Timeframe
"Belle Époque" is the French name for the prosperous years before the First World War. In Britain part of it is called the Edwardian era, after King Edward VII (1901–1910).
Previous episode: The Victorian Era
The S-bend corset
Around 1900–1908 the "straight-front" corset pushed the bust forward and the hips back, creating an S-shaped silhouette with a pouter-pigeon chest.
The Gibson Girl
Drawn by American illustrator Charles Dana Gibson: a tall, confident woman in a blouse and bell skirt with her hair piled up, the beauty ideal of the period.
Tea gowns and lingerie dresses
The tea gown was an elegant, comfortable dress for receiving at home. The lingerie dress was a white summer dress in fine cotton or linen with lace and whitework.
Paul Poiret
He opened his house in 1903 and, around 1906–1908, showed a high-waisted, flowing line that moved away from the S-bend. Around 1910 came his hobble skirt, narrow at the ankle, and colours inspired by the Ballets Russes.
The Delphos gown
Designed by Mariano Fortuny in Venice around 1907 in finely pleated silk; he patented the pleating method in 1909. It falls on the body like a Greek column.
From corset to drape: learn to shape
See how a silhouette is built with darts, seams and cut, in Anna Stella's Manchester classes.
Sources
- Valerie Steele, The Corset: A Cultural History, Yale University Press.
- Paul Poiret, King of Fashion (autobiography, 1931).
- Janet Arnold, Patterns of Fashion 2, Macmillan.
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Costume Institute, and the V&A: 1890–1914 collections.