Week 4 - The Victorians

Most of us are familiar with the image of Queen Victoria (1837-1901) dressed in black after the death of her husband Prince Albert, but Victoria’s reign was an era of rapid technological, industrial and social change, all of which had a huge impact on the fashions of the day.

This week we explored how technology and fashion could work together – from the cage crinolines of the 1850s to the use of photography – as well as taking a closer look at the clothing habits of one of Britain’s longest reigning monarchs. The garments that survive from this era can be associated with key markers in the Queens life, her ascension to the throne, her wedding, her children and, of course, the death of Prince Albert. It is fitting that many of these objects are now in the Royal Ceremonial Dress Collection stores at Kensington Palace, where Queen Victoria was born and grew up.

Wedding traditions reflect and celebrate many aspects of different cultures, places and people. This picture (above) is of my family’s not very Royal Wedding in the late Victorian Period. It is interesting to compare the similarities and difference with the painting of the marriage of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert on 10th February 1840 (below). The fact that the common peoples wedding is photographed at all is indeed reference to how far technology has come from the start of Victoria's reign to the end.