Titanic (1997)

Directed by James Cameron, Titanic made $2.2bn at the box office and also made waves in the fashion world with its luxurious styling from the Edwardian era of the early 1900s.

Deborah Lynn Scott won the Academy Award for Best Costume Design for her work on the movie, which is set in 1912, towards the end of La Belle Époque, or ‘Beautiful Era.’

The fashion of Titanic is influenced by the naturalism and impressionism of the Art Nouveau movement but also anticipates the straight and geometric stylings of 1920s Art Deco.

King Edward VII, who died in 1910, and his wife Queen Alexandra popularised what became known as the Edwardian style of this period, which for women featured the S-curve silhouette in dresses.

The scene where Rose (Kate Winslet) boards the Titanic shows off the high-waisted Empire Style, the Peg Top Silhouette, which makes width in the hip and narrows as it goes to the ankle.

Due to the increase in women’s social activities in the 1910s, simple and comfortable clothes to wear appeared. Gabrielle Coco Chanel introduced a collection using jersey materials to help women work and maximise elegance. This trend in fashion not only revolutionised the way women viewed their bodies.

By Yeonseo Yu, a student on the BA Magazine Journalism & Publishing course at London College of Communication