Great Expectations: Fashion of Era

While researching nineteenth-century fashions, I have focused mainly on clothing worn by British upper and middle class citizens, this being because it’s implied Ms Havisham was wealthy and therefore would have been able to afford these high class fashions, no doubt using what money she had left after her break down to shape her adopted daughter, Estella, into the finest woman possible so that she could lure in men more easily to break their hearts. Therefore, for these two characters, this style of clothing seems most appropriate.

During this era, fashion reached a new level in transforming a woman’s appearance, using whalebone corsets, cage crinolines, bustles and a variety of other structured garments to empathise the curves of a woman very dramatically.

Whalebone Corset

Cage Crinoline

Bustle

Though fashion had become much plainer in terms of décor upon the garments, this was made up for in the changes in cut and construction which had evolved to be far more elaborate and impressive. A large number of the garments were ‘puffed’ and ‘slashed’, this was influenced by the Tudor dresses, a lot of the sleeves of the dressed were ‘puffed’ which was carried over from the Tudor styles.

Most of the dresses were also very high cut, showing barely any of a women’s chest, long sleeves covering her arms and long skirts hiding the wearer’s legs. This meant a woman was almost completely covered with no skin on show, this was to add an element of mysterious to a woman so that the man would be left to his imagination and wonders.

The structure of these dresses made it so that the skirt and bustle gave the impression of having large curving hips, however, the corset was to create a smaller waist on the women which created a few health problems among women as by making the waist smaller it bent their ribs inwards and would squash their internal organs, though it didn’t create major problems, extensive use was more damaging and would be a lot of effort for the wearer as their ribs would push onto their lungs creating less room to breathe. Though as time went by, the corset was developed so it became safer to wear and create less pressure to the internal organs, working more with the woman’s natural figure.

Finally, I looked at nineteenth-century wedding dresses in regards to Ms Havisham as throughout the story she remains in her own wedding dress from which she was stood up at the altar. The fashion of Wedding dresses was not too dissimilar to the trends already involved in the era, however, the neckline of the dresses were more open and showed a bit more of the woman’s chest, corsets being worn under the garment to make the shape seem more natural and desirable. The sleeves of these dresses were almost always ‘puffed’ as it was considered more romantic and therefore appropriate for a wedding.

I haven’t researched into the fashions in much depth for this project, this being because as a makeup artist, hair and makeup is more my focal point of character production. I also may not be able to get hold of these elaborate costumes for my project, but will still consider the outfits for the characters so my styling choices are more fitting and consistent.

Reference:

Lucy Johnston (2007) Nineteenth-Century Fashion In Detail. V&A Publications. London. (Including Images)