If you need a reference guide for anything to do with Victorian English fashions-writing, costuming, theater-you can't start at a better place than this book. Nicely written and very thorough.

NetGalley, Kathleen Klocko

A really insightful and riveting read about fashion in the Victorian era. As a history buff I really enjoyed this.

NetGalley, Stephanie Humphreys

Overall, I thought this book was really informative, and with the inclusion of the photos and illustrations, would be very helpful to anyone researching into Victorian womens fashions for various reasons and recommend it for that!

4 out of 5

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Life & Tea

I've read a lot of Neil Storey's books over the past few years and this has to be the best. The illustrations are a true delight.

Books Monthly

Found this a fantastic little resource and one I plan on purchasing to keep on-hand to reference. The book itself has a really good balance between historical information and photos, enough to keep you interested without leaving you feeling bogged down with no visuals.

NetGalley, Anna Laird

The benefits that this relatively slim volume might bring to family history research are not immediately obvious. However, the content scores heavily on two specific fronts; first, each chapter is given over to a decade that coincides with each of the National Censuses of the Victorian period; second, a wealth of images, advertisements and magazine features could prove helpful to family historians attempting to date family photograph. As such, the book serves to bring important context to changes in fashion wrought by a period of rapid socio-economic change.

Alde Valley Suffolk Family History Group

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

I used this book as research for a book I’m working on and was super impressed with how detailed it is. Breaking fashion down into distinct periods, discussing fashion in different classes etc. This book was exactly what I was looking for!

NetGalley, Julia Puzara

As featured on Everything is Better with Dragons

Everything is Better with Dragons

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

The title of this book delivers what it promises. Victorian fashion. To fulfil this promise, it has the best structure ever - each chapter describes ten years in the reign of Queen Victoria.

The book is written more for fashion enthusiasts than a person with a general interest in the period. However, I suppose each reader must be pleased with the plenty of included photographs.

I guess that family historians will be satisfied as well. Victorian fashion for women can serve as a handbook of a 19th-century woman because it describes what she wore and the options she faced.

Therefore, I'm going to open this book in the future regularly.

NetGalley, Magdalena Šejdová

Video review featured on Lil's Vintage World, YouTube

Lil's Vintage World

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

I love anything Victorian, and this book is right up my street. Firstly the cover is fabulous, as are the pictures inside. A very educated and informative read.

NetGalley, Wendy M Rhodes

This was a really interesting and informative book and I learnt a lot through reading it. It’s not my area of expertise, but by the end I felt much more informed.

NetGalley, Ruth Parker

Victorian Fashions for Women by Fiona Kay, Neil Storey is a fascinating book on Victorian fashion. It has 70 photos and those pictures offer a good insight into how fashion evolved. I like that the photos are both spread out in the book and also a few are bunched together. For this kind of book is the best way to include them.

The book covers the period between 1840s to the 1890s, inclusive. Each decade has its own chapter and there are two more chapters dedicated to working women and to mourning. Victorian fashion changed a lot, crinoline cage was introduced and the smaller ones were comfortable, something that is mentioned in the book. Usually historians focus only on the negatives of the crinolines, when in fact they were comfortable to wear. I talk from experience when it comes to crinoline cage. When it got to sizes that were way too large than it was a different situation.

The book is short, but the information is nicely presented and it makes for a fast-pace read. It covers topics such as jewellery and accessories too. I had some assumptions regarding black jewellery for example and it was nice to discover that the situation was much more complex. I would highly recommend this book. You can discover all sorts of details on corsets, about shoes in which a rather strange trend emerged at some point, what women wore for outdoor pursuits, and many more.

5/5 stars

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Coffee and Books

An informative look at Victorian fashions. This would be a good book for an historian to add to their collections. As well as genealogist as it would help pinpoint fashion for pictures and paintings.

NetGalley, Carissa Miller

The book is very excellent at giving practical overviews of victorian fashion from each decade, each chapter separated for each 10 year period. Each chapter introduces an overview of foundation layers to outdoor fashion and accessories, noting small changes as time moved on.
The in depth look at working wear and mourning was a great read.

NetGalley, Louise Chase

This is an excellent resource for identifying and understanding Victorian era fashions. The authors are clearly well researched and understand the decades well. In addition, the book does not only discuss high end fashions you see in the ephemera of the time (which were targeted at wealthier women, especially in the early decades) but in all the different levels of fashions (and undergarments, hats, etc.) of the time.

In all, a fabulous read and well worth it for the fashion historian.

NetGalley, Andrea joki

Bringing a cohesive narrative to the trends, influences, & silhouettes of the 19th century, Victorian Fashion for Women is an informative & fascinating read on not only dress history, but the people that created & wore these items as well.

Beginning in the 1840's & ending with the styles of the 1890's, this book, while not a complete comprehensive history, offers an excellent look at fashions for the everyday historian. From Queen Victoria's paramount influence on style, to the working woman, this book gives an intimate look at many details of dress.

Honiton lace, the French inspiration of Romantic era skirts, the incredible yards of fabrics over crinoline that would deflate over the decades to give a slim front & bustled back. The book includes a multitude of pictures, pointing out the historical significance & details one might have otherwise missed, along with some truly enjoyable copies of clothing adds directed at women of the eras. These I found truly fascinating, as over time one could see not just the evolution of clothing, but of women & their places in society as well.

One important point that this book does not blessedly omit, are the undergarments used, as these were essential for giving the shape & structure to the dresses, blouses, & skirts themselves. I also appreciated the addition of common accessories such as hats, jewelry, & shoes. Fabrics & dyes are outlined in a brief overview of the decades at the end of chapters.

A well written & enjoyable book for the curious historian in us all.

NetGalley, Taun M.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

A very fun and interesting book, loved the reading and it had some really interesting pictures. This is a must have for any fans of Victorian History and or fashion.

NetGalley, Heather Bennett

I expected a coffee table book; however, this is a thorough, well researched history of women's dress during the Victorian period. It included vintage photos, advertisements, and other illustrations. The fashions of each decade were presented as individual chapters. The reader could easily focus on a decade of interests. Colors and fabrics popular in each decade are presented with each chapter. Costumes for mourning and mourning rituals were also presented. This book is thoughtfully organized.
This is an excellent resource for students of history and fashion. It is accessible to those who have an interest beyond academics.
Book includes a glossary, index and bibliography.

NetGalley, Claudia Ratay

A great read for anyone interested in clothes and fashion. With a decade for the years 1840 to 1890, the span of Victoria’s reign, the book is comprehensive, detailed and fully illustrated... Really enjoyed it and learnt a lot.

NetGalley, Mandy Jenkinson

This book is perfect for anyone interested in fashion history, especially if you're looking for something that is packed full of information but done through a very concise format! Highly recommend!

NetGalley, Natalie Chiasson

We look back upon Victorian fashions with some bemusement: corsets, bustles and crinolines? Why would anyone want to make life so uncomfortable and difficult for themselves? However, it’s really not that long ago. In 1898, Lady Harberton wasn’t allowed to go into a pub’s coffee room because she was wearing a knickerbocker cycling costume with knee-length breeches – that’s the era of my grandparents. Kew’s first women gardeners were appointed in 1896 – and that was seen as newsworthy across the UK.

The nineteenth century saw the huge expansion of the middle-class. The Industrial revolution created wealth (and yes, a huge amount of poverty and hardship) and a lot of that trickled down through society. The wealthy could afford servants; the railways expanded markets for fresh food and so the increased urban population ate better. Some of that circulating money found its way into the hands of women who spent it upon themselves. Increasing mechanisation also assisted the mass production of items, thus reducing the cost of clothing and accessories and encouraging more purchases rather than mending and re-use of old apparel.

Victorian Fashions for Women by Fiona Kay and Neil R Storey offers precisely what the title states. Each decade from the 1840s to the 1890s is allocated a chapter and we also get two short chapters devoted to Working Women and Mourning. It’s a fairly short book (approx. 175 pages plus index) and is highly readable, although it packs a lot of information into each page.

Each chapter sets the context for the decade before telling us about the ‘look’ of that decade, e.g. changes in the shape of the bodice and sleeves and the changes in hairstyles. We then get sections on foundation garments, accessories, jewellery before the chapter ends with a comprehensive list of fabrics and colours of the decade.

I really enjoyed the book – and I learned a lot. I loved the approach of a chapter per decade. That means that before I read a book by Dickens or Trollope, I can turn to the appropriate chapter in Kay & Storey and get a feel for the ‘look’ for that decade. You might laugh, but someone as incredibly sensitive to female thought and behaviour as Trollope could, in just a sentence or two about Signora Neroni, for example, tell us exactly how she views society – and how it will view her.

This book is definitely a keeper!

NetGalley, Colin Edwards

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

I like books about fashion and the history of fashion as it's also social history. This one is very good and I learned a lot about the fashion of that age.
It's well explained and researched and entertaining.
Highly recommended.

NetGalley, Anna Maria Giacomasso

As someone who reads historical fiction--mostly romance--I was absolutely in love with this book. This was a very detailed book of Victorian fashion, from sleeve length to mourning clothes rituals. This is definitely the book for someone who wants to learns the ins-and-outs of this type of fashion. I do want to say this: This book is extremely detailed. It would be an excellent read for historians and historical romance authors due to its research-type style. I have a Master's degree in British Literature, and this is something I would definitely use as a source when I do research. It's an insightful read, and I highly recommend it.

NetGalley, Lee Hall

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

I love the Victorian era and when I saw this book on fashions from that era I was so excited to read it! It’s divided into three different times the beginning the middle and the end and from big bussels to no bussels, to big sleeves to collars that reached their chin it’s all in here and they cover every fashion statement there was from head to toe flappy hats dainty boots etc I love this book and will probably go back and read it again and imagine what it would be like wearing those clothes with the exception of the corset of course. Anyone who loves reading about or dreaming of the Victorian era will love this book. They cover everyone and every accessory it is so so good.

NetGalley, Janalyn Prude

Beautiful photographs and reproductions of advertisements across much of the century help to enhance the descriptions of changing fashions in this book. The book is broken down by decade with a general synopsis of how women's fashions in general changed (and sometimes what influenced that change, like sewing machines or bicycles) before breaking down to specifics like undergarments, jewelry, hair, etc. The last chapter covered a little bit of what women not in the upper classes would have worn as well as changing rules for mourning etiquette. Interesting for those who are interested in reading about the subject.

NetGalley, Anne Morgan

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

I love this delightful book of Victorian fashions through history. Perfect book for anyone that’s interested in history and fashion. The pictures are great as well!

NetGalley, Lynn Beck

An interesting journey through the fashions of the Victorian era. Fun to read if you have an interest in fashion history. The illustrations are helpful in giving a visual of how women dressed during those times. Thank goodness times have changed...I don't think I could wear soooo many layers.

NetGalley, Mariama Thorlu-Bangura