👑 Imagine wearing six layers of clothing every day—knowing your fancy dress could never be washed! 😳 Queen Victoria’s linens were scrubbed daily, but her royal gowns were only aired out and patched to hide stains. Hygiene tricks back then were wild—fabric pads for sweat and removable hems! Would you survive Victorian laundry life? Full story below in this article👇
Let’s take a step back in time to the era of Queen Victoria of England—a time when taking care of clothes was a long, difficult job and far from perfect.
Every day, the queen’s undergarments and linens were changed and replaced with freshly washed items. Back then, laundry was boiled with lye and scrubbed hard using special washboards. The whole process of cleaning and whitening clothes could take days. Servants had a particularly hard time dealing with clothes that had delicate lace and fancy ruffles.
These items were washed rarely because the thin fabrics would easily get ruined by such harsh treatment. That’s why the queen had a large number of undershirts and pantaloons to keep her more expensive clothing clean. A typical outfit included layers: a few underskirts, a dress shirt, and thin shirts and pantaloons under the dress and corset. Some shirts and pantaloons were even worn over the corset.
Interestingly, the shirts worn under dresses looked nice enough on their own. Most were made from bleached cotton or linen, while the fancier ones were made of silk. People at the time believed that sweat helped draw out illness from the body, and the more layers of clothing you wore, the healthier you were supposed to be.
Because Queen Victoria owned so many clothes, many of her undergarments have survived and are kept in museums today. They often feature her royal monogram. It’s also known that the queen used to give some of her own linen as gifts to those close to her. Nowadays, descendants of these people sometimes put those items up for auction—and collectors are willing to pay a good amount for them.
When it came to outer garments, washing was not an option. These dresses were made from expensive fabrics, often woven with gold or silver threads and decorated with rare lace and jewelry. Instead of being washed, they were carefully spot-cleaned and aired out. If a stain couldn’t be removed, it was often covered up with a decorative patch.
In the days before modern hygiene products, people used fabric pads under the arms to absorb sweat. They also used similar tricks for the hems of dresses and the ends of long trains. Thin layers of fabric were sewn to these parts so they could be removed and washed separately.
It’s also worth noting that elegant outerwear was usually made in darker colors. Lighter clothes were considered a sign of wealth and high status, and mostly worn by the upper class.
Did you know? Tell your opinion in the comment!
