How Did Vicorian Era Clothing Reflect The Social Classes People Belonged To?
Uh i have a project for english, we are reading Great expectations and i have to research how victorian clohting reflected on the social classes like how the lower class clothing showed people that it belonged to a lower class person any help would be much appreciated!!!!!!!! PLEASE
The sites listed below will give you some very valuable information….and help you too in your research.
I’ve been thinking about this ever since I gave the irst hasty answer….I know a bit about the Vistorian era, but never considered clothing to be a status symbol…LOL…don’t know why I missed this, its so apparent…so I did some more research, and here it is…
During the Victorian era, in which the possession of wealth and societal prestige were more important than that of two arms and a good pair of legs, lace became a symbol of status, a way of singling out at a glance the very rich from the mere well-off. Women who adorned themselves in lace were, therefore, equated with the highest class of social economics and pedigree, as only the rich were able to afford such extravagant adornments on even a somewhat regular basis.
The lower classes made use of crochet pieces in place of laces.
Another “status symbol” was the parasol. Victorian society dictated that a lady never be caught in the rain, so another difference between the classes was the use of parasol vs umbrella. A woman who carried an umbrella was saying, in effect, that she couldn’t afford any better…no carriage, etc.
There was also the bought vs homemade aspect. Women of society visited milliners, etc, to have their clothing made in the latest styles and most expensive fabrics. Satins, silks, velvets, and very light imported cotton called lawn (very much like modern day gauze) among others. Women of lower classes often wore cast-offs…things thrown away by fashionable ladies once the cut, design, etc. went out of style. They also made their own clothing. The cast-offs were often ill fitting, and homemade garments were of wools and cheap cottons.
Then there were the “layers”….a society woman wore layers of clothing…the lower classes lacked the ability to purchase all the various layers, and truly it was impractical for them to wear them. The restraint of the undergarments of the society women would have stifle the breath of a woman who worked for a living.
Shoes, also, were very different. Society women had different styles of shoes for different times of day and different purposes. Lower class shoes were generally the leavings of the leather, stitched in various pieces and thin, lacking the “right” heels, etc. One pair to do it all, so to speak.
Thanks for asking this question…its made me revisit an era that I loved learning about.