Date periods for Victorian clothing styles

Hello everyone

I wonder if anyone could help ? I am trying to establish whether an old
family photo that I have always been told is my great grandmother is
actually likely to be her. Does anyone here know about date periods for
clothing styles? My great grandmother was born in 1866 and died aged 41
in 1907.

To me the lady in the photo looks older than someone aged 41 or less,
although I am sure that Victorian London did age people ...

Liz...

In a word ..... teeth.

Peter Goodey...

Not entirely teeth, in my opinion.

There was one good objective reason which was that film speeds were slow
and required a relatively long exposure. A neutral expression was much
easier to hold for several seconds than an artifical grin.

Another reason was simply changing fashions -

In Sons and Lovers by DH Lawrence (probably written about 1910 although
it was finally published in 1913), when one of the lads brings home his
smart new girl friend from London:

"Miss Western held out her hand and showed her teeth in a small smile."

and again -

"She gave the same smile that showed her teeth."

I think Lawrence has spotted a new fashion and was using it as an example
of how provincial fashions lagged behind those of London.

If in a position to do so try removing own dentures in front of a mirror
...instant aging by about a generation

Troublesome teeth were pulled, often *before* they could cause trouble
and even when dentures were available they were not very individualised.
This also accounts for the lack of smiley faces at family events. The
sight of a photographer clamped the lips shut!

Liz (Greenwich UK)

I have put the photo at :

Thanks in advance for any replies.

Regards, Val Davies

Brenda Orsler...

Hello Val
What a wonderful photo !!
This site is really helpful with dating old photos:

I had problems recently in a wedding photo dated around 1915.
Fortunately somebody had written the names on the back and one was
'Grandfather Daniels'
I presumed it to be a person in my tree born 1830 until I found out that
this particular person would have died prior to that date and it was in
fact his son born 1859.
The chap looked at least 80 by todays standards instead of in his 50's !!
Brenda