FASHION made the headlines in the Barrow Post of March 11 in 1876 when a young women fell flat on her face as her tight dress made it impossible to safely get out of a carriage.

Under the headline "A martyr to fashion" it noted: “The other day a young lady at Windermere, who went to visit some friends in a village not many miles distant, met with a rather unusual mishap.

“On reaching her friends’ residence she was about to step out of the carriage, when, owing to the tightness of her dress in accordance with the prevailing fashion, she was unable to reach the step, and fell with great force on her face into the road.

“With the assistance of her coachman and some passers-by she was lifted into the carriage and drive home.

“Beyond a severe shock to the nervous system, some slight bruises, and a dreadful rent in her dress, she was uninjured, probably owing to the soft state of the road.”

How the clothes we wore reflected change in society is featuring in a Lancashire exhibition.

Style and Substance: Fashion, Society, Change 1880 to the 1930s can be seen at the Harris Museum, Art Gallery and Library until the summer.

Discover how British style evolved during a time of major social and economic change in Lancashire.

Visitors can compare the stiff, corseted gowns of the 1880s with clothing from the First World War and the flimsy flapper dresses on the 1920s.

You can also find out about people linked with the fashions of their era, including Suffragette Edith Rigby and soldier Harry Adams.

Our Memories Page pictures today give a feel of the fashions seen in Furness in the last quarter of the 19th century.

They are mostly the work of photographic studios in Barrow, the only places where most ordinary families could go to get their picture taken at a time when the technology was still relatively new and expensive.

The Harris Museum is free and is open daily. Further details are available on its website at www.harrismuseum.org.uk