Fashion Speaks Louder Than Words
Women in the Victorian Era were mostly housewives, which could have been in large part because they legally were not allowed to keep the money they earned until 1870 (Trueman 1). Money has always been a form of power, and because women did not have much money to their name they were considered powerless in the nineteenth century. Much like Miss Adler in the film, “Sherlock
Holmes,” women found a way to hold power: fashion. According to Mary Blanchard, “some women used their bodies and their dress as public art forms not only to define the moral obligations of domesticity, but to assume cultural agency in their society at large” (Blanchard 22). Women in the
Victorian Era used their bodies and the way they dressed as a voice because society wouldn’t allow them to speak their minds.
In the film, “Sherlock Holmes,” Miss Adler dresses, or sometimes undresses, to get what she wants. During a scene where she is about to poison Sherlock Holmes with wine Miss Adler answers the door in only a towel and then proceeds to change into a dress revealing her neckline and chest.
Although “evening wear exposed the shoulders and neckline” (Monet1) beginning in the 1840’s, Miss
Adler’s dress was especially nice and sexy for the middle of the afternoon. Miss Adler changes in front of Holmes into a particularly seductive dress for that era because she wants to distract Holmes from realizing she poisoned the wine. Although this may seem a bit extreme with the ways women would gain power in the nineteenth century, it is a very good example of how Miss Adler used her body to get what she wanted. Miss Adler would dress in a certain way depending on what she wanted; in this case she dressed in a sexy way because she knew that would distract Holmes.
On a different occasion Miss Adler dressed in a more professional way when meeting with
Professor Moriarty. Miss Adler is trying to get Sherlock Holmes to fall in love with her to help Professor
Moriarty plot against Holmes. In this scene Miss Adler’s dress is based off of the new hard bustle dress of 1883 which consisted of a shelf in the back which gave women “a silhouette like the hind legs of a horse” (Thomas 1). The particular hard bustle dress she has on can be considered a “visiting dress” because it is for daytime wear (Laverty 1). According to movie blogger Chris Laverty, “The dress is a spot on accurate pattern for the time…. Marking Adler out as a Victorian lady unlike any other in the story”
(1). Miss Adler is a main character in the Sherlock Holmes movie because of her professionalism and creative thinking that can get her out of almost any situation. The hard bustle “visiting dress” she wears while meeting Professor Moriarty was carefully picked out for her to wear to demonstrate her professionalism in what seems to be a business negotiation, as well as her independence as a woman in the Victorian Era.
Miss Adler is not the only woman in the film “Sherlock Holmes.” Watson’s fiancée Mary also describes herself through fashion. Although she is not as dominate a character as Miss Adler, the way she portrays herself through dress is still relevant when looking at the importance of Victorian fashion.
In the scene when Holmes first meets Mary, she is wearing a navy blue velvet and light blue silk dress enclosed with white lace gathered into a bodice with a low v-neckline (Laverty 1). This dress can be associated with the Princess Line of The Late Victorian Silhouette. The Princess Line consisted of a dress with sheath garments without a waist seam and showed the bodice and skirt as one instead of separate

garments (Thomas 1). Mary’s dress is a lot like the Princess Line because it is one piece gathered into a bodice and has a low v-neckline. The Princess Line is much simpler than the previous bustle dresses and did not make women stand out as much. A lot can be said about the way Mary is dressing vs. the way
Miss Adler is dressing due to the complexity of the dresses. Miss Adler is commonly featured in sexy and outrageous dresses because she wants to be seen, however, Mary is shown in a fashionable, yet simple dress to accommodate her shy personality. Mary definitely has her own opinions on things, as is shown when she hits Holmes in the face after he rudely insults her however she is a lady about things and does not participate in such scandalous activities as Miss Adler does, so the Princess Line dress portrays her well. In addition to depicting what kind of woman someone is, fashion in the Victorian Era could even tell viewers how much money a woman had or what status she held.
Fashion in the Victorian Era could also dictate social class. According to Mariana Valverde, middle class women were seen to cause their own misfortunes by “wasting money on showy clothes and being immoral” (169). From this statement it is hard to decipher whether Miss Adler was middle or high class because of her showy clothes and immortality that a middle class woman would have, and the sense of confidence that a high class woman would have. In the Victorian Era an outfit could look tacky on a maid however, that same outfit would look fine on a woman of status (Valverde 169). Based on this research and the fact that Miss Adler was a single woman in a time period when woman of high status did not work, it is likely Miss Adler may have been of middle class. After assuming the fact that
Miss Adler is middle class the clothes she wears only adds to her immoral and un-lady like actions.
Furthermore, Victorian Dress has been described as an art form because, like all forms of art, the way women dressed told a story about them. “To dress well is to make a picture of one’s self… to express beauty in every line of the dress, in the selection of color, and in every detail… as If the soul of the individual is revealed,”(23) Mary Blanchard put nicely in her journal, “Boundaries and the Victorian
Body.” Along with being an interesting way to describe fashion in the Victorian Era Blanchard’s idea also gives insight to what women might have been thinking in the nineteenth century based on their dress.
For example, in the film “Sherlock Holmes,” we can assume Miss Adler is using her body and the way she dresses to tell society a bit about her using the research from Blanchard. If Miss Adler was in fact using her body and dress as an art form then the viewer might think that her art is conveying a mysterious and seductive story leaving viewers wanting to know more about her. On the outside Adler looks like a beautiful and outrageously dressed woman, but on the inside she is sly and mischievous, protecting her real identity by clothing that keeps people wondering who she really is. When looking at Mary however, we can use her clothes as an art form that tells a simple and easy to read story, conveying the pure and polite woman she really is. Although Mary and Miss Adler are two very different women, the way they dress tells a story about both of them.
Victorian Era women had to have an outlet for their unspoken and kept words they weren’t allowed to say and one of those outlets was fashion. It was difficult for a woman in the nineteenth century to voice her opinion because she was inferior to everyone else in society. A woman was to succumb to either her father or husbands wishes at all times. According to Dolores Monet, “A woman's intelligence and wit were restricted to social events and amusing conversation” (1), because those were the only events they attended, unless they were attending to their husband or father in the home.

Women used their bodies and the things they wore to make a statement about themselves. A simple thing such as dress told a story that included what type of personality a woman had, her social status, and the lifestyle she lived. Fashion in the nineteenth century is considered to be more complicated than proceeding time periods because of the “tight corsets, gigantic hoop-skirts, and outrageous bustles
[that] make today's fashion trends look sedate by comparison” (Monet 1). Considering the research and the examples from the film, “Sherlock Holmes,” Victorian Fashion may have been more complicated because of all the things clothes needed to say about a woman. Fashion can be considered an art form that tells a story, and in the nineteenth century women needed a story to convey who they were. In a time when women were given very few rights, fashion was able to say more about a woman than her words ever could.

Works Cited
Blanchard, Mary W. "Boundaries and the Victorian Body: Aesthetic Fashion in Gilded Age America."
American Historical Review 100 (1995): 21-23
Laverty, Chris. "Sherlock Holmes Costume Guide Part 1: Frock Coats & Bustles." Clothes on Film. 26 May
2010. 29 Feb. 2012 <http://clothesonfilm.com/sherlock-holmes-costume-guide-part-1-frock-coatbustles/10814/>.
Monet, Dolores. "Women and Fashions of the Victorian Era: From Hoop Skirts to Bustles - 1837 - 1900."
Dolores Monet on HubPages. 14 Feb. 2012 <http://doloresmonet.hubpages.com/hub/Fashion-History-
Victorian-Costume-and-Design-Trends-1837-1900-With-Pictures>.
Thomas, Pauline W. "Victorian Fashion History for Women from 1860 to 1900." Fashion History Costume
Trends and Eras, Trends Victorians - Haute Couture. Fashionera.com. 14 Feb. 2012 <http://fashionera.com/mid-late_victorian_fashion.htm>.
Trueman, Chris. "Womens Rights." History Learning Site. 2000. Web. 15 Mar. 2012.
<http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/womensrights.htm>.
Valverde, Mariana. "The Love of Finery: Fashion and the Fallen Woman in Nineteenth-Century Social
Discourse." Victorian Studies 32 (1989): 168-88.