The 1860s were a part of the extensive Victorian era, spanning from 1837 to 1901. This period was characterized by its strict adherence to social conventions and a deep appreciation for modesty and decorum. Victorian fashion was no exception, with each deca…
The practice of cross-dressing reaches back to the earliest civilizations, appearing in myths, theater, and rituals across cultures. From ancient Greece, where male actors portrayed female roles on stage, to Japanese kabuki theatre and Shakespearean England…
A walk through vintage advertising reveals a world where women were constantly told they were not enough. One ad warns, “Don’t let them call you SKINNY,” while another claims cigarettes will keep them thin. If worrying about their weight was not enough, the…
Historically, dog-drawn carts were a common sight in Belgium and the Netherlands, employed for the transportation of milk, bread, and other goods. These vehicles, typically pulled by a pair or more of canines, were a practical and efficient mode of delivery…
In the 1920s, Western fashion underwent a dramatic transformation. Women's clothing shifted away from the elaborate and restrictive styles of the Victorian and Edwardian eras. Instead, fashion embraced looser, more comfortable garments that revealed more of…
Fashionable women's clothing in the 1890s moved away from the exaggerated styles of previous decades. Skirts were no longer as wide as in the 1850s or as bustled as in the late 1860s and mid-1880s. They were also not as tight as in the late 1870s. However, …
These vintage advertisements, published in magazines and newspapers from the 1930s to the 1960s show how weight gain was aspired to then as firmly as we today aspire to weight loss. The ads tout scientific ways to "add attractive pounds and inches" (a compl…
Edwardian fashion refers to the clothing that was in style between the late 1890s and 1914 or the beginning of the Great War. Also called La Belle Epoque (the Beautiful Era), and the Gilded Age, this was a time when women's fashions took on a new opulen…
The history of women's workwear tells a unique story about the events of the twentieth century and the changing role of women. The amount of control that women have had over their clothes depended largely on what type of job she had. In domestic service…