Collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum
KENT.3-1984
Women who came of age between 1910 and 1920 looked for role models to inspire them through empowerment. Queen Victoria of England (1819-1901) was the icon of Lillian Ho Wong, a second-generation Chinese Canadian woman born in 1895 in Vancouver. As the longest monarch in British history, Queen Victoria symbolized leadership, respectability, and autonomy, where most Chinese Canadian women like Lillian lived through discrimination and economic hardship. After Prince Albert’s death, Queen Victoria used her mourning fashion to endear herself to the public and used her emotions and grief to carve out a new self-image. As a royal figure and political leader, the Queen strengthened marginalized women’s beliefs of what they could do and who they could be.