In the Victorian era, just the elite dressed in the exaggerated elaborate fashion, said guest speaker Erma Johnson at the Victorian Tea fundraiser for the accessibility fund at St. Andrews United church in Beachburg.
Some things you may not have known about Victorian times:
— only the upper class could afford the servants and the money to purchase the expensive taffetas and silks and pay seamstresses;
— the Victorian ladies wore an amazing amount of clothing on their backs;
— a small waist was tremendously desirable;
–glands were the polite term for breasts;
— glow was the polite term for sweat;
— shoon is the old English word for shoes;
– the Victorian age was punctuated by puritanical, overly modest, strait-laced attitudes and eing chase was highly stressed.
“It amazes me how this mode of dressing was ever tolerated,” Ms. Johnson said.
She wrote this poem as she tried to capture what it was like to be a young Victorian lady preparing to attend a team.
Great Expectations or A Victorian Tea Tale
I’m so excited for the 2nd post
Came a request wi’ a golden gilt;
Abigail Montgomery will be “at home”
In ornate script was writ.
The day is just two weeks away,
No time to dawdle, or to waste,
I must assemble all my attire
And assure all’s in good taste.
Our domestic girl was summoned:
Oh, yes, we have a maid,
For my dad is good at business
And any fear of cost is waived.
So from my wardrobe and to my bed
Hannah toted my entire dress,
to sort and organize all these garments
Was like tackling a game of chess.
The morning of the bridal tea
I began to don my knickers;
Following this my pantaloons
with many giggles — snickers.
Then Hannah grabbed my corset
With its metal stays and ties
And began to pull and tug and yank
to my waist’s 15 inches size.
Then she smooth out all the bulges,
And with strong and practiced hands
Pushed my upper corset gore
To lift my breasts, modestly called “glands”.
I felt my head go dizzy — woozy,
I couldn’t move my feet or shoon;
My body could not move an inch
And I fell in one big swoon.
Now it may have been an allergy;
It may have been the flu;
But a tightly cinched waist, and tight hair do
I think, had more to do
With the fact that I had fainted,
Nor could not breathe nor stir,
And carrying pounds of fabric
Was also the culprit I am sure.
For although I was dressed in finery
And wore the latest styles there be,
It didn’t make much difference,
For I could not attend the tea!
