Tag Archives: Victorian fashion

What do you know about Chatelaines and Chains worn in Jane Austen’s and Bridgerton times? Women in charge of households carried important items with them. #Bridgerton #JaneAusten #RegencyEra #GeorgianEra #VictorianEra

Suzi Love Posted on by

Chatelaines and Chains History Notes Book 9 By Suzi Love. What do you know about Chatelaines and Chains worn in Jane Austen’s and Bridgerton times? Women in charge of households carried important items with them. History Notes Book 9 Chatelaines and Chains. books2read.com/SuziLoveChatelaines

Personal Necessities, keys, or chatelaines was a set of useful items hung from waist by decorative chain. Chatelaines and Chains. History Notes Book 9 By Suzi Love. Women in charge of households dangled long chains from their waists to keep essentials within easy reach e.g. keys, notebook and pen, watch, sewing items, vinaigrette or perfume, or magnifying glass. Early chatelaine were simple essentials. Later chatelaine were decorative and expensive. http://books2read.com/SuziLoveChatelaines

Definition Chatelaine: The word Chatelaine is French and means the keeper of the keys. Chatelaine” derives from the Latin word for castle. In Medieval times, the chatelaine was in charge of the day-to-day running of the castle. Women in charge of households dangled long chains from their waists to keep essentials within easy reach e.g. keys, notebook and pen, watch, sewing items, vinaigrette or perfume, or magnifying glass. Early chatelaine were simple essentials. Later chatelaine were decorative and expensive. books2read.com/SuziLoveChatelaines

What did a chatelaine do? Most important task was keeper of the keys. Also ordered supplies, did bookkeeping, supervised servants, taught castle children, and organized guests.

What were chatelaines used for?

  • Castle keepers needed keys safe, yet easily accessible.
  • By 1700’s, a metal jeweled ornament hung from pockets, attached to belts, or by hooks into skirt waistbands
  • During 1800’s, women wore large collections of tools hung from chains
  • Young girls sewed and did needlework and needed to carry sewing notions eg scissors, thimbles
  • Worn by women of all classes, from workers to nobility
  • Varied depending on class and finances.
  • Made of silver, brass, steel, leather, or fabric
  • During 19th century, fashionable dresses often had no waist and nowhere to hang chatelaines
  • Chatelaines became decorative brooches
  • Often given as a wedding present from a husband to bride
  • Later became fashion accessories
HN_9 Chatelaines and Chains History Notes Book 9 books2read.com:SuziLoveChatelaines
HN_9 Chatelaines and Chains History Notes Book 9
books2read.com:SuziLoveChatelaines
HN_9_D2D_Chatelaines and Chains
D2D_RetailerBuyLink_HN_9. Chatelaines and Chains History Notes Book 9 books2read.com/SuziLoveChatelaines

1850 ca. Beaded Crochet Reticule, or Coin Purse. #VictorianFashion #HistoricalFashion #Reticule

Suzi Love avatarPosted on by

1850 ca. Beaded Crochet Reticule, or Coin Purse. #VictorianFashion #HistoricalFashion #Reticule. http://books2read.com/suziloveReticules

Continue reading →

1880s-1890s Bust improvers added extra padding. #VictorianFashion #VictorianEra #Corset

Suzi Love Posted on by

1880s-1890s Bust improvers.In the late Victorian years, the emphasis was on the silhouette so sometimes ‘bust-improvers’ were used to provide extra padding to the bust shape.

1880s-1890s Bust improvers.
1880s-1890s Bust improvers.
HN _20_D2D_Corsets 1880-1900 https://books2read.com/SuziLoveCorsetBook20

Do you read or write Historical Romance? Want an overview of corsets worn during the Bridgerton and Jane Austen years? History Notes Book 14. #Bridgerton #JaneAusten #GeorgianFashion #RegencyFashion #Corset

Suzi Love Posted on by

This book shows how body wraps, stays, and corsets were worn to create a variety of fashionable silhouettes through past centuries. Corsets flattened breasts and accentuated rounded hips or pushed up breasts and showed off the bust line depending on the fashions of the time and the desired silhouette. Overview of corsets through history, including the Georgian, Regency, Victorian and Edwardian Eras, and the Bridgerton and Jane Austen’ years. History Notes Book 14.

https://books2read.com/SuziLoveCorsetBook14

The name stays probably comes from the French estayer meaning to support. The word corset, which comes from the French word corps for body, had been in use centuries earlier, though often with not quite the same meaning. By  the beginning of the 19th century when these undergarments took on more shape and form, the word corset was generally used instead of stays.

During the 1820s, fashions changed from the loose and flowing Regency Era or Empire style gowns and the waistline lowered back to almost the natural position. Towards the mid 1800s, breast cups were added to corsets to give more support and breast comfort.  Corsets were lengthened to the hip and gussets added in both the bust area and over the hips. Therefore corsets had more shaping but with less boning. 

From the 1820s onwards, menbegan to wear corsets and this continued through the Romantic Era, though the men who wore corsets usually claimed they needed them for back pain. 

Queen Victoria ruled England from 1837 to 1901 and at the beginning of her reign, dress waists were around their natural line. But as the years of her reign progressed, fashionable waists became thinner and corsets were redesigned to give more of an hourglass figure. 

Early Victorian Era corsets were cotton, boned with mainly whale bone, laced at the back and with tiny hooks and eyes up the front for front fastening.  By the middle of the century, corsets were beginning to be more decorative with embroidery and ribbons and then later made of colorful silks and satins.

HN_14_Corsets Overview History Notes Nonfiction Book 14 This book shows how body wraps, stays, and corsets were worn to create a variety of fashionable silhouettes through past centuries. Corsets flattened breasts and accentuated rounded hips or pushed up breasts and showed off the bust line depending on the fashions of the time and the desired silhouette. Includes corsets through the Georgian, Regency, Victorian and Edwardian Eras and Jane Austen's lifetime. Overview of corsets through history, including the Georgian, Regency, Victorian and Edwardian Eras and Jane Austen's lifetime. https://books2read.com/SuziLoveCorsetBook14
D2D Corsets Overview Book 14 https://books2read.com/SuziLoveCorsetBook14

1851-1860 ca. Queen Victoria’s Ivory Silk Satin Dancing Slippers, English. #VictorianEra #QueenVictoria #Shoes #BritishHistory

Suzi Love Posted on by

1851-1860 ca. Queen Victoria’s Ivory Silk Satin Dancing Slippers, English. Made by Richard Gundry, Gundry and Co., Soho Square, London, U.K.

shoes_1851-1860 ca. Queen Victoria's Ivory Silk Satin Dancing Slippers, English. By Richard Gundry, Gundry and Co., Soho Square, London, U.K.
Suzi Love Book Bub https://www.bookbub.com/profile/suzi-love

Fascinated with historical fashion? Treat yourself to a nonfiction Box Set on corsets, including Bridgerton and Jane Austen years. #Bridgerton #JaneAusten #Historicalfashion #Corset #nonfiction

Suzi Love Posted on by

Fascinated with historical fashion? Treat yourself to a nonfiction Box Set on corsets, including Bridgerton and Jane Austen years. Corsets Box Set History Notes Book 22. This Box Set combines corset books 14-21 to give a complete picture of the progression of corset styles from 1700 through to the 1900s, including Jane Austen’s lifetime. These books show how body wraps, stays, and corsets were worn through the centuries to create a variety of fashionable silhouettes through various historical eras. Corsets flattened breasts and accentuated rounded hips or pushed up breasts and showed off the bust line depending on the fashions of the time and the desired silhouette. https://books2read.com/SuziLoveCorsetBook22

HN_22_Corsets Box Set History Notes Book 22 This Box Set combines corset books 14-21 to give a complete picture of the progression of corset styles from 1700 through to the 1900s, including Jane Austen's lifetime. These books show how body wraps, stays, and corsets were worn through the centuries to create a variety of fashionable silhouettes through various historical eras. Corsets flattened breasts and accentuated rounded hips or pushed up breasts and showed off the bust line depending on the fashions of the time and the desired silhouette. Box Set combining Corset books 14-21 to give a complete picture of the progression of corset styles from 1700 through to the 1900s, including Jane Austen's lifetime. https://books2read.com/SuziLoveCorsetBook22
HN_22_D2D_Corset Box Set https://books2read.com/SuziLoveCorsetBook22
HN_22_D2D_Corset Box Set

1845-1865 ca. Cream Silk Evening Slippers With Ankle Ties, British. #Shoes #VictorianFashion #britishhistory

Suzi Love Posted on by

1845-1865 ca. Cream Silk Evening Slippers, British. Cream evening shoes with ankle ties and lace trim. Trim is unusual because mid 19th Century ladies’ shoes were often plain as only toes showed beneath fashionable long skirts. Designed By Hobbs, famous London shoemaker, and with a label attached to lining with a regal crest to show maker’s royal patronage. via Metropolitan Museum, NYC, U.S.A. metmuseum.org

1845-1865 ca. Cream Silk Evening Slippers, British. Cream evening shoes with ankle ties and lace trim. Trim is unusual because mid 19th Century ladies’ shoes were often plain as only toes showed beneath fashionable long skirts.
HN_28_D2D_Fashion Women 1815-1819 https://books2read.com/SuziLoveFashionWomen1815-1819
Fashion Women 1815-1819 History Notes Book 28 https://books2read.com/SuziLoveFashionWomen1815-1819

1875-1899 ca. Side Lacing Maternity Corset, Possibly England Or Germany. #VictorianEra #History #Corset

Suzi Love Posted on by

1875-1899 ca. Side Lacing Maternity Corset, Possibly England Or Germany. Embroidered cotton with metal and boning, possibly used as a maternity corset. This corset is made of cream cotton with red machine-embroidered trim and trimmed with a scallop edged tape. The corset is made in four parts and fastens at the front with a busk and with five white metal loops and studs. At the back are seventeen sets of white metal bound eyelets for threading through a lace. At each side, there are twelves sets of metal bound eyelets to fasten with elasticated laces. There is a vertical opening at the bust which fastens with three bronze gilt press studs, clamped into the fabric, and a diamond pattern impressed on the head which shows on the face of the fabric. On the reverse of the stud is a mark. 

The corsets reach from the bust to the middle of the hip descending to a point at about the middle of the belly in the centre front. They are machine-stitched and seem lightly boned, encased and sewn to the face of the fabric. Bound at the top and bottom with grey tape. The breast gussets and side lacing suggest this is a maternity corset. Corsets designed for pregnancy and nursing were advertised throughout the 19th century. This maternity corset is a typical example. It is constructed like a fashionable corset, with boning and a central busk. It has side laces, to enable the wearer to adjust the corset to her changing figure. The cups can be opened for breastfeeding by releasing the press studs.  via Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK.

1875-1899 ca. Side Lacing Maternity Corset, Possibly England Or Germany. via collections.vam.ac.uk
1875-1899 ca. Side Lacing Maternity Corset, Possibly England Or Germany. via collections.vam.ac.uk
1875-1899 ca. Side Lacing Maternity Corset, Possibly England Or Germany. via collections.vam.ac.uk
1875-1899 ca. Side Lacing Maternity Corset, Possibly England Or Germany. via collections.vam.ac.uk
1875-1899 ca. Side Lacing Maternity Corset, Possibly England Or Germany. SideView. via collections.vam.ac.uk
1875-1899 ca. Side Lacing Maternity Corset, Possibly England Or Germany. SideView. via collections.vam.ac.uk
1875-1899 ca. Side Lacing Maternity Corset, Possibly England Or Germany. #corset #maternity #victorianfashion https://books2read.com/SuziLoveCorsetBook19
Post On X
HN_19_D2D_Corsets 1850-1880
HN_19_D2D_Corsets 1850-1880 https://books2read.com/SuziLoveCorsetBook19

1800s Men’s Top Hat Styles Chart from Bridgerton and Jane Austen years. #Bridgerton #JaneAusten #RegencyFashion #Hats

Suzi Love Posted on by

Top Hat Styles Chart during the 1800s, from the Regency Era through to the Victorian years. Most popular style was cone shaped and tall in height. Originally made of beaver and very short but later from silk and taller. Tall crown, widens at top, narrow brim turns up slightly at sides.

Top Hat Styles Chart. Most popular style was cone shaped and tall in height. Originally made of beaver and very short but later from silk and taller. Tall crown, widens at top, narrow brim turns up slightly at sides.
1800s Men’s Top Hat Styles Chart from Bridgerton and Jane Austen years. #Bridgerton #JaneAusten #RegencyFashion #Hats https://books2read.com/SuziLoveFashionMen1800-1819
Post On X
HN_23_D2D_Fashion Men 1800-1819
https://books2read.com/SuziLoveFashionMen1800-1819

1830-1850 Romantic Era Corsets Provided Support and Gave Fashionable Silhouette. #Corsets #RomanticEra #HistoricalFashion

Suzi Love Posted on by

History Notes Book 18 Corsets 1830-1850This book shows how corsets changed to both provide support and also fit well under clothing to give a fashionable silhouette. Corsets started being a fashion item, rather than simply underclothing to be hidden. Romantic Era women’s fashionable corsets. Corsets worn from 1830-1850, or the Romantic Era of fashion. https://books2read.com/SuziLoveCorsetBook18

Information or drawings on corsets through both the Regency and Romantic Eras is difficult as underwear wasn’t shown in British publications for modesty sake, and only occasionally seen in French magazines. Therefore, most of our knowledge about corsets from the Regency and Romantic Eras is through actual garments, especially those donated to museums. Surviving corsets show that shorter corsets weren’t as common and corsets were generally of a longer length. Many of these corsets were still front fastening, plus many were laced at both the front and the back so our aristocratic fictional heroines could indeed dress and undress themselves without the assistance of a maid.

Corset makers became more skilled and cut garments much better, so the body was controlled and shaped by the cut and grain of the fabric. They developed long corded corsets to suit the classical gowns of the period. A wooden busk was created to help keep the undergarment garment lay flat and to lift and separate the breasts. Busks stopped women from bending at the waist, which encouraged good posture. 

HN_18_Corsets 1830-1850 History Notes Book 18 This book shows how corsets changed to both provide support and also fit well under clothing to give a fashionable silhouette. Corsets started being a fashion item, rather than simply underclothing to be hidden. Romantic Era women's fashionable corsets. Corsets worn from 1830-1850, or the Romantic Era of fashion. https://books2read.com/SuziLoveCorsetBook18
1830-1850 Romantic Era Corsets Provided Support and Gave Fashionable Silhouette. History Notes Book 18 #Corsets #RomanticEra #HistoricalFashion https://books2read.com/SuziLoveCorsetBook18
Post On X
HN_18_D2D_Corset_1830-1850 https://books2read.com/SuziLoveCorsetBook18
HN_18_D2D_Corset_1830-1850