The fashionable Victorian woman cut quite a figure in the high-necked, full-fronted, bustle-backed styles of the day.
Her outfit could weigh 5kg. She needed a maid to help lace her corset. Her hats were accented with stuffed birds and ostrich plumes, her neck encircled in velvet ribbons and cameos.
"The idea was that women were fragile and the emphasis should be on their femininity and modesty," says Jennifer Ogle, assistant professor at Colorado State University. "They were expected to marry and raise children, and that was reflected in their dress."
Their clothes emphasized the hips and bustline, says Kerri Atter, curator of Denver's Molly Brown House Museum. "It was a very feminine look. The figure was curvaceous."
Heavy ornamentation was also the rule. "It's similar to what you see in their houses. It's rich, elaborate, decorated," Atter said.
In photographs, many Victorian outfits look like a dress, but they were typically a skirt and fitted bodice, sometimes with an under-blouse and jabot.
Undergarments gave the outfit shape. Closest to the skin were pantaloons (underpants as we know them weren't popularized until the 20th century), and a tightly laced corset made the bosom prominent and the waist small. Petticoats were next, and a chemise went on top of all the underwear. Only then was the lady ready for her skirt, bodice and jacket, Atter said.
As the era progressed -- and it was a long one considering Queen Victoria reigned from 1837 to 1901 -- bustles got smaller and then larger again before disappearing in the 1890s.
Just like today, the Victorian woman's accessories were critical to her appearance. Fur muffs and stoles, black glass and jet beads, hatpins and jewelry were key
elements, Atter said. "Lace and other trims were also big. Velvet ribbons, fringe, tassels and ruffles decorated the clothes -- everything was flashy."
Sources: Costume and Fashion: A Concise History, by James Laver; Fairchild's Dictionary of Fashion.
Sept.16 to Sept. 22 The “anti-communist train” with then-president Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) face plastered on the engine puffed along the “sugar railway” (糖業鐵路) in May 1955, drawing enthusiastic crowds at 103 stops covering nearly 1,200km. An estimated 1.58 million spectators were treated to propaganda films, plays and received free sugar products. By this time, the state-run Taiwan Sugar Corporation (台糖, Taisugar) had managed to connect the previously separate east-west lines established by Japanese-era sugar factories, allowing the anti-communist train to travel easily from Taichung to Pingtung’s Donggang Township (東港). Last Sunday’s feature (Taiwan in Time: The sugar express) covered the inauguration of the
The corruption cases surrounding former Taipei Mayor and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) head Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) are just one item in the endless cycle of noise and fuss obscuring Taiwan’s deep and urgent structural and social problems. Even the case itself, as James Baron observed in an excellent piece at the Diplomat last week, is only one manifestation of the greater problem of deep-rooted corruption in land development. Last week the government announced a program to permit 25,000 foreign university students, primarily from the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia, to work in Taiwan after graduation for 2-4 years. That number is a
In a stark demonstration of how award-winning breakthroughs can come from the most unlikely directions, researchers have won an Ig Nobel prize for discovering that mammals can breathe through their anuses. After a series of tests on mice, rats and pigs, Japanese scientists found the animals absorb oxygen delivered through the rectum, work that underpins a clinical trial to see whether the procedure can treat respiratory failure. The team is among 10 recognized in this year’s Ig Nobel awards (see below for more), the irreverent accolades given for achievements that “first make people laugh, and then make them think.” They are not
This Qing Dynasty trail takes hikers from renowned hot springs in the East Rift Valley, up to the top of the Coastal Mountain Range, and down to the Pacific Short vacations to eastern Taiwan often require choosing between the Rift Valley with its pineapple fields, rice paddies and broader range of amenities, or the less populated coastal route for its ocean scenery. For those who can’t decide, why not try both? The Antong Traversing Trail (安通越嶺道) provides just such an opportunity. Built 149 years ago, the trail linked up these two formerly isolated parts of the island by crossing over the Coastal Mountain Range. After decades of serving as a convenient path for local Amis, Han settlers, missionaries and smugglers, the trail fell into disuse once modern roadways were built