Edwardian Fashion - The Gibson Girl

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Camille Clifford

Edwardian Fashion - The Gibson Girl

The Gibson Girl - became the first 20th century standard of female beauty and style, named after Charles Dana Gibson, a Life Magazine illustrator whose fanciful illustrations inadvertedly created a new idealized style of Edwardian Fashion. American women in particular, tried to emulate this look through the early Edwardian era up to the beginning of the First World War. The Gibson Girl was defined as an emancipated post Victorian era woman, who wore daringly tight corsets to create an hourglass figure.She wore her hair long, and pulled it back into an updo.

Gibson Girl

Gibson Girls

Edwardian Corsets

Corset Evolution

The wished for waist size was about 18 inches, which was attained by corsetry and much pain, cutting up to 6 inches off your natural waist size - not to mention blood supply !

Corsets were typical of the period and women wore them daily, often gradually tightening the waist cords over a period of time until she achieved her desired waist size.Camille Clifford, an actress was famous for her waist size, which closely resembled Gibsons illustrations, but it was Gibsons wife, Irene Langhorne, who is generally regarded to be the original Gibson Girl. To learn everything you need to know about Edwardian figure, we defer to the excellent Fashion Era.

Irene Langhorne - The First Gibson Girl ?

The Gibson Girl Silhouette

Gone were the bustles on the arms, Edwardian dresses were now cut to slenderize the silhouette, thin sleeves,large hips, large bust separated by an impossibly thin waist. The new straight front corsets created what was termed the S-bend, which pushed the bum back and the bosom forward.Add to that mix, the latest fashionable parasol and you were ready for the public!

Edwardian Dress - 1902

The Gibson Girl Hairstyle

The Gibson Roll or Gibson Tuck is still often seen in movies like Titanic, or any period drama from Edwardian days, in particular - Downton Abbey and the original Upstairs Downstairs. Just watching either of these two dramas will give you all the Edwardian style ideas you need. Have a look at this charming film from Youtubes Aaron1912 called Edwardian Girls and then check out how to Roll your hair like a Gibson Girl.







The Gibson girl, was essentially an american icon, and was applied to young women generally. She was known as ' the new woman' - she worked independently from men, and was usually politically active, seeking the womens vote.

Downton Abbey

 In the 1948 Vogue Magazine published an interesting retrospective on Charles Dana Gibson with a recreation of his illustration from The Weaker Sex. as photographed by Horst

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Victorian Women - One Amazing Photo of two great female artists

FREE IMAGES Margaret and Francis Macdonald - Fashion and Art icons !

 Photo of Margaret and Francis taken by Charles Mackintosh 1894

These two remarkable sisters were highly regarded artists of their day and were the bright young things of their time ! Margaret was married to the famous Charles Rennie Mackintosh, a member of the Glasgow ' Immortals' in the late 19th century, and her decorative style of artwork along with her sisters Francis influenced Mackintosh and also one other particular artist called Gustav Klimt. It could be argued that they helped pave the way for the later Art Deco styles. But it was a mans world then, and their names are mere footnotes in the history of Art. The Sleeping Princess [ below] was published in the famous Redbook in 1895. It has Klimts style all over it, except that Klimt had not painted anything in this style yet.

Margaret was described as a woman who was totally original in looks and style. She had no poses, great masses of coppery burnished hair, above a broad brow and quiet eyes. Francis went on to marry Herbert McNair, another of the Immortals, and subsequently her work was overshadowed by her husbands. Shockingly after Francis died, McNair burned all of her work, so very little survives of her. On the other hand Charles Mactintosh remained a true devotee of his wife Margaret and cited her as a major influence on his life and work. They were both cremated, so there are no graves to visit.
Sources - Part Seen- Part Imagined - by Timothy Neat

Fashion in the 1900's

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1900's Fashion

I personally feel that that belle epoch period of 1890's to 1914 in fashion is unique. Those wonderful days when women wore morning dresses, afternoon dresses, evening gowns, formal dresses . of course it helped to have an army of servants running after you.
It was also the time when women began to wear suits with shirt waists and blouses !
The great artists of the period captured them so wonderfully.

Vintage Swimwear and Bathing Beauties - 1900's - 1920's

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Vintage Swimwear and Bathing Beauties - 1900's -1920's

The new swimsuits post relied heavily on the form of the "fashionable" body, gradually exposing more and more skin. The beginning of the twentieth century marked a new daring era in swim wear for women. In 1909, Australian Annette Kellerman was arrested in the United States for wearing a loose, one piece suit that became the generally accepted swimsuit for women by 1910. After that swimsuits began the trend of becoming lighter and briefer. The apron disappeared by 1918, leaving a tunic covering the shorts. Even though matching stockings were still worn, bare legs were exposed from the bottom of the trunks to the top of the shorts. With the Roaring 20's following WWI, there was a large increase in appreciation of recreation and the spending of leisure time.
Courtesy of Roselyn Hsueh