A fun look at what Victorian women wore. A look at dresses, corsets, petticoats and undergarments. It was a great fun to read. Pictures and magazine ads, original photos.Interesting read

If you need a reference guide for anything to do with Victorian English fashions-writing, costuming, theater-you can't start at a better place than this book. Nicely written and very thorough. There are only two flaws with this book: First, it has the usual problem with a written work about a visual subject-there aren't enough pictures, although the ones that are included are very helpful. Second, the book is so thorough that occasionally it drags. Otherwise, this is a very helpful reference work.

A really insightful and riveting read about fashion in the Victorian era. As a history buff I really enjoyed this

I enjoyed the book but the layout didn't work for me, so I am not sure if that was the ARC or a general thing. So all in all, the content interesting, but I wanted pictures.

Found this a fantastic little resource and one I plan on purchasing to keep on-hand to reference. The book itself has a really good balance between historical information and photos, enough to keep you interested without leaving you feeling bogged down with no visuals.

I used this book as research for a book I’m working on and was super impressed with how detailed it is. Breaking fashion down into distinct periods, discussing fashion in different classes etc. This book was exactly what I was looking for!

"Victorian Fashions for Women" describes the changing fashions in women's clothing in England from 1840 to 1900. It's actually throughout Queen Victoria's reign, but the authors took each decade at a time so it ended up titled as "The 1840s Look" and so on. The authors described what fashionable women were wearing and used some quotes from fashion magazines, newspapers reporting on what the royals wore, and even ads. I'd hoped for a lot of pictures or illustrations, but it was basically a lot of technical terms (fabric names, sewing and clothing terms) that I sometimes found hard to follow as I didn't know what many of the terms meant. Only afterward, I discovered a glossary of terms at the back, though even that wasn't as helpful as I'd hoped.

Anyway, the authors focused on changes over time to the overall look, the sleeves, waist, where the bulk of the skirt went, trimmings, the underclothing used to get the right look, outerwear (hats, cloaks, etc.), and trends in jewelry. They also talked about how changes in technology (like new dyes) changed fashions. In the last chapter, the authors covered things like prison warden uniforms and mourning attire. This book is helpful if you mainly want to know what fashion trends were popular at a certain time (big skirts, big sleeves, etc.) but it's less helpful if you want a visual guide or a non-technical description of real dresses in real social situations rather than the suggested high fashions.

The title of this book delivers what it promises. Victorian fashion. To fulfil this promise, it has the best structure ever - each chapter describes ten years in the reign of Queen Victoria.

The book is written more for fashion enthusiasts than a person with a general interest in the period. However, I suppose each reader must be pleased with the plenty of included photographs.

I guess that family historians will be satisfied as well. Victorian fashion for women can serve as a handbook of a 19th-century woman because it describes what she wore and the options she faced.

Therefore, I'm going to open this book in the future regularly.


Thank you to NetGalley and Pen and Swords History for a free digital review copy. This is my honest review.

THANK YOU to Pen & Ink Publishers & NetGalley for sending me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I love anything Victorian, and this book is right up my street. Firstly the cover is fabulous, as are the pictures inside. A very educated and informative read.

This was a really interesting and informative book and I learnt a lot through reading it. It’s not my area of expertise, but by the end I felt much more informed. The writing was not always the best for me but I didn’t find it off putting, just a little dry at times!

I’m stunned to see so many reviews saying this book is well-written, because unfortunately, I found it really bad! There are so many comma splices I found it genuinely hard to parse sentences, and information is repeated from paragraph to paragraph (particularly egregious in the section on Queen Victoria’s wedding dress). The authors swing from dry, formal descriptions of dresses to snarky little asides within the space of a page, so there’s no consistent style; it’s certainly not scholarly enough to be useful as a writing resource.

This is the second Pen and Sword book I’ve read this summer with such poor writing and editing, which is a real shame. I will say that the collection of contemporary images is lovely, and would presumably be even better on paper than in digital format, but I feel I could easily find a much better-written source to explore them.

Victorian Fashions for Women is a well researched work full of interesting cultural and social history. Following fashion trends, from fabrics to accessories, the work is broken down between the three major divides of Queen Victoria's reign beginning in 1840, and full of details and support from images, quotes, and information from fashion mags of the time, this work provides a lot of information in a short package. Outside of the fashion, cultural events and social expectations for various classes are explored as a backdrop for how and why fashion was shaped the way it was during the time period.

Positive--I did learn a lot. There are details about the fashion of the era that I had not even thought of before. Slight Negative- written a bit dryly, but not so dry that it is unfinishable.

Those that enjoy a good social or cultural history read will find something within the pages of interest. Those that want to know more about fabrics, cut of bodices, day, night, summer, winter fashion of the time period will certain find something new to learn from this work.

THANK YOU to Pen & Ink Publishers & NetGalley for sending me this dARC in exchange for my honest review.

An informative look at Victorian fashions. This would be a good book for an historian to add to their collections. As well as genealogist as it would help pinpoint fashion for pictures and paintings.

The book is very excellent at giving practical overviews of victorian fashion from each decade, each chapter separated for each 10 year period. Each chapter introduces an overview of foundation layers to outdoor fashion and accessories, noting small changes as time moved on.
The in depth look at working wear and mourning was a great read, although I would have liked to have seen more spoken about evening wear/ball attire.

As a history buff, I was excited to read this book. While it is well written and informative, I found it dry and lost interest half way through. I continued to read it to the end though, and did learn some new information.

Thank you NetGalley for providing this copy. The opinion in this review is solely my own.

A very fun and interesting book, loved the reading and it had some really interesting pictures. This is a must have for any fans of Victorian History and or fashion.

THANK YOU to Pen & Ink Publishers & NetGalley for sending me this ARC. All reviews are honest reflections of my own opinions, always.

Bringing a cohesive narrative to the trends, influences, & silhouettes of the 19th century, Victorian Fashion for Women is an informative & fascinating read on not only dress history, but the people that created & wore these items as well.

Beginning in the 1840's & ending with the styles of the 1890's, this book, while not a complete comprehensive history, offers an excellent look at fashions for the everyday historian. From Queen Victoria's paramount influence on style, to the working woman, this book gives an intimate look at many details of dress.

Honiton lace, the French inspiration of Romantic era skirts, the incredible yards of fabrics over crinoline that would deflate over the decades to give a slim front & bustled back. The book includes a multitude of pictures, pointing out the historical significance & details one might have otherwise missed, along with some truly enjoyable copies of clothing adds directed at women of the eras. These I found truly fascinating, as over time one could see not just the evolution of clothing, but of women & their places in society as well.

One important point that this book does not blessedly omit, are the undergarments used, as these were essential for giving the shape & structure to the dresses, blouses, & skirts themselves. I also appreciated the addition of common accessories such as hats, jewelry, & shoes. Fabrics & dyes are outlined in a brief overview of the decades at the end of chapters.

A well written & enjoyable book for the curious historian in us all.

More reviews (and no fluff) on the blog http://surrealtalvi.wordpress.com/</p></i>This is an excellent resource for identifying and understanding Victorian era fashions. The authors are clearly well researched and understand the decades well. In addition, the book does not only discuss high end fashions you see in the ephemera of the time (which were targeted at wealthier women, especially in the early decades) but in all the different levels of fashions (and undergarments, hats, etc.) of the time.

If I have one criticism, it is that although the illustrations/images were numerous, they were not very useful and often did not correspond to the discussions. It would have been far more helpful to go into detail about the illustrations - rather than occasionally point out one aspect of the fashion. And even more useful to directly tie them into the text discussion.

In all, a fabulous read and well worth it for the fashion historian. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

I expected a coffee table book; however, this is a thorough, well researched history of women's dress during the Victorian period. It included vintage photos, advertisements, and other illustrations. The fashions of each decade were presented as individual chapters. The reader could easily focus on a decade of interests. Colors and fabrics popular in each decade are presented with each chapter. Costumes for mourning and mourning rituals were also presented. This book is thoughtfully organized.
This is an excellent resource for students of history and fashion. It is accessible to those who have an interest beyond academics.
Book includes a glossary, index and bibliography.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A great read for anyone interested in clothes and fashion. With a decade for the years 1840 to 1890, the span of Victoria’s reign, the book is comprehensive, detailed and fully illustrated. Accessibly – if drily – written it’s a treasure trove of information and explanation, and includes working women’s wear, which many fashion books don’t. Really enjoyed it and learnt a lot.