Fashion

Fashion in Colonial Australia

Victorian clothes were very different to ours. In England, people wore a lot of layers to keep warm. But in Australian summers, Victorian fashions were very uncomfortable.

How did they get those puffy dresses?

Women wore long dresses with very big skirts. Girls clothes were similar, but their skirts didn’t reach the floor.

Underneath their dresses, girls and women wore a lot of underwear. To get dressed, you put on:

• a shift – like a nightie
• pantaloons – puffy trousers with a split for going to the toilet
• a corset – lined with bone and laced up tight so your waist looked slim
• petticoats – up to six
• a corded petticoat – with circles of rope sewn in to make your skirt stand out
• dress
• stockings
• shoes or lace-up boots
• shawl
• lace cap – if you were married
• bonnet – for going outside

If they had enough money, Victorian women loved to decorate their clothes, inside and out, with lace, ribbons and ruffles. Clothes were expensive because they were made by hand. Sewing machines weren’t available until the 1850s.

Every time a dress was washed, the lace had to be taken off. So Victorians’ clothes didn’t get washed often.

What about the boys?

Until about the age of five, little boys also wore frilly dresses! Men wore trousers, shirts, coats and hats. Never shorts or bare chests. For Victorian women, even talking publicly about trousers was considered rude – they were sometimes called ‘inexpressibles’! 

Image: Portrait of a woman standing, by ex-convict artist Thomas Bock c1840

How to curl your hair colonial-style

How did they get those corkscrew curls?

In Victorian days, girls and women always had long hair. Curls were the vibe! 

But electric hair tongs hadn’t been invented. So how did they do it?

1. Tear up an old cloth into long strips about 5cm wide and 40cm long The longer your hair, the longer the strips need to be. 

2. Wash your hair.

3. While your hair is wet, divide it into sections — as many sections as you want curls. You don’t have to do all your hair. Women often had one or two curls either side of their face, and put the rest in a bun. 

4. Starting halfway along the rag, wind a section of your hair around the cloth in a spiral. Then wind the other half of the rag length over the top of that. Tie the rag ends tightly. (Or you could use modern hair elastics to hold them.)

5. Repeat until you have made as many curl sausages as you want.

6. Leave your hair to dry. Then undo the rags and take them out carefully. Don’t brush too much. Arrange and enjoy!

Image: Portrait of Harriet Swan, age 16, painted on ivory, by an unknown artist, about 1842. The original of this portrait is less than 7cm high.