Victorian era evening gowns (1837-1901) juxtaposed by Vivienne Westwood (1941-) and Alexander Mcqueen (1967- 2010): a comparative analysis to explore style authenticity of the fashion designers

Abstract

The Victorian styles in fashion have continuously reproduced with countless modifications. Several high-end fashion designers have become known in recent decades for creating collections inspired by the Victorian era. The main aim of this research is to do an analysis of how Vivienne Westwood (1941- ) and Alexander McQueen (1967-2010) exerted influences from the Victorian era evening gowns and how they transferred design features and concepts in order to find their own authentic fashion style. The aim of this research is to do a comparative discussion on how Vivienne Westwood and Alexander McQueen exerted influence on the Victorian era evening gowns and how they transferred design features and concepts in order to find their own authentic fashion style. First, the study explores insight information about Victorian-era evening gown characteristics. Around 50 evening gowns have been observed for this research by studying digital museum collections, fashion journals, books, and historical paintings which belong to the Victorian period. This study is extended by gathering pictorial and written pieces of evidence, by exploring museum collections, fashion blogs, youtube videos, and paper articles of Alexander McQueen’s (1969-2010) and Vivienne Westwood’s (1941-) masterpieces which were inspired by Victorian evening gown features. The collected resources are discussed and compared with scholars’ reviews to give a comprehensive analysis. Off-the-shoulder neckline, ‘S’ bend fitted bodice, pointed waistline, short sleeves, and extravagant dress silhouettes can be identified as the common features which have been selected from Victorian-era evening gowns by two designers. They have transferred Victorian evening gown characteristics through modern pattern cutting, tailoring, and draping technology to a new vision of fashion. Both of them have applied design principles such as juxtaposing, hybridization, mixing, and matching to build up their own authentic styles.