Victorian Bonnets

Early Victorian fashion set the stage for fashion that was to come in the twentieth century, but Victorian bonnets became lost in the 1800s. By the time Queen Victoria was crowned in 1837, fashion had begun to make a dramatic turn. According Victorian standards, all forms of skin were to be covered, including the side of the face which was to be always covered by Victorian bonnets. Victorian bonnets became the signature head garment of early to mid fashion of the century. A woman’s nose should never be seen from the side and a woman’s nose from a side angle was subject to ridicule and Victorian bonnets were a remedy to this. If a parasol or bonnet was not desired then a “Gipsy Leghorn hat” was suitable for any time of day. The incessant need to cover all forms of skin sometimes included the wearing of gloves indoors. Long, tight sleeves were preferred. One must remember that the Victorian period was the age of modesty and it was only the respectable woman covered excessively. Bright colors were considered immodest. Most dresses of the day were made from silk.

In the winter or season, it was velvet or satin. In the winter, Ostrich feathers replaced flowers and fruit trimming which was mostly a summer catch. The signature trait of early, Victorian fashion was the bonnet. If you see an old Victorian photograph of a woman wearing a decorative bonnet then most likely you are staring at a portrait from the early Victorian age. Victorian bonnets grew out of fashion between the late Victorian age and the ushering in of the Edwardian era of the early twentieth century and would only be reserved for elderly woman by that time. Victorian bonnets hung low and the brim met just under the chin with decorative flowers lining the brim. Victorian bonnets of the 1840s were circular with a more round shape coming later in the decade.