Victorian Times
During the Victorian era, even though there was a woman on the throne, the role considered suitable for women was to be a helpmate subservient to men in all things. Until the Married Women’s Property Act was passed in 1892 married women could not even hold property in their own right. any money they held prior to marriage or acquired during it became automatically the property of their husband. It is not therefore surprising that female dress was decorative rather than functional and very restrictive to wear.
Not only were Victorian women swamped in underwear, petticoats, chemise and knee length drawers in flannel or cotton but bodices were often boned. No respectable woman would have gone without her corset into which she would be tightly laced and/or hooked.
In 1856 the stell framed crinoline was invented. Fastened around the waist it produced the fashionable bell shaped skirt previously achieved by numerous petticoats. In time this was flattened in the front until by the 180’s the frame attenuated only the rear, as a bustle.
Edwardian dress
Edwardian dress appears freer to reflect a changing more relaxed society but the S shaped form of the female figure that fashion dictated was achieved by the use of corsetry so severe that women were know to faint because they couldn’t breathe freely and doctors expressed concern that long term damage was caused by their use.
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