Victorian dress is the clothing worn in Britain during the reign of Queen Victoria from 1837 to 1901, a period in which fashion changed rapidly and became an important marker of class, age and respectability. Surviving garments and accessories are collected as historic textiles and costume.
Women's fashions moved from the narrow-waisted, full-skirted dresses of the early reign, supported first by petticoats and then by the crinoline cage of the 1850s and 1860s, to the bustle silhouettes of the 1870s and 1880s and the leg-of-mutton sleeves of the 1890s. Corsets shaped the figure throughout. Fabrics included silks, wool, printed cottons and velvets, and the introduction of synthetic aniline dyes from the late 1850s brought vivid new colours. Accessories such as Paisley shawls, lace collars, bonnets, gloves, fans and parasols were essential, and mourning dress followed strict conventions, especially after the death of Prince Albert. Men's clothing settled into dark frock coats and tailored suits. Collectors and museums value garments with good provenance, original trimmings and sound fabric, while silk weighted with metallic salts is often fragile and prone to splitting.
