EDWARDIAN FASHION

Edwardian Fashion refers to the clothing that was in style between the late 1890's and 1914 or the beginning of  World War One. Also called La Belle Epoque (the Beautiful Era), and the Gilded Age, this was a time when women's fashions took on a new opulence and extravagance, inspired by the hedonistic lifestyle of Britain's King Edward VII. The design trends of the Edwardian Era revolved around the "S" curve when corsets created an S shaped female silhouette, a change from the Victorian hour-glass figure. The "S" bend corset forced the hips back and the bust forward. The ideal female figure was a mature woman with a pigeon shaped monobosom.

 The Royal family were the trendsetters of the day. British high society reigned as the cultural elite and Edward VII's extravagance ruled fashion and set the tone for behaviour and fashion. Middle class women looked up to the elite for inspiration and hoped to emulate their "betters."