V&A Fashion - Part 1

Welcome back! This week I come to you with some very exciting photos from the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. The museum has an amazing collection of European clothing in their large fashion exhibit, ranging from the early 18th century to present day. The exhibit is great because it has so many examples of the different types of fashion throughout history, as well as discussions of fashion trends and how certain pieces were constructed. Because the collection was so extensive, I thought I'd break it into different blog posts. In this one, I will briefly cover 18th and 19th century fashion.

Here is an amazing dress from 1750s. It shows the extensive use of silk textiles at this time period and the common floral print.

The next dress is from the same time period, but note the Indian shawl. It is from Kashmir India and made of goat hair.

In the early 19th century and going into the mid-19th century, dresses became more voluminous while keeping the classic silhouette. More vibrant colors became available, as seen is this hot pink dress from 1860.

Additionally, styles became more commercially available at this time, like the one below.

Finally, the below picture reveals the inner construction of a bodice from 1870. The details and different material that go into it are amazing.

Next time, I'll go further down the fashion time line!