With the end of the Napoleonic Empire and a general trend toward more dissipated fashion that relied less on grandeur and more on available, less hierarchical trends, the middle classes would become the dominant social influences on costume. The great courts of Europe had lost their influence on the general population in political, cultural, and social custom and economic progress would become forces of change.

There was a mingling of influences in the first half of the 1800’s as people looked to multiple sources instead of to one dominant hierarchical model. By the mid 1800’s several inventions, such as that of the sewing-machine, the embroidery machine, and advanced looms for wool and lace changed the dynamic of clothing production. Furthermore, transport by rail and developments in advertising made everything in the realm of fashion more accessible to the average person. The commercialization of the garment industry began in earnest during this period. It was no longer necessary for customers to go to more than one vendor to assemble a garment; merchants converged services to provide the first ready-to-wear shops that would herald the larger department stores that we are familiar with today.

The concentration of capital in busy centers where people, products, and distributors could interact freely with the backing of borrowed money allowed for a new era of growth in fashion as much as in societal trends at large. The urban centers became the new social arena and the home, as opposed to the noble court, became the place where the lady of society could showcase herself again and become a dominant figure in opposition to the hierarchies that had been imposed by court etiquette.

Wall Tapestries Beauvais Tapestry Bouquet Cornemuse Tapestry Cabbage Leaves Tapestry II Danse Au Jardin Tapestry

European Wall Tapestries are an elegant way to subtley enhance the wall space of your living room or den. These beautiful wall hangings are reproductions of famous historical tapestries found in museums around the world. Our art tapestries are reproductions of great artists such as George Botich, Lori Lynn Simms, Malenda Trick, Monet, Art Fronchowiak, Michelangelo, and Van Gogh. Tapestries can be ideally placed over a sofa, a fireplace, in a hallway or any wall requiring elegant historic decor.

*image: Early 1800’s fashion plate
*image: Oil painting by Edgar Degas, ‘The Millinery Shop’ , c. 1879

Tags: 19th century, Beauvais Tapestry, Bouquet Cornemuse Tapestry, Cabbage Leaves Tapestry II, commercialization of the garment industry, Danse Au Jardin Tapestry, embroidery machine influence on fashion, European fashion, European middle class fashion, industrialization and fashion, lace influence on fashion, Napoleonic Empire and fashion, rise of ready-to-wear shops, sewing machine influence on fashion, Wall Tapestries, wool looms influence on fashion