The Victorians weren’t noted for their experimental, fun nature. But actually ladies fashion went through some real 
transformations during the era. Granted, Queen V and her subjects weren’t skipping around town in little black dresses, but what they did wear eventually helped to shape the ladies fashion that we know and love today.
Victorian clothes were a real symbol of your affluence and standing in society. Gosh, those people were snobby! Well-heeled Victorian women wore silk stockings under their dresses, and these had to be black. They had to have their legs completely covered!
The hoped skirts that we associate with Queen Victoria came to prominence in this era, making a change from the straight skirts which were previously worn. At the end of the era, these hoops were replaced with a bustle, thereby ensuring that everybody’s bum looked big in this.
As you’d expect from such a repressed population, the corset was an essential garment. Although you couldn’t breathe in it, it did give you a slim waist. The goal of the time was to strive for a waist in inches that was equivalent to your age in years. Seventeen year olds would hope for a 17 inch waist, for example.
In the evenings, things got relatively fruity. Not a little black dress but you were allowed to show off your shoulders and even your upper chest. This style made shawls popular, as otherwise they would have been rather nippy in the cold Victorian air. So that’s why we have bolero jackets!