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Fashion through History - your favorite images

Bee

I’ve been posting a few things in the OFF TOPIC category since I wasn’t quite sure they were relevant or interesting compared to wha I usually see here. I’d like to sincerely thank Angie for her patience and for putting everything in its correct place. I hope I got this one right! lol

So feel free to talk about your favorite time periods in fashion history, favorite particular items or styles including hair and accessories. Also feel free to post images, be the paintings, drawings, fashion plates, photographs or whatever else catches your fancy.

I have a collection of over 80 fashion plates from the early 1840’s to early 1859’s that I gathered through either Google or Pinterest. I don’t have them anywhere online at the moment put I’ll post a link as son as I do.for now I’ll just post a mix of images from different time periods that are saved on my phone.

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General

26 replies

Latest reply was from Poppy K

kkards

Veteran

I’m not sure I actually have a favorite
Interestingly I actually prefer to learn my history thru fashion and home decor/design etc. I like art museums but LOVE house museum/tour. you can learn so much about what was going on in the world thru how people dressed and furnished their homes.

Jaime

(website)

Veteran

Fun images! My favorite vintage pictures are usually from the 20s. Of these the chain in #4 is interesting!

Roberta

Veteran

I must admit I am interested in almost every era of fashion that I know anything about. I took a couple of costume design classes in college as a theater major, and found the evolution and change of fashion very interesting. For example, you saw shoes develop both a left and a right shoe, and then pointed toes, and then the points became very elaborate, until they were actually attached by ribbons to belts at the waist.

Then sewing had me paying a lot of attention to collars and pockets and other details.

The 1960s are very attractive to my eye. The combination of the space race and other technologies, all kinds of new fabrics, and the abrupt rise of hemlines made for some incredible looks. And then the influence of music and men also wearing lots of color and accessories. Mad Men and 2001 and Hair!

lyn67

Veteran

When I look at historical dressing it always amazes me how difficult it must have been to make/handle/wear/preserve these all without a sewing maschine or other helping gadgets-and what a rich creativity the fashion designers of the past eras have had! (we can only hide next them....) But wow! No wonders, that such clothing of the upper classes were passed on/inhereted-then mended and re-fashion designed for generations.

Jaime, the chain in nr 4 struck with me, too-in my opinion should be tie for a heavy outdoor/royal mantle/cape or such- not really just a jewelery piece, but who knows? Still, if all made of genuine gold?!!?

Wow, Roberta "points attached by ribbons to belts at the waist"???? I haven't seen that before-will google to have an ideea of this quirky way to wear a shoe, think wasn't very practical...:-).

Anonymous

I can find things to like in most time periods, but the one thing that came to mind was the Renaissance- since DH and I used to work the Faire. Yes I know the Faire isn't authentic, but it's a fun vibe

Helena

Veteran

90s minimalism for me, as worn masterfully by the beautiful Carolyn Bessette Kennedy.

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Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

As much as I adore fashion and style, and studied fashion history when I did my diploma in fashion design after my degree in Psychology, I am not remotely interested in fashion and style before the 1920's!

By far, my favourite fashion eras are the '60s, '70s and '80s. The fashion absolutely fascinates me, pulls at my heart strings, and I do not get bored of those eras. I can look and analyze FOREVER! I was alive for the second two eras

I incorporate what works from those eras into my 2020s style as much as I can.

I also like the '40s because the '80s were influenced by that era.

I like the parts of the '90s that were influenced by the '70s and '80s!

rachylou

Veteran

I’m with kkards on history through fashion and home decor, and lyn on the mind boggling effort of clothing historically. I’ve done some spinning, dyeing and weaving. I’m still tryIng to get my head around threading a loom for silk threads. And I must say I love all the eras with long skirts. I don’t find trousers convenient at all, lol

Style Fan

Veteran

My favourite fashion eras are the 60s and 70s. My style is simplistic and relaxed, but I always have something from that era. My hair is influenced by Jane Birkin, Mary Travers, etc., from the 60s.

nuancedream

Veteran

Hands down, my favorite eras for fashion are the 60s and especially the 70s. I watched a lot of Soul Train as a tween and teenager. I was enamored of the dancers' outfits. A lot of those looks were homemade and/ or from thrift shops. Fun, colorful and daring. My personal style definitely has a nod to the 70s with wide leg pants and bold color/patterns.

Sloper

Veteran

I’d say my favorite fashion period is always the present - as time goes by, more and more becomes acceptable and accessible.

In art, I think I appreciate how the fashion is depicted, not the fashion itself. I mean the skill in reproducing details and textures. Like Holbein’s rendering of a velvet sleeve, or a Dutch master painting every detail of an elaborate starched lace ruff. Then again, I love how Sargent could indicate the lushness of a satin gown with a “simple” brushstroke.

https://www.themorgan.org/exhi.....homas-more

https://www.nortonsimon.org/ar.....973.34.2.P
https://www.artsy.net/artwork/.....squito-net

Bee

Jaime, the young lady in the portrait wearing the chain is Emilie of Saxony and she seems to have be a popular “muse” during her time. She appears in another painting by the same artist, Lucas Cranach the Elder, wearing the same chain and a ver similar (if not the same) gown. Another muse of that period, Sibylle of Cleves is often depicted wearing the same style of clothing and jewelry. Their portraits were so often replicated by less well-known painters that historians are sometimes unsure of which lady is being depicted.
(both paintings below are also by Cranach)

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Jaime

(website)

Veteran

Thanks for the extra information Bee! The second painting looks a bit like your avatar actually.

Bee

I’m also a big fan of the late 60’s and early 70’s, especially since they “came back” in the late 90’s, just as I was becoming interesting in clothes and paying more attention to how I dressed and styled my hair. They’re back again now, bringing along a lot of nostalgia and happy memories. I wish I had kept more of my stuff from back then, seeing as most of it would probably fit me. The few pieces I did keep still do.

The 20’s s fascinate me as well. Hemlines in 27’ and 28’ were the shortest ever seen until the 1960’s. Who knows, we might have had exposed knees in the 30’s if the stock market hadn’t crashed in 29’, causing hemlines to plummet along with it.

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Bee

Thanks Jaime! She might look even more like me than my avatar, since my avatar is an old photo of me with a cartoon filter. We share some similar features; pale skin, high forehead, long thin nose, thin lips, thin brows, a small face with a pointy chin and slightly slanted , narrow eyes. My husband saw the resemblance right away but thinks my avatar looks “nothing like me”. : D

Bee

I figured the best way to display my fashion plate collection would be through slideshows. I’ve manage to pick 80 from my favorite 1800’s gowns and hairstyles. They’ve been made into 4 one minute videos on TikTok, each containing 20 plates that date from the early 1840’s to early the 1850’s.

I especially love the loose curls, looped braids, flowers, ruffles ribbons, lace, off-the-shoulder necklines and the contrast between the tiny, long waists and moderately full skirts. As time progressed, the waists became shorter and the skirts became fuller.

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGJqkp3VX/

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGJqkuxEC/

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGJqkp2NR/

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGJqkbG2M/

Vildy

Veteran

I find myself siding with Angie in that I like modern times the best. In my case that's because I'm most interested in how people try to modernize their wardrobes.

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

High five, Vildy!

Sloper, I enjoy the fashion era we live in too. Good point. High five!

ophelia

Veteran

Spectacular videos, Bee. I had to pause at each plate! My faves were anything trimmed w/ rose & floral ribbons, lace flounces & swagged skirts. Was surprised to see the vivid colors on some of the gowns!
I’m quite intrigued by the late Regency period, when Marie Antionette, hating the cumbersome panniers & heavily jeweled fabrics, started the fashion of lightweight, sheer & shorter gowns—which, interestingly, were heralded as a more “sanitary” movement in clothing because 1) air! & 2) they were much more easily, & therefore frequently, washed! They aren’t quite as enthralling as the ornate gowns which would return in the 1800s though.

Style Fan

Veteran

Jane Birkin was one of my favourite style icons. She recently died. She had a timeless look that influenced me throughout my adult life.

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The Cat

Veteran

As stated in my profile, I "prefer elegant, comfortable, wearable styles of the '30s, '70s, '80s and today."

"Favorite Fashion Era" is one of the many subtitles in our profiles here. You might enjoy reading other fabbers' profiles.

Carol

(website)

Veteran

Well, I have nostalgia for Stranger Things-era style—early 80s for cool kids. I was very young then, and looked up to these teens who seemed to have endless summers and an agenda of freedom.

I’ve also always wanted to rock a shag like Kiki Dee in the Elton John video, but afraid I can’t do the upkeep.

And hey—the pointy bras of the Sixties were a real statement.

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quietloud

Like Angie, even though I love both fashion and history (studied art history in university), I have never been much interested in fashion pre 20th century. And while I love looking at clothes from pretty much any decade after that, the ones that I'd say directly influences my style is the 60's, 70's and 90's - probably because I was a teenager and first got into fashion in the 90's, which was heavily influenced by the 60's and 70's.

Jenni NZ

Veteran

I still like the 1920s best, and have for a very long time, since the 1980s anyway when I was in my 20s. I like dressing up 1920s whenever I can. It feels like the first modern era to me and I liked that I could recreate some styles while having shorter hair, which I have had since age 35. I was a big fan of the Miss Fisher TV series.
I do enjoy looking at costume design for older eras though like those of Pride and Prejudice, Bridgerton, The Empress etc as per Netflix.

cat2

Veteran

What a fun question. Definitely the 40s. All those Katherine Hepburn movies about perky gals in the workplace.

Poppy K

Thanks. Love these images. Trying to grow my knowledge on fashion.