Romantic notions
How to pull off a modern take on Mills & Boon.
If you think “romantic” clothing sounds pretty Mills & Boon, you’re not wrong. On the covers of romance novels, you’re likely to see the muscular model Fabio wearing fine examples of “Western Romantic Style” clothing.
Fashionable from mid-1820, this style featured dramatic leg-of-mutton sleeves and yawning décolleté necklines (AKA loads of cleavage).
You might not see Fabio in a bell-shaped skirt, shortened to expose the ankle, but in romantic style, both genders wore frills, floral silks and waist-centric tailoring.
A modern take would likely expose more than mere ankles, although few women favour excessive cleavage baring on the regular – it’s now usually reserved for evenings, if at all.
And modern men retain little of the frilly romance in their dress, though Prince and the New Romantics of the 80s may have helped bring frills back for a short time again, perhaps only in the evening, and if you were an aspiring rock star.
One characteristic of the style still survives, though: giant sleeves and/or a big skirt will work best with a fitted or belted waistline. This doesn’t have to mean discomfort. An elasticated waist works perfectly well, and you can tuck your top in to shadow the traditional silhouette.
I say and/or above because dramatic sleeves teamed with a billowy skirt can easily feel too much. One romantic feature at a time is plenty.