January 7, 2026·Aesthetic Study
Wuthering Heights
Corsets, ruffles, and restraint are back, with the Victorian costume catching up to an age of rigid roles and yearning.
Formality. Grandiosity. Corsetry. Queen Victoria is back in circulation. Emerald Fennell’s forthcoming Wuthering Heights film leans hard into period excess, while fashion is in the midst of a full Victorian relapse. Romance, ruffles, and restraint: from the recent revival of Alexander McQueen, lace-heavy blouses and exaggerated silhouettes are everywhere. During the height of the British Empire morality, social aspiration, and extreme wealth disparity shaped daily life in ways that feel a little too familiar now. Ornament as pressure valve, yearning as aesthetic, and structure as a response to a moment when social roles feel rigid again and performance matters... The costume is catching up to the mood.
- Marina and the Victorian interior she designed and inhabits
- Curl up and read Virginia Feito’s Victorian-era crime novel
- Fans, fans, and more fans!
- McQueen’s goth romance gave the people what they wanted
