Over the past three years, during which I have been writing avidly, my fondness for the period known as "Belle Epoque" has deepened to the point where I have two dozen books in my personal library devoted to the time era. Sadly enough(to me at least) the period isn't well known to anyone besides scholars.
In my research I've found that there was a resurgence of interest in the Edwardian era(1901-1914) during the 1970s--which is why many of my books have 1970s publication dates--but after that decade, interest and in fact, knowledge seems to have faded away to a few select people. In fact, more people seem interested more in the Victorian era(1837-1901) than in the "last hurrah" of the aristocracy(actually, WWII was the death knoll for the dazzling, whirlwind way of life the British and European aristocracies and monarchies had enjoyed for the past centuries). I sum it up with the fact that many people associate time periods with popular novelists still enjoyed today, such as Dickens, Eliot, Dumas fils, and their ilk. But surprisingly, authors who are rarely considered to be "Edwardian" or "Belle Epoque" were a product of this ever-changing time period. Writers such as Virginia Woolf and her Bloomsbury group, D.H. Lawrence, Tolstoy, E.M. Forster, W. Somerset Maugham, and James Joyce, for example, were authors who wrote a number of titles in the period before WWI.
My other fascination for this period stems not only from the luxurious, sumptuous fashions, but for the technology that we have either long taken for granted, or have moved on to better, faster technology. Electricity, that invention of Edison, was used more frequently, rapidly finding its way from public buildings and into the homes of those who could afford it. It was the 1900 Universal Exposition in Paris, in which the entire city was lit by electricity, that earned the city its long-lasting moniker of
La Ville Lumiere, or "The City of Light". The cinema found its roots in the mid-1890s, first with Edison(America and England) and the Lumiere Brothers(France), before quickly spreading as a new form of entertainment for the masses with a twenty year period. The record player, better known as the gramophone in Britain, and as the phonograph in North America gained presidence, as a it brought music to people, as opposed to the longtime habit of going out to listen to music. It was also the gramophone/phonograph that brought about the widespread popularity of ragtime and its accompaning dances, and later the tango, during the first fifteen years of the twentieth century. The most important technological advance was that of the motorcar. You can read my article written for All About Romance
here. Also being developed during this period was the radio and early prototypes of household appliances such as the vaccum cleaner, the refridgerator, etc.
As for fashions, while men remained relatively unchanged in style(even up until the 1950s!), with only additions for sportswear, womens fashions changed radically. Not only were new fashions aimed at the New Woman--the young, independent lady of middle-class origin (and sometimes upper-class) who most likely either attended college or was employed--but as the time period wore on, the amount of clothing women wore began to lessen until, by the year 1914, hemlines had begun their discreet ascent.
But even as the period was marked by a spirit of progression, the old Victorian ways still clung to society. Though many servants moved to cities to work in factories, the large houses still required a bevy of servants to run them. The aristocracy, though encroached upon by American millionairs, Jewish bankers and industrialists, still reigned surpreme in the eyes of man. Young aristocratic ladies remained almost as secluded as their mid-Victorian counterparts(though oddly enough, a young, unmarried lady was allowed to travel by train with her horse, but wasn't allowed to walk down the street without a maid). And young men sowed their wild oats with expensive courtesans and women of their own class, and dreamt of the church, the military or politics.
I hope my enthusiasm for the period has shone through, and I hope you'll come to enjoy it as much as I do.
