Short answers, pulled from the story.
Women in Europe during the 11th century wore loose garments similar to men's tunics with hemlines reaching the ankle or ground. These dresses featured sleeves that varied in fit and length, worn over ankle-length chemise garments.
Paper sewing patterns for women became readily available in the 1860s when the Butterick Publishing Company began to promote them. These patterns were graded by size as a new innovation for home garment construction.
From the 1540s, bodices of dresses were stiffened to flatten the wearer's chest while skirts were shaped with a Spanish farthingale. By the 1570s, dress became more highly decorated and rigid with the conical skirt shape replaced by the wider wheel farthingale.
European courts such as the Tudor court and the wives of Henry VIII were influential in European fashion during earlier centuries. This influence included full-cut gowns with high collars and full sleeves known as houppelandes.
A bodycon dress is a tight figure-hugging dress often made from stretchy material. The name derives from body confidence or originally body-conscious transformed into Japanese in the 1980s as bodikon.