Victorian to Vamp: Women's Clothing 1900-1929 [Paperback]

...great reference...you're sure to find this book a fascinating read. -- Country Victorian, Sept. 2000

In a little over 100 pages, Paula Jean Darnell presents a lively account of a crucial period of fashion history. -- Victorian Decorating & Lifestyle Magazine, Sept. 2000

Step into another world as Victorian to Vamp shows you women's clothing at the turn of the last century. -- Butterick Home Catalog, Spring 2001

Victorian to Vamp: Women's Clothing 1900-1929 covers styles from the turn of the century until the Great Depression. A predominant ideal silhouette marked each of these three decades from the S-shaped Gibson Bend in Edwardian times to the long, slender, upright lines of dresses in the Teens and finally to the boyish flat-chested look of flappers' short chemises in the Twenties. Learn about: clothing styles of three decades, how women accessorized their wardrobes, the influence that women's participation in sports had on their dress, why some women advocated dress reform, how designers Paul Poiret and Coco Chanel affected women's fashions. The book is illustrated entirely with period drawings and photographs of the time.

As we enter the new century, it is intriguing to look back on American culture as it was a hundred years ago and compare it with our society today. Certainly one of the most striking changes is in the status of women, and one of the most outwardly noticeable differences is in women's attire. Victorian to Vamp: Women's Clothing 1900-1929 explores what women were wearing at the turn of the century and how their dress had changed radically by the end of the Roaring Twenties.

This book concentrates on fashionable styles during the first thirty years of the Twentieth Century. The author, Paula Jean Darnell, describes and identifies a distinctive ideal silhouette for each decade. Illustrations help the reader visualize how women's clothing and accessories looked during these three decades.

Victorian to Vamp is also the story of the evolution of women's clothing, as women themselves, tired of having restrictions placed on their lives and their dress, changed from prim Victorians to flamboyant flappers. We think women of the Twenty-First Century will enjoy this look backward into fashion history.

What did women wear 100 years ago? Why had styles completely changed by the Roaring 20s? How did the repressed Victorian change into the irrepressible vamp?

The answers to these questions are revealed in my book Victorian to Vamp: Women's Clothing 1900-1929, which explores the evolving dress styles of women that reflected a slow change in their lifestyles as well. During this time the oppressive Victorian morality of the Nineteenth Century was disappearing, and by the 1920s a new freedom for women came about in their clothing. The modern short skirts and loose chemise dresses that slipped on so easily symbolized a change in the role of women. No longer bound in tight, boned corsets or hampered by long ground-sweeping skirts as they had been in Victorian times, women at last could work or play with ease. I hope my readers will enjoy this glimpse into costume history!

Paula Jean Darnell collects and deals in women's vintage fashion accessories and teaches college English and humanities courses. Victorian to Vamp: Women's Clothing 1900-1929 is based on her Master of Arts degree thesis. She is also the author of Victorian Millinery, Victorian Bathing Costumes, and co-author of Outstanding Iowa Women: Past and Present.