Women's Fashion During The American Revolution And Antebellum Period

810 Words2 Pages

Throughout the history of the United States, women have struggled to gain independence, fighting first for gender equality and later for equal rights. Their efforts and changing roles are reflected in changes in fashion over time.
Women’s fashion during the American Revolution and Antebellum period consisted of a gown and petticoat worn over a second hooped petticoat which kept one's skirt out, and stays, which were whale-boned undergarments similar to corsets. The fabrics, dyes, and number of layers of garments depended on the wealth of the lady in question. Many ladies dressed very simply during the war in order to send more money to the American troops. Women participated in the revolutionary efforts by making most of the clothing during this time, both to honor boycotts of British goods and also to help supply the revolutionary …show more content…

Commentators in the first half of the nineteenth century tended to see women as intellectually inferior and insisted that their proper role was maintaining the house and caring for children. The restrictive clothing during this period reflected this “cult of domesticity,” which insisted that women keep a proper Christian home, separate from the male sphere of politics, business, and competition. When women married, any property they owned became the property of their husbands, and under the legal doctrine of femme covert, wives had no independence legal or political standing. The many cumbersome petticoats and skirts that women wore indicated their affordable idleness due to their husband’s wealth. The Progressive Era brought about the “New Woman.” Women began to challenge prevailing notions of gender embodied in the cult

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