Wednesday 31 October 2012

The Gibson Girl.

Gibson Girls were the embodiment of the American beauty during the Edwardian and late-Victorian era. 

''The Gibson Girl was tall and slender, yet with ample bosom, hips and bottom. She had an exaggerated S-curve torso shape achieved by wearing a swan-bill corset. Images of her epitomized the late 19th- and early 20th-century Western preoccupation with youthful features and ephemeral beauty. Her neck was thin and her hair piled high upon her head in the contemporary bouffant, pompadour, and chignon ("waterfall of curls") fashions.''







The S-Bend


At the beginning of the Edwardian era a new style of corset cam into style, the S-bend. 

The S-bend was a type of corset that was so tight that made you appear to have a very skinny waist and big hips.



The S-bend was very damaging to the womens internal organs because they were wearing the corsets for at least 10 hours a day which meant that their organs were getting squashed. Women were only allowed to take their corsets of for a few hours a day. When they weren't wearing their corset they would wear a tea dress. 

A tea dress was a loose fitting dress that women could wear while having their afternoon tea. 






The Hobble Skirt

The hobble skirt was a skirt with a very narrow hem. It was designed to shorten the wearers stride. 

The Parisian fashion designer Paul Poiret is sometimes credited with the design, inspired by the widespread Oriental influence on Western culture, but in fact the extreme hobble skirt is an evolution of the narrowing skirt seen in fashion since the turn of the century.






Wide Brimmed Hats were also very popular during these times. 


Marc Jacobs A/W12 collection featured alot of wide brimmed hats.








Belle Epoque


Belle Epoque is French for beautiful and it start at the end of the 1800s and ended at the start of WWI.


It was a period of optimism, peace at home and in Europe. The peace in Paris allowed the Arts and Fashion to flourish. 



Belle Epoque styles were fashioned at the cabaret by all of the dancers. Toulouse Lautrec transformed Belle Epoque by taking some dancers and using them for his iconic poster art.


Toulouse Lautrec










The Edwardian Era

When Queen Victoria died in 1901, Edward VII became King. He was the leader of a fashionable elite that set a style influenced by art and fashions of Continental Europe. This is because he was very fond of travelling.


The Edwardian era ended when Edward died in 1910. But sometimes the period was extended when the Titantic sunk in 1912. 





Art Nouveau 

Art Nouveau means ''New Art'' in the French language. It is an international philosophical and style of art, architecture and decorated arts. 

Art Nouveau was very popular in Europe. It was mainly influenced by the Czech artist Alphonse Mucha.


















Tuesday 30 October 2012

Sweated Industries

Sweated Industries 



The sweated industries were created after the industrial revolution. Factory owners hired young children who couldn't afford to go to school. They were easy to manipulate and cheap to replace if something bad happened to the child. There wasn't any labour laws so owners could do anything to the employees.
Here is a video to explain what it was like:


Exposition Universelle

The Victorian Era


Queen Victoria reigned from the 20th June 1837 - 22nd January 1901. However, the Victorian style of clothing ended in 1912.











Exposition Universelle




The Exposition Universelle was a world's fair which was held in Paris, France from April 15th to November 12th.

It was open and created to celebrate the achievements of the past century and to encourage development into the next.  


The exhibition saw over 50 million people. This meant that inventions such as the ferris wheel, talking films and the telephone were universally known.










The Industrial Revolution (Pre 1900)

The Industrial Revolution (Pre 1900)


The industrial revolution was a massive turning point in History. The industrial revolution was when the agriculture, mining and transportation industries were developed because technology got better. It influenced almost every aspect of daily life. 







The introduction of Steam Power which was primarily fueled by coal, powered the machinery mainly for the textiles industry. This helped increase production capacity. 


During the Industrial Revolution, the electric sewing machine was invented and developed. In addition, the 'Spinning Mule' was invented. The 'Spinning Mule' was used to spin Cotton.


Spinning Mule