Gibson Girl Fashion

Gibson girl fashion was started by artist Charles Gibson and became widely popular in the United States. The Gibson girl image was the first pin-up around the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Gibson girl fashion personified the Edwardian ideal of beauty for women: soft, sophisticated and ariodite. Gibson girl fashion always included a pompadour style hairdo, the signature S frame and the latest in gowns and dresses. The Gibson girl image could be found on collapsible fans, saucers and plates and other household merchandise and they were very popular among consumers and still is to this day. There was even an image and storyline that went along with Gibson girl fashion, a woman who was sophisticated, definitely not a feminist, but a woman who had the power to make men weak and follow her wherever she went. She could be seen in the parks, intellectual parlors all sporting the latest fashion apparel to suit the occasion.

There were Gibson girl fashion models, but the most famous was Camille Clifford who came to personify Edwardian fashion for women. Though the images were beautiful, there is no doubt that much of Edwardian fashion became tailored according to men’s desires which explains why a man was behind so many famous drawings of women’s fashion. Gibson girl fashion fell out of favor at the beginning of World War I and the 1920s as women demanded more practical clothing and hence the old Edwardian styles became no more.