
The maid outfit comes in many different variations, but to be quite honest, the style really did stem from French maids in the Edwardian era (1901-19). The maids would work as servants in English homes and dressed rather conservatively, in black dresses with long sleeves and skirt. Overtop they would wear an apron, which one must admit is a fairly understandable practice for a housekeeper, even nowadays!

The Edwardian era was one of refined lines and silhouettes, at least as far as fashion goes. A new type of corset came into fashion, with a straight front that tilted the chest forward but pushed the…well, rest of the figure towards the back. As respected and well-sought as those lines were, however, it would have been fairly ridiculous for a servant to wear a corset of that type – after all, these were the girls who scrubbed the floors and cooked the meals. They didn’t have time (or, likely, the wallet) for high fashion!

There came a point in which the traditional French maid uniform became something of its own creature entirely, intended more towards accenting a woman’s features than allowing her the ease of movement necessary to complete chores around the house. Over the years the uniform seems to have lost more and more fabric, while gaining more laces and ruffles, eventually becoming the costume that we so typically see in stores today.

But for those maids who work in a cafe, their purpose is far closer to the original purpose of the French maid: to serve their masters as best as possible, while maintaining a neat and clean image. After all, one could very well judge the quality of the master by the appearance of his servants, and the last thing we want is for our customers to look bad! <3
~Click here to read more about Edwardian fashion~