The Late Victorian - Edwardian era marked the very start of the 20th century and the last of the old world before World War I dawned and a modern world started to emerge.
Our new contributor Abdul Basit explores this last Beautiful Era:
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There is something extraordinary about the Edwardian fashion era that still attracts many on-lookers. The Edwardian era, also known as Belle Époque or the beautiful era, was all about corsets, lace tea dresses, vintage gloves, and large tea party hats. And thanks to movies and TV shows like Titanic, Downtown Abbey, Mr. Selfridge, Suffragette and Gibson Girl, this timeless vintage sense of fashion is still quite popular in the 21st century.
Adorn Yourself with Vintage Style Hats
Edwardian hats are also called tea party hats, derby hats or Titanic hats (again thanks to Titanic).
This vintage style of clothing flaunts romance,
beauty, and elegance where Edwardian hats
are one of the most memorable ones.
Talking about hat designs – they ranged from large over-sized hats to small hats. The hats were usually decorated with feathers, flowers, and bows.
Some hats were even decorated with real stuffed birds!
Experience the Rebirth of Edwardian Fashion
Edwardian fashion moved away from the hourglass silhouette and revolved around the S-shaped female silhouette. This type of corset forced the bust forward and the hips backward, presenting a mature female figure with pigeon shaped mono-bosom. To match this slimmer silhouette, the hats were designed with wider brims.
Hats were either very wide or very tall and very wide! One of the famous hat designs was The Merry Widow hat that appeared in the enormously popular operetta by Franz Lehár of the same name. Many people complained that the hats were so big that it completely covered a women’s face. Nevertheless, high society women loved them and wore them whenever possible, especially for daytime events
The wide and tall hats were designed to fit the large pompadour hairstyle that completely covered the women’s forehead. These hats were decorated with dried flowers, leaves, and even twigs. They were also decorated with lace sewn flowers. And funnily enough, the hats were named “Garden” hat!
As mentioned earlier, some of the hats were designed with stuffed birds and large feathers. These hat designs were quite popular until protective laws took effect to protect the birds. The stuffed birds were then replaced with ribbons, laces and large bird feathers.
The general shape of the hat was usually round. But with the release of The Three Musketeers, women leaned onto bicorn and tricorne hats. The hat brims were either folded at the side or at an angle to achieve a dramatic effect.
Hat pins were essential to keep such large creations in place and these could be remarkably ornate – and quite valuable today! It was not unheard of for women to use them for protection but in 1908 a law was passed restricting the length of these potentially lethal weapons for fear that the Suffragettes might use them to prove a point!
The Era of Renaissance Hats
Coloured turbans were a popular hat choice for evening affairs. The turbans were usually made with bright colours and decorated with just a single feather, bow or a brooch. Another favourite hat for evening affairs was the Tudor Beret. This hat was hugely inspired by the Renaissance hats and was made from velvet and attached with a single tall feather.
Only around 1913 did smaller hats come into existence. These hats had high crowns with smaller brims. Some of the popular ones were straw boaters and small top hats designed with lots of feathers.
Stylish women usually matched their hats with vintage gloves such as long gloves, wrist gloves or a pair of opera gloves adds a perfect match to wide-brim hats. White was a classic choice to make but it was a wise choice to make sure that hat, gloves, dress and parasol perfectly co-ordinated, and when visiting your modiste, all these considerations were dealt with.
Edwardian fashion offers simplicity with elegance. While integrating technology into the fashion, Timeless Vintage brings amazing jewellery items to make you live Edwardian life style. Vintage style is cherished by many in modern times who are always looking for reasons to dress up and attend a lavish tea party or even just a Halloween party.
Get ready, we’re about to take you back to the vintage era!