18th Century Court-fashion

18th century costumes

       I enjoyed exploring other galleries at the V & A museum like the 18th century court fashion for instance . It reminded me of the fashion & Textiles museum i visited in paris called Les Arts decor- tifs where they had costumes from that era. i found out some of the costumes were actually exported from France during the war. It felt quite strange walking around the gallery seeing all these  wonderful costumes . They were preserved  inside the glass to keep to its original condition which was a same really as i secretly wanted to touch and feel the material. 

 The costumes were made of different materials like silk, cotton, linen & lace. Some of the garments seemed ridiculously tight looking especially around the waist area like the corset dresses and you often wonder how it can possibly fit on a human figure. My only guess is women in those days were either of petite frame with less appetite or they were genetically born small.

 However it was quite exciting to look at the garments because i had only seen them on periodic dramas like Downtown Abbey & Mr Selfridge.

Cast of Downtown abbey

Cast of Mr Selfridge

  Talking of costumes , there were some heavily embellished dresses with big volumes .The corset dresses had amazing floral prints and it amazes me how the people managed to do all this without the use of technology we take advantage of these days. What fascinated me most was how the costumes were still in its original condition and there was not a single damage . 

  My favourite was lace material dresses. They looked really romantic and feminine.  People into those era mostly preferred to wear light colour garments maybe because they believed it bought happiness and love. Most of the costumes in the gallery were also made for people with wealth because it was impossible for lower class people to afford luxurious materials as they had to be special made by an private tailor.