I had a dream that I'm planning on writing into a full-out story. It involved a young noblewoman who finds herself trapped in an old Gothic castle. She looks like Emma Watson and is garbed in a flowing dress, like you would expect in Pride & Prejudice, Emma, or (and a bit of an outlier) Emma Watson's upcoming Beauty and the Beast. I've tried researching Victorian dresses from the 1830s to the 1890s, but nothing I've been seeing quite seems to capture it (the Victorian style seems too geometric and "spiky" to be what I envisioned...it was "swishier" and "poofier" like Cinderella's dress from the original Disney movie). However, I want to be able to set the story in a concrete year. Does anyone happen to know what time period in European fashion would more closely match what I'm thinking of? I know this is a rather unusual request, but I greatly, greatly appreciate your help. Thanks in advance! Edit: I've found some images that resemble what I envisioned, but unfortunately there isn't a year or even a decade attached to them: (On the left, not the right)
I would think Empire Style (a.k.a. Regency) sounds more the mark, which is just prior to the Victorian era. Very late 1700's, early 1800's.
Interesting, I'll take a look. Edit: That's definitely closer. I seem to remember the shoulder pads having more puffiness. Does that also show up in the Regency look?
This blue dress is a plantation era dress. This is a distinctly American look. The dresses to the right are already into the very late Victorian structured look. These come from just before the Edwardian period, and are, though they may not look it now, the precursors to a much simpler line, much less fitted, that was the fashion counterpart to Art Nouveau. This painting is Franz Xaver Winterhalter, Elizabeth of Bavaria, 1865. It clearly falls within the Victorian period as we think of it in the Anglophone world, but it is a much different look. Just goes to show that fashion is never just one thing at any given time.
There wouldn't be shoulder pads in this period, though gathered fabric would have a similar look. This is also a regency style dress, shorter, not "trained", with the poofier shoulders. Like this?
If the style of dress matters that much, then yes. A much simpler silhouette in that period. More romantic in the literary sense.
Great, thanks! Yeah, I think it really matters more to me for research purposes and having a solid mental space in which to imagine this story's world, so yes, this info has been useful!
The Regency period would be very appropriate, since Gothic novels full of young noblewomen trapped in ancient castles were all the rage at the time. In fact, Jane Austen wrote Northanger Abbey to send up the fad.
