Victorian Research Post Part 3 Empress Alexandra.

Empress Alexandra 

She was an amazing influence on my designing when I did my project, a lady of stunning style and decorum. I'd highly recommend looking into her a bit more, theres a lot about this lady on the web. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandra_Fyodorovna_%28Alix_of_Hesse%29

Said that she wore tight 'choker' necklaces to hide a birth mark on her neck. This is where the choker came from, supposedly!

Note use of layers :) Spotted lace, over other materials. And look at that embellishment! :O

A dress worn by Empress Alexandra. Note use of one colour (referring to your proect) but use of incredible detail to bring it out. In Victorian times, they used to not have a one piece dress. A 'dress' would always compose of a bodice and a skirt, this was so that they could obtain the smallest waist possible. The dress didnt evolve into a one-piece garment until the early 1900's, using what we now know as a Princess Seam. Underneath would have been worn a tightly fitted whale bone or steel bone corset, possibly a crinoline and bloomers. Bloomers were influence from the French Revolution, where they wore shorter styled bloomers and we took that, and lengthened them - this was because the crinoline basically created a bell shape which would trap any passing draghts, and would be really cold! (believe me, this is true. >.<) so bloomers were basically elongated pants.

This painting shows the fabric to be shiny, or have a sheen. We can deduct from this that the fabric was incredibly delicate, easily creased and shiny. So it would have been something akin to a lovely quality silk or satin-style material.

Embroidery and Lace were a massive thing in the 1800s, mainly used on Royal's celebrational garments and wedding gowns. As it took so much man-power and time to do, the more intricate the embroidery, the richer the garment. Notice layers and off the shoulder styles, which are popular.