1850's Women's Fashion 1850 Pop Culture

April 14 – December 16, 2000

View the exhibition catalog (pdf).
View images from this exhibition.

"Strive as you will to elevate woman, nevertheless the disabilities and deposition of her dress, together with that large grouping of false views of the uses of her being and of her relations to man, symbolized and perpetuated past her dress, will make your striving vain."
-Gerritt Smith

Reforming Fashion, 1850-1914 is near the women's dress reform movement of the late 19th and early on 20th century. Fashionable dress in the 19th century went through several silhouette changes from tubular to hourglass and back to tubular. The manner of the dress silhouette was non dependent on the natural human body but rather on a range of undergarments including chemise, petticoats, hoops, bustles, and corsets to create an bogus shape. A growing number of people including feminists, health advocates, physicians, artists, and educators began to believe that women's clothing, peculiarly fashionable dress, was harmful to women's wellness.

Solutions promoted past the dress reformers included trousers, reform underwear, and artistic dress. The reformers had a lasting impression on dress as trousers were adopted by sports enthusiasts and became office of the archetypal gymnasium accommodate worn at colleges and high schools. Reform styles eventually became fashionable dress equally artistic reformers created more comfy gowns with empire waists and soft drapable fabrics.

• The Trouble with Fashion
• Ladies in Trousers
• Reform Underwear
• Artistic Apparel
• The Touch on of Dress Reform on Mode

The Trouble with Fashion: Getting Dressed in the 1880s

"Trouble with Manner" brandish as function of the Reforming Fashion exhibition in the Snowden Gallery. This brandish showcases various dresses with their "X-ray" counterparts to show the undergarments needed to achieve the diverse fashionable silhouettes.

Issues with fashion were evident throughout the nineteenth century. The fashionable woman reshaped her torso not with diet and exercise, but with many layers of undergarments, a built-up structure that and so supported and created what became the right and platonic silhouette for her gown. The process of getting dressed of 1885 was a time consuming ritual. Women did not just jump out of bed, throw on a bra, sideslip, panty hose, pumps and a comfy knit dress earlier dashing out the door.

When getting dressed, the fashionable woman first put on her stockings, which were gartered above the knee with elastic bands that could reduce circulation of the legs. She might then put on her loftier cut button shoes because, once the corset was on, it then became difficult to curve down to button the shoes. The next two pieces were drawers and chemise. Drawers were genu-length or longer cotton wool trousers that buttoned at the waist, often left open for ease in elimination. Over the drawers she put on either a hip-length knitted vest and a short petticoat or a chemise. The next essential garment was the corset stiffened with thin strips of whale os. If a woman tight laced she risked squeezing her intestines and internal organs. Her animate would be restricted besides. Over this, a adult female put on a corset cover and then a hurry, a contraption made of coils that was tied around the waist and hung in back. Some other petticoat would be worn over this.

Finally, the fashionable woman would put on her gown, which might consist of a boned bodice and stiffened brim to match. Strings or elastic might be attached inside the skirt to proceed the back fullness and the bustle in place. If it were cold, the stylish adult female might vesture a jacket decorated with jet beads, which could add as much as ten pounds to her wear. In all, her complete outfit could weigh as much as 25 pounds.

Ladies in Trousers

Examples of trousers for women in advisable conditions, such as cycling and gymnasium sport activities.

Ane of the showtime elements of fashionable dress to come under the reformers' fire was the long total skirt. Long skirts dragged on the ground, sweeping up tiny vermin and debris from the street with the wearer'south every step, to be then deposited indoors. Petticoats hung heavily on the waist, cage crinolines could swing out and flip up in the wind, trains and bustles were heavy and awkwardly balanced. Women's skirts made walking upwardly and down stairs treacherous and running nearly incommunicable.

The reformers chose a solution which they believed was both practical and minor. They did non elect to reveal women's legs for that would have been improper, indeed, unthinkable. Rather, they chose to wear a dress made like other fashionable dresses except for its knee-length skirt worn over matching trousers. A similar mode was worn by Turkish and Syrian women and had been worn on stage and for masquerade dress. Trousers, called pantalets, had also been worn under skirts by women in French republic in the early 1800s, and later became the fashion for young girls. Pantalets were seen on gymnasium outfits equally early as 1830. Trousers besides were worn by women in sanitariums and in communal societies.

Although fairly restricted in apply, trousers caught the attention of a immature feminist, Elizabeth Smith Miller. She adopted the costume for her ain everyday dress and introduced it to her cousin, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Stanton's friend, Amelia Bloomer, editor of The Lily, a feminist tract devoted to temperance and women's reform. Bloomer began wearing the shortened skirt and trousers in 1851, the advantages of which she described in a Lily article. The local newspaper in Seneca Falls, NY, The Courier, likewise commented favorably on the style worn by Mrs. Bloomer, and soon newspapers picked up the business relationship and named the manner, the "bloomer". Although coverage was widespread, Amelia Bloomer observed that "some of our editorial brethren" commend us highly, while others cry out against this "usurpation of the rights of man."

In the 1850s commendations of the bloomer costume were indeed widespread; women in Europe–Britain and Germany– adopted a like costume. Supporters in America noted the practicality and convenience of the new costume, besides every bit its wellness benefits. They saw moral and patriotic qualities in its simplicity. On the other paw, opponents have stiff arguments for rejecting the bloomer. Some but believed that it was bad manner, or immoral or unpatriotic because it was based on foreign styles (Middle Eastern). Perhaps the strongest argument used was the belief that the bloomer was incongruous with prevailing ideology regarding women's roles. There was strong animosity towards women wearing trousers, and those who wore the bloomer in public faced harassment. Numerous cartoons played upon deep-seated fears of people regarding gender and mode.

Eventually, bloomers became associated with the women'south rights movement, an effort not wholly embraced by Americans. Indeed, feminists shared Elizabeth Cady Stanton's opinion that adult female's dress perfectly described her status: "her tight waist and long trailing skirts deprive her of all liberty." All the same nevertheless the recommendations given in The Lily, many feminists ceased wearing the bloomer after a few years. They believed that the ridicule became counter productive to gaining rights for women. When asked why she returned to fashionable dress, Amelia Bloomer noted the new muzzle crinoline greatly relieved the heavy weight of the petticoats, and as a newcomer in Iowa, she needed to be sensitive to local style.

Some women activists continued to wear trousers and did non stop their promotion that the trousers were amend for women for health reasons. Those that advocated bloomers for health implied a weakness to women which was then not met with as much criticism. The mid-nineteenth century saw a huge increase in the interest of practise which further linker the trousers to the health of women and made information technology acceptable for a variety of sports and outdoor activities, such as mountain climbing, swimming, and bicycling. This continued through the early twentieth century. Trousers may non take been readily accepted as stylish dress, however, they were accepted for physical activities such as bathing, bicycling, and gymnastics.

Reform Underwear

Ivory cotton twill "equipose" corset/underbodice with no bones, c. 1880-1884. Kent State University Museum.

Many of the objections to stylish dress were in fact directly related to abuses caused past undergarments. Recollect that the fashionable woman of the 1880s wore too much underwear; it restricted her and weighed her down. It could be too hot in the summer and not warm enough in the winter. (Even the cage crinoline, that mercifully reduced the number of petticoats, immune air to accident effectually a woman's legs). The corset was generally worn too tight. The many skirt layers created bulk at the waist and the weight of the clothing was unevenly distributed. If the excess majority were removed, then a woman would non have to resort to tight-lacing which, according to many health experts, greatly damaged women'south internal organs and acquired affliction.

One of the first reform undergarments to be promoted in America was the "emancipation union under flannel" patented in 1868. This matrimony suit combined a knit flannel waist (shirt) and drawers in one. The combination, as the wedlock adapt was frequently chosen, was continuously improved by various knitwear companies and reformers in America. Susan Taylor Converse of Woburn, Massachusetts, designed an improved version in 1875 and named it the Emancipation Conform. A gathered section across the bodice freed the breasts from compression, and sets of buttons at the waist and hips helped suspend several layers of skirts. The Emancipation Suit also could have been purchased equally ii separate parts that buttoned together at the hips.

The Emancipation Conform was endorsed by the New England Women'due south Guild, one of the earliest organizations to abet undergarment reform. In 1873 their clothes-reform committee, headed by Abba Goold Woolson, sponsored a series of lectures on the hazards of fashionable clothes by 4 eminent female physicians. These lectures were later published in 1874 nether the title, "Dress Reform."

One of the best known reformers of underwear was the High german-built-in Dr. Gustav Jaeger, who published a book on rational dress titled in 1880 "Die Normalkleidung" (Rational Wear). Jaeger's knit marriage suits were particularly popular with reformers in England afterwards they were featured at the International Health Exhibition in 1884. This Kensington exhibition included a section on aseptic dress and featured noted architect and theatrical designer Edward Godwin every bit a speaker on dress reform.

Clothes Systems

Several individuals devoted to reform devised whole systems of underclothing that included no corset at all. In the 1890s, one of America's best known health reformers, Dr. J. H. Kellogg, developed a wearing apparel system at the Battle Creek Sanitarium which was "practical, healthful and artistic". Kellogg stated that "whatever young adult female who has not permanently ruined her body by desperately constructed apparel can in a short time learn to stand similar the Venus Genetrix". His clothes system attempted to minimize the weight on the hips and shoulders previously emphasized in mode. Corsets and tight bodices were discarded. Through the sanitarium women could society patterns or 'garments made in the Apparel Section'. The full general plan for the dress system included designs for gowns and undergarments. For the latter, women could choose from the following selections to best accommodate their needs for warmth and condolement: the union accommodate, jersey tights (worn over the spousal relationship suit for extra warmth), a combination adapt (instead of chemise and drawers), the Dr. Lindsay divided skirt (knitted for warmth), the improved divided skirt (without visible divide), skirt waists (to be sewn or buttoned to skirts), the improved Liberty waist (with two rows of buttons for attaching the wearing apparel brim and petticoat or drawers, or umbrella drawers (a yoked skirt, divided brim, and ruffled drawers with yoke).

Annie Jenness Miller, a frequent lecturer, author, and publisher on the subject of physical culture and right dress, also devised a dress system to replace the fashionable chemise and drawers, corset, corset cover, and petticoats. As illustrated in her journal, Wearing apparel, the Jenness Miller Magazine, this arrangement was similar to Kellogg's and included, leglettes and chemilettes, to replace petticoats, and a model bodice, to replace the corset.. The Jenness-Miller system also included a bosom back up for stout women, a garment similar to a brassiere.

Although not a separate undergarment, the gown form provided by both Kellogg and Jenness-Miller was essential as a foundation for the outer clothes. The gown form cut in the princess mode not only replaced the lining of a fashionable skirt, merely was and so arranged "that graceful mantle [could] exist formed upon information technology, and the weight evenly supported" past the body. Information technology besides eliminated tie backs effectually the legs and had no ring at the waist. Patterns for the both systems could exist purchased from the publisher or from various dress reform outlets across the country.

The new reform underwear systems of Kellogg, Jenness-Miller and others were meant to distribute the weight of clothing, eliminate the heavily boned corset, and reduce excessive bulk and weight. These undergarments could be worn without being readily noticed and were a great improvement over the more stylish, but distorting undergarment.

Creative Apparel

View from Upper Snowden Gallery of various styles of artistic reform dress.

In club to brand visible the damaging effects of the corset many authors of dress reform literature showed the statue of Venus de Milo, the prototype of natural beauty, assorted with the distorted body of a corseted adult female. Yet, it was the proponents of artistic dress who well-nigh heartily adhered to classical ethics of beauty reflected in the Venus statue. They practical the principles of art, upon which these ideals were founded, to dress. For them the artificiality of fashionable clothes "the corset, crinoline, hurry, and other disguising elements of style" went against nature and thus destroyed the beauty of a woman's natural form.

Among the earliest aesthetic dress reformers were those associated with the English Pre-Raphaelite painters. As the Pre-Raphaelites and their devotees gained recognition in the 1860s and 1870s, the public had opportunity to see historic and aesthetic dress in paintings and on women who attended exhibitions at the Majestic Academy and the Grosvenor Gallery in London. Many of the fabrics for artistic clothes were supplied by Freedom's, the shop on Regent Street which had been established in 1875 past Arthur Lasenby Liberty as the East Republic of india Shop. Specializing in the silks nigh suitable to clinging robes and draperies worn past the artistic customs, Liberty'due south introduced fragile pastel tints which they chosen 'Fine art Colors' to dye imported silks.

In 1884 Arthur Lasenby Freedom asked reformer Edward Godwin to straight the clothes department in the Liberty store, making artistic dresses readily available. In its catalogs the Freedom Company offered artistic dresses which were modified to follow the conventions of modernistic life, simply shared design elements with classical Greek clothing as reinterpreted during the Empire and Renaissance periods. The Liberty gowns were given appropriate names such as "Jacqueline", a velvet and silk crepe gown fashioned later on a French fifteenth-century gown for indoor use, or "Josephine", an Empire-style (loftier-waisted) evening dress and they worked well with Liberty's soft and very drapable fabrics. Liberty gowns were well publicized and available in their own Paris shop and other stores throughout Europe as well as New York.

Creative Dress in Federal republic of germany and Austria

Reformers in the British Arts and Crafts movement greatly influenced artists, architects, and designers in Frg and Austria where, not surprisingly, the mod pattern movement of the 1890s and early on 1900s included artistic reform of women's dress. Henry van de Velde, who advanced the art nouveau way, also supported artistic reform in women's apparel throughout the continent, peculiarly in Germany. Not only did he write virtually reform dress, just he designed dresses as well. In support of a new creative dress, Van de Velde observed that architects had finally realized that women'southward dress must stand for with modern interior pattern and compages as a new decorative idea that immediately makes it "a piece of art." He further suggested that clothing should express a women'southward individuality, the exception existence street wear, which would be dictated by place or appropriateness; clothing should be fit to purpose and adapt to private, full general, or ceremonial spheres. In April 1900, a successful exhibition in Krefeld, Deutschland, which included Van de Velde'south artistic apparel designs generated exhibitions of artist-designed reform apparel in other cities too, including Dresden. Leipzig, Wiesbaden and Berlin. The Wiener Werkstatte director, Koloman Moser, created reform styles for his wife that were loftier-waisted and full. Anna Muthesius also preferred the full, loftier waist mode. Muthesius was an opera star and author of a book on dress reform, The Personal Clothes of Women (1903).

Reform styles promoted in the Austrian fashion magazine, Wiener Mode, in 1903 included the princess and Empire style, as well every bit full gowns with a high waist, similar to a "Female parent Hubbard" style. They could be for weddings, tea, society, or house work.

Artistic Dress in America

Aesthetic apparel in America was greatly influenced by the British artful movement. Ideas regarding artistic styles were rapidly dispersed through various impress media. Rather than being solely confined to elite circles of artists, artistic dress appeared to have a centre-class following. Indeed, American magazines did not miss the opportunity to report an aesthetic dress. An 1878 issue of the American Agriculturist observed that the aim of the Pre-Raphaelite style was to "have a thick waist", similar the Venus de Medici and Venus of Milo. Furthermore, it reported that artists declared tight waists unartistic and vulgar considering the natural beauty of the human figure is lost through the destruction of its healthy proportions.

Annie Jenness Miller, publisher of Clothes, the Jenness Miller Magazine (1887-1898), was an outspoken advocate of artistic reform in women's clothes, stressing the need to adapt artistic principles to life and to dress in order to achieve beauty through simplicity, unity, utility, and harmony. The magazine oft featured examples of creative dress, patterns for which were available for purchase from the Jenness-Miller Publishing Company.

Outside of artistic circles, the creative reform styles most acceptable to stylish American women were wrappers, or firm gowns, especially the more formal version, the tea gown, which gained popularity in the 1870s. Taking the lead of the British, Americans designed tea gowns in a vaguely medieval or classical style that appeared to be loose fitting. Etiquette demanded that they exist worn merely in the home where they were appropriate when entertaining close friends. Notwithstanding, as noted in the Jenness Miller Mag, women of the 1890s oft wore tea gowns in public, especially at summer resorts.

The Bear on of Apparel Reform on Style

Conspicuously, all efforts toward reforming dress had a lasting influence. The loose, Turkish-manner trousers worn for the exercises became function of the archetypal gymnasium suit worn at colleges and high schools well into the mid twentieth century. And trousers remained quite acceptable and appropriate for hiking, biking, and many other recreational activities besides. The loose total trouser style occasionally sees revival as fashion today. Reform underwear–knit union suits, shirts and drawers–continued to be offered by stores and mail service order catalogs. The drib seat union conform still provides a warm under layer for skiing and other winter sports.Reform styles as fashion was not a novelty on the continent of Europe. Wertheim's Section Shop in Berlin had a clothes reform section, which was run by 1903. And as early on every bit 1901, a fashion magazine published in Vienna, Wiener Manner, illustrated various reform style gowns along with more stylish apparel. They conspicuously drew on the language of the artistic reformers, calling these dresses the "new style", "Empire Style" or "Empire Reform Mode".Information technology is clear that fifty-fifty earlier 1909 the idea that women could wear loose-fitting artistically inspired clothing in public was a reality. Women non only became accustomed to wearing more comfortable wearable in their homes and during physical activities, but they also began seeing actresses, dancers, and opera singers wearing simpler artistically designed dresses on stage and in public. These entertainers sought out two of the near historic advanced designers in the early twentieth century, Paul Poiret and Mariano Fortuny.These designers were acquainted with the gowns created past the German and Viennese artists and architects, as well as the artistic reform dress promoted past the Liberty Company. Fortuny's Delphos dresses and Poiret's Directoire models offered to the public in 1907 were like to other artistic styles inspired past the Greek ideal. While these two men are often credited with freeing women from corsets, they were not the innovators. Rather, they were just nourishing the seed that had been planted by the creative dress reformers of the nineteenth and early on twentieth centuries.The Empire, high-waisted, silhouette was dominant between 1909 and 1915. Gowns were often synthetic of layers of soft, drapable and sometimes transparent silk fabrics, not dissimilar those imported and manufactured by the Liberty Co. in London. Other couture designers whose gowns reflect the reform fashion include Jacques Doucet and Lucille, and in the teens Vionnet and Chanel.

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