Um, slightly off topic, but I'm a collector of early 19th century fashion prints (Ackermann's Repository and La Belle Assemblee/Court Magazine in particular) and I've always wondered what caused the great sleeve deflation of spring 1836--one month, ladies' sleeves were still enormous, and the next, they were suddenly skin tight (at least to the upper arm). It looks like the change happened in France and spread like wildfire, but I've never been able to find out why.
I honestly don't know. Anything could have triggered such an abrupt fashion change. Maybe someone finally realized, "Hey, women look ridiculous with huge sleeves!" LOL!
And more related to your question: how common were embarrassing crinoline incidents during the height (or breadth!) of their popularity? If you sat down wrong, would they really fly up and Reveal All?
I don't know how
common it was to have a crinoline accident, but they did happen. It's one reason drawers made a comeback, and why women wore so many layers of under-petticoats, for modesty, in case a hoop tilted up. You do have to be careful when sitting in a hoop skirt, because if you sit on the hoops just right, they will indeed flip up. You have to sort of "settle" the hoops first, then sit your bottom down.
I've heard that ladies wore an awful lot of feathers and stuffed birds on their hats. Some birds (sorry, no idea which) are said to have gone extinct because of being extensively hunted for ladies' fashion.
I've heard that, too, although I've no idea whether it's actually true or just an urban legend. I'll have to look into that further.
Also, I don't know if it's of any use to you, but when the Japanese started wearing Western (= Victorian) clothing, it was much more popular with men than women. Most of Japanese women wore traditional clothing well until the 1920s, while most men adopted Victorian clothing as early as the 1880s.
Interesting. I know Japanese culture had a big influence on Victorian fashion, particularly in the 1870s. There are extant gowns made of kimono silk, really gorgeous!
B: The embarrassment of the crinoline was not that your bloomers showed, but that your low class showed.
Real high-class ladies did not wear crinolines. They wore dozens of laboriously starched petticoats almost too heavy to move in. Crinolines were for women who could not afford servants or petticoats, or shop girls who needed to be able to move lightly and quickly.
The idea of upper-class women shunning the crinoline is something I've never come across in my research. What I've read is that women wore layers and layers of starched petticoats in the 1850s, until the wire hoop skirt was reinvented in 1856 (I think?). The crinoline spread like wildfire, because it liberated women from the heavy layers of petticoats. They could now get away with wearing maybe three pettis, instead of half a dozen or more. I've never read anything that suggested upper-class women didn't care for hoop skirts. Can you point me toward your source? I'd love to know more about this!
As for myths, I don't think people realize how ubiquitous gloves were and how intimate bare hands -- Or for that matter that a man in a shirt without a vest or coat was like he was in his underwear.
Yes! My first novel is set in 1881, and I made a big deal out of the fact that the hero and heroine clasp hands without gloves. It was shockingly inappropriate for the time. Not sure how to turn that into a "myth" and "truth," though. I'll have to give it some thought.
I see that Marissa already asked about crinoline incidents, but that brings up the issue of undergarments and the lack thereof. How exactly did women deal with menstruation in that era? I've heard that lower-class women would sometimes just "go with the flow" so to speak (eww), also that women would discretely pee beneath their skirts when they were outdoors. I would also wonder how exactly one dealt with a hoopskirt in an outhouse, esp. for number 2. (My, the Victorians would be so appalled by such indelicate matters!)
They did have pads, of a sort, for menstruation. I've seen ads in antique catalogs for "belts" that have tabs hanging down in the front and back, to which you would pin whatever sort of sanitary pad you were using. The idea of women just "letting it flow" is largely a myth--and a disgusting one, at that! They even sold special waterproof aprons that were worn under your dress, in the back, to protect your gown from bloodstains.
As for using the toilet, I expect they did it much the way reenactors today do . . . entering the stall and sitting on the toilet backwards. It's the only way to keep your skirts from getting in the toilet. I suspect that if you were poor enough to need an outhouse, you probably weren't too worried about wearing hoop skirts. Although, I have read that poor women were desperate to keep up a fashionable appearance, so even women out on the frontier, with no access to proper bustles, would tie soup cans around their waist, or use a stuffed pillow, or whatever they could think of, to achieve that butt-poof. (When I was a kid, I would make my own "bustle" by folding several blankets and draping them over a ribbon, then tie the ribbon around my waist, and shove the blankets to the back. For a hoop skirt, I would tie ribbons or shoelaces to a hula-hoop.)
There's also the whole culture of mourning and the attire for different stages and relations. Things like jewelry made from dead people's hair and other such cool/creepy things.
I saw a fine example of hair jewelry at a local museum. You would never guess it was woven from hair, it's so intricate looking! Apparently, they also took photos of dead loved ones, often posed with a living relative. Talk about creepy. . . .
One of my misconceptions was that corsets were always worn against bare skin, like they would be today at a club or naughty scene. But in real life, a chemise was always worn underneath them, to protect them from the sweat and oils of the body.
Ah, good one! Thanks. Those who've ever tried to wear a corset bare will know what a bad idea that is! You get all sorts of chafing. Not to mention getting the corset dirty with sweat and body oils. Corsets can't be washed often, because you'd have to remove the steel bones first, which is a pain and a half. So you wear the protective chemise underneath, because it can be easily washed. I remember reading somewhere that silk was NOT often used for chemises, not even for upper-class women, because it tends to cause chafing. Thin linen or cotton was vastly preferable.
