Dark Victorian Vintage Style Inspiration

The Victorian Era spans from 1837 to 1901, the length of time Queen Victoria ruled the British Empire. In my opinion, the Victorian Era was the last era for truly magnificent clothing. There's the Edwardian Era of course...which is actually one of my favorite eras for fashion, but for me, the previous era really holds so much fantasy and wonderment. It amazes me that these amazing clothes were worn DAILY by women. Pieces of Art I say!

Of course I am aware most people did not wear gowns of sumptuous silks, brocade, silk velvet... but even the clothing worn by those of lesser means is still much, much more beautiful and impressive than the clothes the same population would wear today.

The Victorian Era was really the last epoque for great beauty. I do find it much of it very, very fussy, but I so appreciate the intention behind it. Can you imagine wearing dresses like these just to go about your business? I'm going to pop on over to the market whilst wearing a full length muslin gown and my foot long hat with 1.5 foot feathers on it. Be back in 3 hours! 

It wouldn't happen today, but not that it couldn't. I mean, we have FAR MORE conveniences than the Victorians did and we slump around in the most hideous "running around to do errands" clothes. I mean, who am I to judge? As I write this I'm wearing sweatpants and an old worn in sweater. Although to be fair, my sweater is cashmere. (Ha!) 

I'll eventually do a post on Victorian mourning clothing as some of the fashions depicted in the collages I made are mourning clothes. I didn't want to only feature VICTORIAN MOURNING clothing though so there are some dinner dresses and afternoon dresses featured as well. I believe Mourning Clothing had to be very matte and not too ornate and could only be made with certain fabrics. I don't know a whole lot about Victorian mourning clothing, but I'll do some more research and share what I uncover! 

Also, isn't the highlights of deep emerald and forest green just stunning? Maybe I was just drawn to it and that's they're featured in this post, but I kept seeing it, and since the Pantone 2017 color is green, hey, it seemed kind of fitting!