten that initial impression until she said it was called La Sylphide. At which point my inner dialogue responds with, “obviously!”.
Speaking of ballet, and underwear as outerwear, those arm puffs from the first dress are a mainstay of the classic ballet tutu since the 1830’s. Which is itself a take on underwear as outerwear.
I never realized until this moment just how risqué the early images of the ballerina were.
The ballet La Sylphide, the very work that introduced that aesthetic to the art of ballet premiered in the year 1832.
Amazing - thank you for posting! 🙂
Stunningly beautiful examples from their eras, thank you!
Glad you enjoyed it!
More please. Really fantastic presenter. Very very thankful to see the references to the colonial provenance of the pieces - an important step to revealing the true histories of objects
Perfection in all aspects! Thank you for the lovely, engaging yet informative presentation. Please, more of the same. Perhaps in ten year segments.
When I watched the yellow dress, I immediately recalled Aurora 😄👍🏼 Very interesting video, I liked all three gowns. Thanks
It's a bit Beauty and the Beast too, isn't it? A dress fit for a princess!
What I find incredible is, seeing the dresses lined up chronologically, including the narrator, how much taller we as humans have grown in 200 years.
With that first dress, the print actually looks quite modern up close
Love this. Thank you for wonderful narration.
The Clover Dress is breathtaking.
Best age of fashion tbh. So expressive
Loved this - so fascinating learning about the different styles and changes to fashion over the years. All gorgeous 😍
This curator is so passionate and knowledgeable. I can't stop watching these! So interesting ❤
The charles james 1930s dress is absolutely stunning ! I love every aspect of it! Thank you, this was very interesting!
Wonderful content, thank you so much!
The yellow Charles James dress is gorgeous, as is his Four Leaf Clover dress.
It was a bit shocking when the camera panned out, and I saw how tiny the brown dress is. I'm guessing that Ms Allen-Johnstone is of average height (by seeing her standing next to the yellow dress), so whoever wore that wedding dress must have been 5', at the most.
Probably partly why it was put in a box and never worn again.
This was wonderful, more please!
Superb video! I love reading 19th and 20th century British novels so this is giving me lots of insight into what the women in those novels would be wearing.
The edwardian dress is breathtaking. I hope this style comes back. Its so elegant and feminine.
I like how the host explains, I was paying attention to everything she said, she seems very knowledgeable but also approachable. That white dress is dreamy.
I have my mothers wedding dress which is now 80 years old. It was bought from a department store in London called Bourne and Hollingsworth in Oxford Street. It was a beautiful store to visit but is long gone.
I do so love Charles James designs.
It's so refreshing to see this from the V&A after seeing so many videos from other channels on fashion "history" with no cited sources or extant garments 😅
These are so gorgeous and just fascinating amd so well presented by Claire.
I find myself wishing I could see the movement of the Charles James dress with that hemine, sigh.
Lovely!!! I'd love to see more of these.
Wonderful presentation. Please consider a selection from 1880's, 1900's and 1920's. Thank you.
So entusiast .
The curator Is genial .
The yellow is so precious and will be beautiful in any era. This is why is a piece of art itself.
Love these videos ❤
So fascinating, please let us have more videos like this. I'd like to see as many of the dresses as possible from the V&A collection. In fact, after the Dior and Chanel exhibitions, why not one showcasing the wonderful exhibits stored behind the scenes in the V&A, the ones they don't have space to keep on permanent display?
More historical fashion videos like this, please!!
❤thank you for sharing your knowledge of the history and intricacies of making these beautiful dresses. 👏🏾🌹I love your teaching style!
Thank you for a very informing and intersting explanation of this. Very well done thank you
How interesting to learn about Paisley!
The Charles James gown is absolutely divine
Absolutely fascinating. It’s history told through fashion - and through such beautiful items.
I ABSOLUTELY love the paisley print on the first dress and could see myself wearing that if I was from that time.
This is very interesting. The different dresses speak volume about the different eras.
I love the shape of the Brown dress!! Stunning!!
I am obsessed with that material pattern of the Victorian dress
I knew if sorted the comments I'd find someone upset by it being
pointed out that slavery played a major role in the creation of the "riches"
generated in the industrial revolution.
it should be pointed out that slavery is not dead yet and is exploited
by wealthy corporations and individuals to maintain the "profitability"
of their enterprises.
It was a complicated time. Britain maintained a neutral position in the American Civil War...Lincoln had hoped Britain would join the Union cause because of Britain's anti-slavery position and the South hoped Britain would join their cause because of Britain's dependence upon American cotton. It should be noted that British private blockade runners sent munitions and luxuries to ports in the South in return for cotton. However, by 1862, Britain had to look to Egypt and India for cotton. A large part of the novel, Gone With the Wind, deals with blockade runners as that is how Rhett Butler made his fortune.
Whoever wore the first two dresses were pretty short! Thanks for the interesting video!
So love this!!! Thank you so much🎉
Wonderful content; beautiful and informative
I love Charles James's Creations they are amazing
The Edwardian dresses are always my favourites. I'd love to know how a dress like that would be cleaned (especially under the arms).
The last one is my favourite!! soo pretty 😍
Lovely video great information, thank you.🌹
I want to wear dresses like that! 😍
It would be nice to see the corsetry that would have gone underneath on a form to illustrate the support that was necessary for these styles. Its a fascinating area of study and has close links into the social history of the times.
Could the fasteners on the brown cotton dress be missing because they were removed for recycling? I know I have removed buttons or other fasteners and zippers from clothing I’ve discarded.
Every bit of this was fascinating but all I can think about in the first dress is that they were sewn into it! I wonder why they didn’t have hooks added later? To make it a daily wear dress! It’s great for us that it wasn’t though as it survived so beautifully
This was so interesting!
So fascinating…all fashion..
Great video, thank you. ❤
Very interesting content! For contrast, is Claire Allen-Johnstone quite tall, or were the dresses worn by very short women?
As people started eating more and receiving better medical care, we got taller! I noticed too how the dresses get taller as they get later
People were generally shorter in Victorian times. I think only from the 20th Century onwards, with better nutrition, better hygiene and advances in medicine, people become stronger, healthier and taller - and they live longer too.
People especially women used to be smaller, smaller feet too!
all three are fabulous in their own right💜
Excellent presentation! However, I have a question about the provenance of the cotton textile used in the creation of the paisley fabric of the first dress. I understand India has been in the cotton trade since the 1600’s. In fact, Ghandi himself spun cotton. You mention the enslaved in the US having a hand in this cotton textile creation; I would like to question this. Since the dress was created in the UK, and the UK had not only the East India Company but British rule over India at the time, this textile more than likely came from cotton in India, as did many pashmina shawls, both authentic and faux. Is this a possibility? Thank you.
The U.S. supplied Britain with the majority of it's cotton during this time period. The inexpensive price provided by enslaved labor contributed to Britain's reluctance to honor the US blockade of southern states during the American civil war in 1860's.
Yes, fashion of the early 30s was quite different to the late 30s.
The white dress: your suggestion of a perhaps ill fitting reason for the construction is very unlikely. This technique is still used to this day in the "flou" ateliers of Haute Couture. Its purpose is to support the shape and drape of the very light and soft top fabric without deterring to its delicate look or to its less opaque quality, like one would if one used interfacing or boning (as was done with the high collars of the era made in the same delicate fabric though.
I remember my grandmother and my great grandmother showing me these skills when I was still a young child, as they had both worked for some time in Haute Couture before getting married.
I thought the waist piece on the third dress was a Swiss Waist, referencing the 19th century fashion to wear a corset-like belt over the dress.
was going to say exactly that, thank you
It absolutely is! It's even more surprising that they confused it with an actual corset since they got the 1860s era right (though they were also popular at times through the rest of the century). So odd!
Can you even imagine being sewn into a dress each time you put it on. The ladies maid must have been worth her weight in gold!
The Edwardian dress is lovely. I can't imagine wearing anything so delicate.
The third dress is almost costume-y. Mustard yellow is not my favorite color, but the cut is interesting.
Irrelevant that mustard yellow is not your favourite colour. Ruined your post.
I adore a paisley pattern. I notice how tiny people were in that time. Even in the 50’s as well.
very interesting ❤
💖💕💖💕💖💕
I loved. Thankful 🙏💖
I’d wear and want that first brown dress and a few others from this video! Seamstress were talented to be able to HAND SEW those dresses, wow!!!
Lovely 🌹
Lovely ❤
thank you for sharing! reminding me that i have an edwardian dress to fix! (a lit of a later one 1910-1913 ish)
Oh wow. What a joy!
@@vamuseum yay 🥰
I just learned today that the printed cotton fabrics first found their way to Europe from India. At first it was problematic for the European textile market who didn't have such intricate colorstories or motifs. This caused the textiles to be banned at first, but because they were so popular with their long lasting pigments and a softer feel, they were eventually not banned anymore. In France's case, the ban was lifted right as they began producing their own printed cotton.
anyone know what the background music track is at the start of the video?
For scale, I'd love to know how tall Ms. Allen-Johnstone is. The 1830 gown is for a much shorter woman.