To end the month, I thought I'd take a look at some Victorian fashions as pictured in the July 1897 issue of Weldon's Ladies' Journal. In the 1890s, Weldon's named all of its designs. Here we have Hilda, Rosina and Almira and their costumes.
Because Weldon's Ladies' Journal sold dressmaking patterns, the descriptions accompanying these illustrations were heavy on technical details. Suffice it to say that a lot of interlining was involved (often in horsehair cloth) to achieve the shapes of those skirts and those sleeves.
As with all good fashion magazines, Weldon's had a lot to say about current trends.
Grey continues to be highly favoured. A grey dress has as many advantages as a black one, and even more so in summer time. A grey cachemire bodice may be worn with almost any skirt, or with the skirt of itself will make another welcome change, transforming it into a new costume. It suggests a certain difficulty in the matter of hats, because a black hat is quite impossible except for mourning, and a grey one is not always becoming...
Silk shirts are as popular even as blouses, and far more useful for wearing under coats or Etons. Some are simple, while others attain something akin to luxury.
... I do not deem the hard linen collar and cuffs becoming. Fair women at any age, if they have delicate blonde skin, should avoid them, because the red mark left on the neck is anything but becoming.
Skirts vary—some are trimmed, some are not; everything depends on individual taste; and if some one can hit on an original idea, it is sure to arouse the flattery of imitation.
Evening dresses all have more or less trimmed skirts, and the summer dresses, when they are not flounced, are elaborately trimmed with insertion...
Hosiery is taking quite a new departure in elegance. The latest idea is a honeycomb completely open-work stocking in Lisle thread, which is very dressy at moderate cost.
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