Victorian Clothing Essay, Research Paper

Through out history people have been influenced by many things in society, art, music, and role models are all some of examples. One of the biggest things that makes us who we are and that we can use to tell other people what we are all about is clothing. Lawyers and doctors don’t wear jeans and t-shirts. Instead they may sport a coat or shirt and tie. You don’t see many garbage men wearing suits and tuxes. It was the same way through history as it is today. Clothing is, many times, very much over looked. Clothing in the dark ages where tainted with black and gray colors. Very plain and blunt styles were used, as different to the Enlightenment era where colors were first used and showed up in some clothing. During the time when Queen Victoria was ruling, France and British were very elegant yet plain in the same sense. Women wore dresses with dull colors yet were big and bulky. One of the most popular eras for clothing, even today, is the Victorian style. Victorian style is a combination of both light and dark colors that are put onto expensive fabrics and usually given an elaborate design. The main contrast between Victorian clothing and Queen’s style was the amount of skin showing on the women’s dresses and clothing. The Queen did not permit any skin being shown save the face and neck. Women were expected to ware gloves and dresses or aprons that went down past their feet or ankles. The men wore a button plain button down shirt. Most men would wear a dark vest with two or three buttons on it and button one or two. On the bottom they would ware black or gray pants. This was one of the first times it became rather popular to ware a hat outside. The hats were usually light colors, maybe a tan or light blue color. The women wore dresses and even long skirts or dresses of different colors and styles. The milk maid style is very popular. The women would sometimes were dresses with aprons over them. The aprons were not like the ones we have today. Instead they are very intricate with designs and come in many colors. The colors were usually soft and casual yet when put with the very beautiful designs they were quite a sight. The women, like men sometimes wore hats or, in some cases, bonnets. The bonnets were usually big and very decorated. A women might ware flowers or other items in the hat to show it off. The children wore the same thing as men. They were expected to be and look like little men. They wore suits and everything. This affected their status as well. The needed to act like young responsible men to be respected by there elders.The classes were another big part of the way that people dressed in the Victorian era. The classes were broken up into three groups. The rich and wealthy dresses with the most elegant fabrics and designs and colors, overall the most rich and sought after of the three. The middle class was mostly land merchants and they wore less valuable versions of the rich and wealthy. The fabric and material was not the highest of value and the colors and designs not the most beautiful. The last class did not wear any Victorian cloths. They poor wore whatever they could find and they did not worry about clothing. The last thing about the Victorian style that should be noted is the comparison to today’s styles. The ability to tell what somebody did for a living was very commonly easily to posses just by looking at their clothing. A women farmer, for example, would ware a white dirty dress that went down to above the chins with no stockings so they would not get dirty. The men farmers would do the same with jeans, pulling them up and still wearing the long sleeve button down shirts. One way to tell if something was important and worth while to our history is to see if it stands the test of time. The Victorian era has done this with no doubt. One of the first thing most people think of when the word Victorian is mentioned is the clothing that came form the time.