Edwardian Era

The Edwardian era is named for Edward VII, who reigned from 1901 to 1910, but in fashion history it's usually stretched to cover the years up to the First World War in 1914. It's a short period with two quite different silhouettes: the curved S-bend of the 1900s, and the straighter, higher-waisted shape that replaced it from about 1908.

The S-bend silhouette

The defining look of the 1900s came from a new corset. The straight-front corset, promoted by the French corsetière and physician Inès Gâches-Sarraute around 1900, had a rigid, straight busk that pressed flat against the abdomen instead of curving in at the waist. Its aim was to take pressure off the stomach and internal organs. Its effect was to tip the body's posture: the bust was pushed forward and the hips back, giving the curved S-shaped profile that defines the decade. (FIT's history of the design notes that, in the end, it wasn't really healthier than the corsets it replaced.)

The clothes worn over it emphasised the curve:

• The "pouter pigeon" or monobosom bodice, with fullness bloused over the front of the waist so the bust appeared as a single soft, forward curve.
• High collars, often stiffened with small bones or wire supports, on day dresses and blouses.
• Skirts smooth and close over the hips, flaring out toward the hem into a trumpet or bell shape, often with a train. They were usually made of many gores (shaped panels): five, seven, nine or more.
• Abundant trimming: lace, tucks, ruffles, embroidery and ribbon, especially on summer dresses.

Lingerie dresses, blouses and tailor-mades

Three kinds of clothing capture the period:

• Lingerie dresses, white or pale summer dresses of fine cotton lawn, batiste or voile, covered in rows of pin tucks, lace insertion and embroidery. Their name came from their resemblance to fine underwear.
• Blouses (shirtwaists) with skirts, the practical everyday wear of women working in offices, shops and teaching, associated in America with the illustrator Charles Dana Gibson's "Gibson Girl".
• The tailor-made, a matching jacket and skirt made by tailoring methods, which had become accepted daywear for women. See Tailoring vs. Dressmaking Traditions.

Daywear covered the body from neck to floor with long sleeves. Evening dresses had low necklines and short sleeves, with long gloves.

After 1908: straightening out

Toward the end of the decade the S-bend softened. The bust was pushed forward less and the hips back less. A straighter, more upright figure came in, with a higher waistline inspired by the early 19th century (a "Directoire" or Empire revival) and narrower skirts. Corsets lengthened down over the hips to give a long, smooth line. Around 1910, skirts narrowed at the ankle into the short-lived hobble skirt, so tight at the hem that it restricted walking. Designers such as Paul Poiret promoted these looser, straighter, more columnar dresses, and they led toward the even simpler lines of the 1910s and 1920s.

Home sewing in the Edwardian period

By 1900, sewing machines were common in middle-class homes, paper patterns were sold in graded sizes, and fashion magazines carried pattern offers. Much everyday clothing was still made at home or by local dressmakers. Women's magazines of the period carried detailed instructions for techniques that are still used today.

Sewing Edwardian-style details

Several techniques of the period are worth learning even for modern sewing:

• Pin tucks: very narrow, evenly spaced folds stitched close to the edge, sewn before cutting out the piece, on a rectangle of fabric slightly larger than the pattern. A pin-tuck foot and a twin needle make them quickly by machine.
• Lace insertion: a strip of lace with two straight edges, set into the fabric. Pin it on the right side, stitch along both edges with a narrow zigzag, then cut away the fabric behind the lace and roll and stitch the raw edges.
• Gored skirts: a skirt made of several shaped panels, each fitted at the hip and flaring toward the hem. They're good practice in matching long seams and in fitting, much like a modern panelled skirt.
• Bloused bodices: fullness gathered into a waistband or onto a fitted lining, so the outer fabric pouches softly over the waist.
• High collars: stiffened with interfacing and supported by short bones or collar stays sewn vertically at the sides and back.

Sewing a reproduction

Like the Victorian period, the corset comes first. An Edwardian bodice is cut for the S-bend posture, and the forward bust and the back of the skirt depend on it. Make and fit a straight-front corset (or a later, longer one for after 1908), then take all measurements and fit all mockups over it. Edwardian bodices are often softer and less heavily boned than Victorian ones. Many are built on a fitted lining that holds the shape, with the decorative outer fabric gathered or draped over it. See Victorian Corsetry and Boning a Bodice.