![]() Occasionally, these arguments were reinforced with statements by doctors saying that the prevailing women’s fashion contributed to waves of illnesses that afflicted women. Bloomers, they argued, opened up these opportunities for exercise and fresh air. Instead of advertising comfort or gender equality or even freedom of movement, they publicized these pants as being better for women’s health: Petticoats, steel hoops, and corsets made healthful outdoor activities like hiking, swimming, and bike riding difficult for women, so they rarely participated in these activities. To promote this new style, Bloomer and other early feminists decided to take a particularly practical approach to bloomers. She became a prominent voice of the women’s movement, using her platform to encourage other women to try out the new look themselves. At the time, her newspaper wasn’t known for being radical, but Bloomer hoped to spark some kind of change. Anthony: Rebel, Crusader, Humanitarian, by Alama Lutz / Project Gutenberg)Īmelia Bloomer, Miller’s neighbor and friend, began promoting the new look in her newspaper, The Lily. Elizabeth Cady Stanton in her bloomer costume. Miller’s cousin, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, shared her dissatisfaction and, seeing Miller’s bravery, decided to try out the same look. She wasn’t the only woman who felt trapped in her clothes. Miller notably became one of the first women in the United States to brave in public the look of what would eventually be called bloomers under a knee-length skirt. She took inspiration from a trend she had seen in Europe, where women had taken to wearing “Turkish trousers” under their skirts - a trend not yet seen in America. But in 1851, while toiling in her garden in full dress, she got frustrated with “acceptable attire” and felt it a reasonable solution to change it. Like other women, Elizabeth Smith Miller submitted to heavy and restrictive but fashionable caged dresses during the beginning of her life. Sitting down and bending over were hampered by the steel hoop, the layers beneath the dress, and the corset squeezing her middle. (Wikimedia Commons)īecause a typical woman’s life focused on her domestic duties, which in theory required less exertion than “man’s work,” the clothing a woman wore each day lacked functionality and made even the simplest tasks more difficult. Crinoline cutaway diagram from Punch magazine, August 1856. Beneath the skirts were steel hoops and petticoats to make the skirt rounder. The typical style included a dress or a long skirt with a blouse. For women, the purpose of clothing was not so much for function, but to make them look curvier, and it took women a significantly longer time to dress each day due to the number of layers they wore. In the early 1800s, men’s and women’s fashion overlapped very little. But as early as the mid-1800s, a few pioneering women had started quite literally making strides toward more practical women’s wear. ![]() Until the mid-1960s, the average American woman wouldn’t dare leave her house wearing dungarees. Only within the last 70 years has it become socially acceptable for women to wear pants.
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