Early in the movie, Alice's mother scolds her for not wearing a corset. I was astonished that a young woman of marriageable age would even own a dress that could be worn without a corset. Would this be less of a problem in the 1830's than the 1860's?
I would think so, because the Regency, while still corset-wearing, did not have the silhouette so based on the corset. I mean, the dresses looked like nightgowns, one couldn't really tell if a corset was being worn at all. It certainly added to my clue-list of 'this is only shortly after the Regency'. The really insane amounts of prudishness that the Victorians were known for had not quite kicked in, since Victoria came to the throne in 1837 at the age of 18. The 1830s are a sort of grey area, not really the height of the Regency but before Victoria. There was still some of the excess and uncertainty of the Regency, but since there was a definite monarch at this time, there was not as much worry as there had been when mad King George was alive in the 1811-1820 era, which is considered the Regency Proper, if you will.
I''ve grown to like the 1830s for this reason--fashion had not got into hoopskirts and crinolines, and men were still wearing lovely colour and breeches and things, and morals and society still had remnants of the Regency's excess and bawdiness--but the Victorian rigidity of social structure was starting to come forth. I like the dichotomy of the grandparents and parents having grown up during this time of great excess and then struggling to raise their children the opposite. There's layers and layers of stuff you can do with that.
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I would think so, because the Regency, while still corset-wearing, did not have the silhouette so based on the corset. I mean, the dresses looked like nightgowns, one couldn't really tell if a corset was being worn at all. It certainly added to my clue-list of 'this is only shortly after the Regency'. The really insane amounts of prudishness that the Victorians were known for had not quite kicked in, since Victoria came to the throne in 1837 at the age of 18. The 1830s are a sort of grey area, not really the height of the Regency but before Victoria. There was still some of the excess and uncertainty of the Regency, but since there was a definite monarch at this time, there was not as much worry as there had been when mad King George was alive in the 1811-1820 era, which is considered the Regency Proper, if you will.
I''ve grown to like the 1830s for this reason--fashion had not got into hoopskirts and crinolines, and men were still wearing lovely colour and breeches and things, and morals and society still had remnants of the Regency's excess and bawdiness--but the Victorian rigidity of social structure was starting to come forth. I like the dichotomy of the grandparents and parents having grown up during this time of great excess and then struggling to raise their children the opposite. There's layers and layers of stuff you can do with that.