The 1900 fashion styles are certainly a big contrast to what we see today. It was much more formal, society regulated and strict do’s and don’t of style were in place in all classes of society. The ladies of 1900 did not wear cut off shorts or ever ever would they show their bellies as young girls often do today. They would not be caught dead in jeans, in fact jeans were not even made at the time. Things have sure changed since 1900 but let’s take a look back…

In the first ten years of the 1900s, stylish ladies had morning gowns, afternoon dresses, evening dresses, and more simple garments which were much less event- particular. Social rituals, particularly the custom of formal visiting, dictated using these gowns, or dresses, as the fancier clothes were named. Ladies also wore suits, along with shirtwaists(blouses) , and used sporting garments for their much more active pursuits such as skating, biking, and tennis. They used to be matched outdoor jackets and lengthy skirts, and used to be made by ladies’ tailors instead of by dressmakers. Stores like A. & L. Tirocchi frequently created the blouses or waists, as they were identified in slang.

Whichever kind of garment, women’s clothes in the early 1900s had been intended to flaunt a woman’s tightly corseted upper body. Those close- fitting garments needed “an ideal fit, ” so probably the most fashionable ladies visited dressmakers that could do that for them. Until the early 1920s, the lining of the garment had been the basis on which the gown was built.

Custom dressmakers such as Tirocchi sisters cautiously fit the linings to the customer’s dimensions utilizing dress forms constructed out to the client’s dimension. Then customers would try on the liner for making certain the fit was correct. Once this had been accomplished, the dressmaker constructed the more expensive fabric within the perimeter of lining, draping satin or velvet to create the skirt, and making bodices utilizing net, lace, and beaded trim. Frequently a girdle, or belt, held within the waist.

Once the French designer Paul Poiret created his initial styles for slack, sophisticated gowns with high waistlines and no corsets underneath in 1907, he had been looking back to the French Empire to get inspiration. He claimed in those dresses to have inspired the collapse of the corset, but many prior to him had previously taken the action and the corset was previously a passing fashion. Clothes reformers were advocating the abolition of the corset since the mid- nineteenth century. The trend to looser dresses hopped the Atlantic and US women followed most newer fashions, too. Nevertheless, traditional matrons still clung to the corsets for some time, so the Tirocchi sisters in the 1st years of their enterprise made designs that focused around draping for the corseted customers.

However it is of interest that the earliest gown in the Tirocchi collection is highly similar the gowns Paul Poiret had been developing around 1910, along with a high waistline, free- falling shape, and in bright colors that included  embroidery. Having been discovered in the Tirocchi family quarters, it is speculated that the gown had belonged to Laura Tirocchi herself, who might have been just the type of thin youthful girl that Poiret had used for modeling of his dresses.

The Transitions of 1900 Fashion

In the 1900′s skirts brushed the floor, frequently having a train, even for day dresses, in middle- decade.  All-around 1908, the fashion houses of Paris started to display a new type of style that included having a thicker waist, flatter bust, and narrower hips. By the conclusion of the decade the most stylish skirts actually cleared the ground and were made closer to the ankle. The overall silhouette narrowed and straightened, starting a movement that would carry on into time leading nearly the Great War.

Lingerie Dresses

Frothy washable day dresses of transparent linen or cotton, named lingerie dresses, used to be worn in mellow climates. Those used to be trimmed lavishly using tiny pintucks, lace insertions, embroidery, and passementerie. The roots lie in the creative or artistic dress and also the adoption of the uncorseted tea outfit for use beyond the house.

1900 Sportswear and Tailored Clothing

Unfussy, tailored garments were utilized for outside adventures and travel. The shirtwaist, attire having a bodice or waist tailored like a man’s shirt using a high collar, had been used for casual daywear and evolved into the uniform of working ladies. Wool or tweed suits named tailor- mades(included ankle- length skirts with corresponding jackets; women of style wore these using fox furs and massive hats. 2 fresh designs of hats that turned fashionable at the turn of the century used to be the automobile bonnet for riding and sailor’s hat worn for tennis matches, bicycling and croquet.

Hair and Hats of the 1900′s

Massive, broadbrimmed hats used to be sported in mid- decade, trimmed with plenty of feathers and sometimes full stuffed birds or adorned with ribbons and synthetic flowers. Masses of wavy hair used to be stylish, swept around the top part of the head and accumulated into a knot. Big hats used to be worn with evening clothing.

By the end of the decade, hats had small drooping brims which shaded the face and deep crowns, and also the general top- heavy product stayed.

The Beginnings of Haute Couture

This decade noticed full flowering of Parisian haute couture since the arbiter of fashions and silhouettes for ladies of all classes. Designers despatched fashion models or mannequins for the Longchamp races sporting the newest styles, and fashion pictures determined the creators of personal gowns. In 1908, an innovative silhouette emerged from Callot Soeurs, Vionnet at the house of Doucet, and more importantly, Paul Poiret. The styles were variously called Merveilleuse, Diréctoire, and Empire following the fashions of the turn of the nineteenth century, that they resembled in their narrow skirts and raised waistlines.

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