Women's fashions year by year: 1795 to 1948

[annazt11]

I loved watching this! Thankyou!

[animecatgirlroxs]

I wish oneday that they will bring this back. My fave is the later 1800 and 1900 fashion. Very beautiful and elegent but naw a days women just don't give an effort. nThrow on sweat pants and those ugly ugg boots. I am not sure bout everyone else but li like to dress nice and fancy and something that is is constructive and according to the weather. Those boots look so ugly and fall aapart...women these days. ewww...

[JaRasikkJaZieXx]

I loved how in the 1880's how women wore their hair up nd left afew strands of hair down, i wish i lived in those years

[kourobou]

What happened in 1911? It looks like 1800's. and it seems women's dress got more activity after then.

I want to try corset and classical western dress though it will not looks well on Asian like me. I love these classical clothes.

[moodybluesgurl]

this is great! does anyone remember the parts in the book Gone With the Wind how Scarlett talks about how Grandmother Robillard used to wear her petticoats soaking wet and then slightly wrung out so it would show off her legs? Did anyone really do that?

[CrimsonPetal100]

@moodybluesgurl It is often said that women the early 1800's used to wet their dresses so that you could see through the already flimsy fabric. This is denounced as a myth by most historians as there are virtually not enough contemporary records of this commonly being done. They may have been off cases and they may have been noted for being so shocking and improper, but no respectable lady would have ever done it.

[MissModernRose]

I love all this dresses, very elegant, classy, and modest. 

[FuelledByForties]

Can you imagine if this went up to 2011... You'd start of with elegant, feminine women with desirable figures dressed in beautiful sophisticated gowns and end up with lady gaga in a meat dress :/

[fashionhistorylover]

@NobodysFool001 Seriously though the clothes up until the 1900's must have weighed a lot. Besides only the wealthiest dressed quite like that.

[stephmar314]

So pretty... would love to wear some of the dresses from the 1840's.

[LittleLavender1027]

women dressed way classier in the old days i wish we still dressed that way

[300musicmaster]

i love the 1870's but i hated those ugly huge sleeves from the early 1800's!

[pamelahl1]

thank you for the video of the beautiful fashion plates!

[XHissyXKinzX]

And, this is why the Japanese lolita fashion is so important to many girls. If you've never heard of it, I would suggest looking it up. (mind you, it isn't related to the book Lolita, just an unfortunate coincidence)

It's basically about taking back our lovely feminine designs and being beautiful without booty shorts and cheap t-shirts.

I would call it a bit neo-victorian. <3 If anything is elegant in our modern world, it is.

[TheTelegothika]

@XHissyXKinzX Hear Hear!

I used to love Regency & Victorian fashions years before discovering Lolita, so I was amazed and excited that there is a growing popularity for dressing with such elegance. It's fabulous that Lolita exists, I wish it gained a mainstream presence of some sort in the West though and not just in Japan.

[binkydonna]

I love them all....but I think I Love the Regency Period best of all.

[Vercippu]

WOW! good job!!!

[cranky1chick]

Great music selection and wonderful fashion plates. Love that you included some Erte and early Poiret.

[MosaicMaiden]

I probably have commented before but I just love this video, it needs to be watched a few times, it is easy to miss the interesting and subtle changes from year to year, especially in the early part of the video, thumbs up to you!

[EnrySimmersen]

When women really were women, but feminism murdered them. But its a wonderful clip and music piece.

[MelanieLouM]

Such beautiful clothing...makes on wonder how they kept the clothes clean back then...its not like automatic washing machines were around then! :(

[liz1060]

@MelanieLouM People didn't own many clothes before WW1. In pioneer times, there was one everyday outfit and one Sunday or special occasion outfit. There were accessories like collars, sleeves, vests and scarves which would change the look but fashion was reserved for the upper class as most people were too busy with daily labors which required protective outerwear, aprons and dusters, so that most things were just spot cleaned when needed. People smelled a lot different in the old days -- LOL

[americanhersheybar]

I would give up all modern luxuries just to live back then. Women were so elegant and classy.

[Fishroads]

oh thx for sharing very beautiful, I like fashion from 1870 to 1900 best ^^

[KScarlett777]

This is great! love the music!!! Thanks for this, great job!

[chandal09]

I love old times clothes and look. I'm really into all stuff of the past. I love it and I feel I was born in the wrong age... for different reasons.

[Mandinko23]

thank you so much i have always been interested in western culture, i watch classicla movies i love them, and everytime i see women fashion in whatever movie i am watching i try to trace back the date and time of the era. i m not at all into the 20s fashion i love the 30s but 40s and 60s and late 1800s and early 1900s are my favorite. love the 50s as well its very glamorous lots of glitter diamonds and bejeweled gowns.

[MustHaveKandy]

I love all of this. It's amazing to see all of the fashions. I want to bring elegance back...real fashion.

[TonksThruTheWardrobe]

i really want to be able to wear a corset and dress like that :(

[ladyzs76]

Me too.. I expect some day wear one

[De0dorant]

women dressed so elegant then.....looking at the things lil kim & lady gaga wear today really makes me question where women's fashion will be headed in the next few decades lol. im trying to picture the 2050s...

[RandomKPluver]

1821 and 1867, Those Blondies kinda look like someone from a certain Tim Burton film... (wink wink)

[helpermethod]

Everything looked natural until 1820s when corsets appeared. Another topic is fashion in 1914-1918 and 1939-1945. How could there be any fashion when millions of people suffered from war?

[TaraBara27]

it is very interesting to read about how they came up with new fashion during the war. they had to find alternatives for the materials that they could no longer use.

[allhailhotsnail]

everything gets mental at 1830

[TudorRose85]

I love your tribute to the history of fashion. I loved you choice of music it really completed to video.

[marielpff]

beautiful

[Punki80]

Isn´t it funny how recently we started wearing trousers? I never thought of that, but watching this video it sprang to my mind.

[EquivocallyAbsurd]

Fashion died somewhere around the 1970's. Since then woman and men run around in jeans and a t-shirt to this day.

[Jessicax3lyonnss]

I find it so interesting that it took until about 1925 for women to be able to show their calves--and even then covered in stockings!

[Baldenlong77]

I'm not a fashion expert at all but more into history. I'm a big Napoleonic War buff which probably makes me biased in saying that the women looked really great during that era in the early 19th century! If I could travel back in time I'd go back there where so I would be a Hussar in the Grand Armee with the jacket with the braided buttons and epulettes and have a wife dressed in an Empire waist dress!

[RickisMoney]

was good!

[1o951o8]

i really dont like the ones during the early Victorian era (the hourglass was really ugly...), but at about 1875 onwards, it was nice. My personal favourites are the ones during the very late Victorian and throughout the Edwardian era. It was still okayish up until the 50s, but after that (and even then), everything just went downhill fast. I agree with ninthwave, the Edwardian era was the last great period of fashion.

[jaalexis2002]

c;etait la mode pour les riches, pas les pauvres.

[wallygreeninker]

true - but some of the 20th century stuff is from mail order catalogues, popular magazines and the 'petit echo de la mode.'

[AAnneC]

I just want to add that bras may not be as constrictive as corsets- they are still binding and we still wear them for society.

[AAnneC]

I'm a fashion designer and I have to disagree with some comments on here. I do not applud designers for elminating the corset. I loved when women were women and men were men. I loved the idea of women having to "dress" daily. The gowns, the gloves, corsets, petticoats...lovely elegance. I do so love Chanel though and what she did for fashion. Poiret- not so much.

[lijuowl]

@AAnneC

But women ARE women and always were. Of course there are different perspectives and concepts (and a lot of weird ideas of identity today aswell), but I still think that it's primarily nature that defines us and to me there are more similarities than differences between men and women.

That doesn't mean that differentiation is a bad thing. Can be nice.

[TheWagbert]

I agree--thank God for the elimination of the corset and maiming of millions of women. Over the course of a woman's lifetime, it even caused the displacement of her internal organs. You were even supposed to wear it at night if you wanted to keep your figure--give me the 1920's on up when women were allowed to breathe.

[mouna28]

rès belle vidéo !

Merci.

Vive POIRET pour avoir supprimé le corset, CHANEL pour le confort et la possibilité désormais de se vêtir seule,CHRISTIAN dior pour le féminin "STYLE NEWLOOK "...

Special thanks to POIRET WHO ELIMINATED THE CORSET, TO CHANEL FOR HER COMFORTABLE CLOTHES : BECAUSE OF HER, ALL THE WOMEN CAN DRESS THEMSELVES ALONE, TO CHRISTIAN DIOR FOR HIS BEAUTIFUL "NEWLOOK STYLE" .....

[patoman881]

On the eve of the end of the first decade of the twenty first century-it is amazing to see the many faces of women's garments-each decade blossoms into another evolution of it's former self-simply amazing-HAPPY NEW YEAR

[Marzipancat]

A picture is worth 1000 words - great overview of ladies' fashions!

[lijuowl]

It's interesting how many commentators think that past fashions were more beautiful because they were more feminine or women looked like "women".

To me a woman looks like a woman because she IS a woman and not because she looks like some construction of feminity.

Very nice video! And I'm happy I need no corset to look acceptable :)

[ronpavlodar]

muy instructivo

[Applextr]

Wow, there was a huge shift in fashion in 1912. 1900-1911 all looked the same, but then BOOM 1912 came and the clothing started to become less poofy every year.

[nitrate6971]

You can check out the website for Harpers' Monthly Magazine, which in the 1850s had a monthly engraving of the latest fashions, and once in a while a cartoon making fun of the perils of wearing hoopskirts.

[wellohmeeeeeee]

well done thanks

[harrygmattin]

Fantastic video!!!

I think the best styles were between 1890 and 1910

[begoodi]

beautiful !....what is the music ?

[wallygreeninker]

It's 'Venus, bringer of peace' from the Planet Suite by Gustave Holst.

[TasteOfTorment]

2:10, the one on the left in the green, 3:47 the purple one, is my favorite!

But I love the time period 1872-75 because of the bustles.

I don't like 1921- and on.

too, bland

[msjillcey1]

As a professor of costume history, I feel this is a good representation of women's dress for the periods. A few nuances are missing but those would be more "fringe" trends. Nicely done.

[AnaVsSandra]

wow awsome!

great work!

^^

[inxutibu]

very nice video, love it :D i am planning to make a regency dress and your video gave me lots of ideas :D and i also liked the music :D i don't know why, but i did. so can you tell me where did you get it? :D

[Eponabri]

Beautifully done. I'm a genealogist so I am really interested in all aspects of history.

[MosaicMaiden]

Beautiful Video! Applause! :)

[bookcartpeddlerny]

Very nice presentation and musid. Thank you.

[msjosephh]

I Just love it.

[vdag94]

my favorite period of fashion was the 18th century, though the Victorian and Edwardian eras are nice as well.

[bobduvar]

7:39 : Christian Dior "New Look" but we didn't see any Coco Chanel suit..... Why ?

Coco Chanel freed women from the corset...

Coco Chanel gave women freedom....

[lukaluei]

Well, Coco was very wrong to do so. Honestly, the way we women look now, we do need corsets! Women should dress up and take pride in the way we onced dressed with such class and elegance.

[wallygreeninker]

Sorry abut that but the stuff after 1893 that I dug up was just examples for each year rather than a comprehensive history of design. Personally I think the First World War liberated women from corsets: they were inconvenient for work and governments needed the steel to make guns: women didn't bother to go back to them. It can be seen that most of the women aren't wearing corsets in the pics from about 1919/20.

[ClassicMovieFan96]

The styles of the 20s and 30s also have class and elegance, only another kind of class and elegance. I love all fashions of the years featured in these video, but none of the post-1948-fashions, that was when elegance got lost.

But freedom is the right to choose, and there are a lot of women who would choose the corset and dresses like e.g. in the year 1880, but are too shy to wear it when everyone else dresses in 2000s-style, or too poor, because those dresses are rare and expensive now.

[volcomnat]

i love how elegant and feminine the women used to dress

[annie2062003]

you should compile and post more videos all the way u p until now i'd like to see how each era's fashion changes

thanks for posting it, those were some amazing images!

[juiceliina]

thank you so much for this vid! I really needed it :D

[raqsgothique]

This was wonderful - thank you so much for posting this! 5*!

[thebluewoods]

I love the 1937 dresses.I wish i could have one of them.

[angelateeng]

I remembered that 14yrs ago I asked my mom what women wear in different era. And I only got clear pictures about them now! LOL. Thanks for posting this. Good work

[StoodAlone]

i love the fashion during the Victorian Era! soo poise!

[AimeeHinojosa54]

aaww, I miss those times, I want to be there again u.u  in XVIII

[WItCharoline]

Great video!!!

[saRaa0110]

where can i get the 1st pic from 1797??

[txgrl7]

I wish we could bring back that very feminine way of dressing. Dressing feminine doesn't make us any less strong. I balk at the idea that feminine clothing distills our advancement into the heights of society. I also loved how just a half century ago we wore gloves when going out.  Beautiful!

[myoung1566]

i don't know where you live, but here in the American South (or at least in my hometown) women still dress very feminine!

The best thing about today's fashion is that you can dress however you like--as casual or as dressy, as feminine or as tough as you want--besides, we have the advantage of all these hundreds of years of style going before us to inspire us!

[classicalgirl01]

I always think that too, but then I remember, its very hard to find historical clothes made exactly like these :)

[Wizlyy]

@txgrl7 Well nobody's stopping you from dressing the way you want. I personally thing that "we" shouldn't bring back anything and we should get rid of the concept of fashion altogether, that way everybody could dress the way they are most comfortable with without any pressure from society and without the risk of being ridiculed. We can always dream *sigh*

[PeriodDramaAddict15]

The 1821 dress with the posies is so cute! And I love the green dress from 1845, and the 1856 white dress with the roses is gorgeous! OOH, and I love the dresses from 1877-81! But I'd have to say my favorites were from 1905,1909,1912,and on. If I could pick an era to live in, I would either pick the 1700's, or the twenties, thirties and forties. They were so glamorous! ( And I just noticed this is a really long message! )

[TheFabulousGreat2]

I think women's fashion 1795-1948 was the prettiest, I especially love the years 1796, 1803, 1820-1825, 1856, 1901, 1905, 1937 and the whole 1880s and 1940s.

I wish i could dress like that today... That's my fashion dream. The one girl has medieval clothes on, the next girl 19th-Century clothing, the next one 20s clothing, the next one hippie clothing and nobody would laugh at the other because everything would be modern and clothes from all eras would be easy to buy.

[HarborGuy]

Today there is no fashion it's all levi's and flip flops, or worse........The green dress in l921........they were playing with the skirts and waistline........

[fashionhistorylover]

At least you can choose to dress casually if you want to unlike back then.

[Persphonefallen]

No so true.

Depends on your social stand, and religion. Quakers and such could wear simple frocks. And a poor women could wear a plain dress. These would be dresses for going out and visits. At home they dress down.

[Charlestongirl37]

I love the fashion from about 1840 to 1920. I have always admire the dresses from those time periods. I wish I could dress like that now. I would say my favorite fashion in a movie would be " Out Of Africa" they did an excellent job with the wardrobe.

[glamourdaze]

well done !! faved

[prisylovemty]

The 1880s were surely the best years in fashion in my honest opinion. Women actually looked like women. I wouldn't mind dressing like this now a days and not look like a total idiot. Well whatever, everything's fair during Halloween right?

[fashionhistorylover]

Not everybody dressed like that. On the upper class woman had clothes like that. Besides you would not want to dress like that. The middle and lower class women clothing was o.k but the fashions shown in the video were very impractical.

[prisylovemty]

Don't asume things sweetheart, what makes you think that I wouldn't want to dress like that, when I made it quite clear that I would.

[fashionhistorylover]

Cool but still those clothes must have been hard to move around in unlike my personal favorites the 1790's, 1800's, and the 1930's. The only fashions that were ugly in this video was the 1830's.

[prisylovemty]

Oh believe me I've thought about that, it must have been terrible to walk around in them. Those corsets look painful, I've worn corsets, but nothing like that.

[coolbrian15]

My girlfriend dottie wears a gurtle i guess that is like a corset

[ninthwave]

I like all of them except after 1911, when ladies fashions change from grand hats and long skirts to a more dull 1920s style of short hair and simpler dress. I think the Edwardian era was the last great period of fashion. It all went downhill after that, especially in the 20s.

[fashionhistorylover]

You really didn't like the 20's through 40's. My favorites were the the 1790's through 1810's. Also the 1930's were beautiful.

[coolbrian15]

I wish my girl friend was a 1920's flapper i watched this to pick out her wardrobe

[Beatellen]

Love the early 1800, before those corset-dresses came about. Reminds me of Pride and Predjudice :)

[LilBabi93]

i absolutley love the dress from 1838- 1853. I mean all of the dresses are absolutley marvalous, but those were my favourites. 1880's were good too. 1898- 1900 are pretty♥. 1947's are good.

[menschmaschineyeah]

1860s are nicest

[Rawrbecca1992]

I love the 1980s dresses

I don't think I'd fair well with those corsets though. It looks like when the extremely small waist was in fashion.

I can't say corset are dead though, I know a girl who's waist training.

[9305612345]

I like the ones in the 1820's and 1890's the best. I really like the red one in 1898.

The 1830's, 1840's, and 1850's fashion was bad fashion.

The music and the content of the video are very good together.

I rate it 5 stars.

[choklateluvr91]

I liked the ones in 1874++ and the 1880's...but it must have been really hard (and painful!) to move around in those corsets.

I also noticed the skirts getting shorter as the video progressed. Especially during the 20's and 30's...the styles those days looked so radical compared to the 1800's!

But my absolute favourite dress was the green one in 1921...

Anyway, you did a great job on this vid! Keep it up! :D

[sorry for the extremely lengthy comment, got carried away... '-.- ]

[avastacia]

wow. i noticed how the dresses were full, and then close-fitting, and then full again. how interesting! thanks for the video!

[LadyAdokenai]

apologizes if you've already answered this, but what is this song?

[wallygreeninker]

'Venus, bringer of peace' from Holst's 'Planet suite'.

[Moviestar20]

cool vid! music was a little creepy though

but it went well with it at the end! my grandma's been through some of those fasions!

cool!

[Neoxidil]

I like the fashion in victorian era .

1900's suck :(

[BUKOVSCAN016]

J like 1890`s

[Bethlc81]

wonderful and beautifully well done vid! I especially love the Edwardian fashions the most. So elegant and detailed and also many of the 20's wear

[srmacoy1975]

It certainly puts into perspective what a revolutionary decade the 1920's must have been. All that time the gowns are slowly changing, a bit here, a bit there. Then in the 20's, POW!

It also shows how long really bad fashion ideas can last. The waist lines suddenly come in in the 1820's, the skirts puff out, and suddenly you've got a life time of crinoline!

[oki288]

Ooh, I agree with you on the bad fashion ideas. I personnally love the fashion of 1819 (for example), but hate 1835 one. I think it looks a little bit ridiculous compared to the simplicity of Regency look.

[LadyCarolyn1]

Beautiful, put together very well! Good mix of day and evening gowns

[cosettexxxfirearch]

this is really good!! thanks for posting. i love the regency and victorian era's.

[pannoni1]

I wonder if someone could continue the series and bring us to the present, to take us through the eras of the Poodle Skirt, Bobbed Hair, Flannel, Beehive Hair, Mods, Psychedelic Fashion, Afro Hair, Parachute Pants, Polyester Fashion, then on to Leather Jackets, Big Hair, Jeans, Capri, and finally today's fashions. I noticed a big hemline rise from 1925 to 1926 and a big drop from 1930 to 1931.

[wallygreeninker]

I'm putting together a something for 1949 to 1980 with three frames to a year - have got to 1977. It's may be that the transition is from winter 1924/5 to winter 1926/7 between 1925 and 1926 - and the same for 1930-1931. Ideally it should have showed two seasons per year the sources I used weren't specific enough.

[agnesfashionart]

so so beautiful... My favourite is The Victorian Era. I Love it!

[bradmanwaring]

cause this is relevant to the "Youtube" generation...

[wallygreeninker]

how old would that be? 13?

[M3TARI3L]

I love ur vid =D!!

[hskyart]

interesting, it's like a fashion history

look how much the cloth changes, i'm glad it's tshirt time now

[devigne]

fantastic! love seeing the gradual changes as opposed to most fashion history handbooks that go pre-coco then boom immediate-aftermath of coco then boom contemporary

[val6294]

1819 <3

[Victorian9322]

awesome!

[LeliaCristiya]

Good job man keep it up

[fraulinesienna2007]

where did you find all of these images?

[wallygreeninker]

the immediate source is given in the 'credits' at the end. Where the main source for the 1795-1893 images obtained them I'm not sure but think it was a book published in the 1890's reproducing old periodical fashion plates.

[fraulinesienna2007]

thanks, sorry I wasn't paying attention to the credits. wonder if there there is a book on fashions from 1700-1795...

[cbann88]

what is the song playing in the background?

[wallygreeninker]

'Venus bringer of peace' from Holst's Planet suite.

[operamichael]

Fascinating. Thanks so much.

[russia99]

Very nice!

Contratulations!

[snoopyhater]

thank you for making this, and sharing.

Excellent learning tool.

[oscargurses]

is there anything on men's fashion? im doing a ten part article on the history of men's fashion on my blog MetroSex Men's Fashion, it would be helpful, thank you and keep up th egreat work

[instantcookie]

And I really have to ask what piece of music is playing in this one too.

You really have great taste in fashion and music!

[wallygreeninker]

It's 'Venus, bearer of peace' from Holst's 'Planet suite.'

[wallygreeninker]

Make that 'bringer of peace' from Holst's 'the Planets'.

[reportanddeport]

A lot of those were overdone, but most of them were beautiful. I wish women could dress this classy these days. Imagine the Hollywood sluts in something classy and tasteful?

[edwardianbeauty]

I agree but like you said most were overdone.The fashion era I like the best is the late 1910's ,then the 1920's and 30's. The eras before then were beautiful but very painful especially the 1850's and 1860's. I think a lot of people dress classy now but not as formal. I wear a skirt to school and a shirt most of the time It's not nearly as formal because most of the time it's a denim skirt with a shirt but I still think I look pretty nice. You can still look nice even today.

[MarkSaintJoseph]

Beautiful.

[dra1000]

very nicely done!

[thecostumer]

this is beautiful.

[AndroidFaye]

wonderful