National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Vicksburg Vicksburg National Military Park Sense – Or Sensible Fashion? in the 19th Century

A Study in Fashion of the 19th century is a study in contradictions and Contradictions transformation. Fashion historians have come to call the change of men’s from the 18th to the 19th century “the great masculine renunciation.” The lines of the clothing became simple and stark, and the ease of wearing these made it an example of “modern” fashion, compared with the backwardness of women’s clothing, still mired in the constrictions of ruffles, , , and lace.

Women’s Fashions Women’s reform of the mid-19th century also provided her an outstanding raised many controversial issues, and one of opportunity for muted competition the most contentious was fashion. To be a with other women. lady of fashion was socially enviable, but nonetheless wholly reviled by the morals of Women’s clothes at the beginning of the prevailing culture. Fashion, therefore, Civil War were generally based on represented a serious temptation toward English, French, and New York impropriety. Still, women remained fashions. Fabrics were spun in the fascinated with fashion trends, and tried to Northern cotton mills or imported from find an appropriate compromise between the English fabric makers. Godey’s the evil of becoming consumed by Lady’s Book was as familiar to the prevailing fashions and the grace of Southern lady of fashion as to her dressing in a style reflecting position and Northern relatives, and many women wealth. dressed to conform with a cultural ideal. Fashion articulated class position; extravagance defied it. A lady had to know Less concerned about overall the difference, manifesting a restrained slenderness, clothing was designed to elegance that would simultaneously project help a woman look narrow at the waist internalized self-control and solid male and wide at the face, hips, and protection. Within those limits, fashion shoulders. This was often accomplished with foundation garments which added width to a lady’s silhouette. Nearly all lines of the garment served to emphasize the narrowness of the waist, and consequently directed attention to the center front of the waist. Day had long sleeves and high necks, while evening dresses were typically sleeveless with low-cut .

An 18-inch Waist Expensive were often made of rule, with measurements of 17-21 fabrics with large prints, as the waste in inches sought after. Tight-lacing of matching such prints indicated corsets was considered virtuous - a affluence. Fabrics included poplins, loose was a sign of a loose

wools, linens, taffetas, rich silks, velvets woman. To keep her innocence and

and satins. Colors were brilliant and virtue, a woman needed to protect

sharp, such as purple, blues, hunter herself from lustful men (and her green, burgundy, and mustard. own morality) by wearing heavily Although black or dark colors were reinforced layers of clothing and The “Wasp” Waist generally worn by women over 40, tight corsets, thus making getting almost every lady had a black . And dressed and undressed a long and during the war, black, lavender, and grey difficult task. The higher a lady was became the colors used for mourning. in society, the more confining her clothes. Underclothing consisted of several articles, starting with the – However, in a society where health similar to a low neck, short sleeve, white critics and the church voiced cotton nightie, and falling just below the concern over damage to a woman’s knees. It could be easily tucked into reproductive organs, there was

pantaloons, which came “in” around the severe opposition to tight-lacing of

mid-1860s. Before then, underpants had the long-waisted corsets. In time,

not yet been invented. Pantaloons were wider and low-cut dress

split from the front waistband to the necklines became the fashion, and back, and loose-fitting, making them corsets could be cut lower at the fairly comfortable. (as they did not need to control the bust), as well as the bottom, Considered fashionable to have a becoming shorter and somewhat "wasp" waist, corsets became the more comfortable.

The Wire The ever-increasing width of women's Donning the hoopskirt was rather

Manufacturer’s Dream skirts was first achieved by several layers complex. First, a chemise made of of . Prior to the Civil War, a cotton or lawn (light cotton or linen) woman of means wore five or six was put on over a pair of pantaloons. petticoats under her dress to achieve a A whale-boned corset was laced to nice bell shape. Each would the point of breathlessness, over

contain approximately five to seven which went one or two petticoats.

yards of fabric, as did the . To The was added and tied at

support all this weight, the skirt was the waist, creating a billowing skirt attached to the blouse by hooks and that could be six feet across, eyes, shifting the weight to the woman’s although four feet was nearer the shoulders. All this added to the average. The nation's largest wire perception of women being “weak” as manufacturer estimated that "…the they actually struggled to carry the annual consumption of three thousand oppressive weight of their clothing. tons of steel is required to expand and

give prominence to the ladies' dresses By the late 1850s, “well-fitting gowns” in this country." had (hoop skirts), steel-boned structures that replaced the multitude of petticoats and caused women's dresses to billow out even further. Considered a godsend at first, crinolines were lightweight, and women needed only one petticoat over the hoops to hide the rigid bones. Increased airflow around the legs kept the individual cool in the summer, while quilted petticoats worn over crinolines in the winter provided

warmth. Hoop size varied - smaller ones

averaged 100 inches around, while the

largest could be 150 inches in circumference. Skirts were so long that writers of tendency to rise up in the back. “Tilters” etiquette books, such as Emily Indeed, some male humorists

Thornwell's The Lady's Guide to Perfect accused women of exploiting this

Gentility had to provide instructions of feature. Nonetheless, for all their how to lift it in a graceful and decorous coquettish possibilities, crinolines Frontispiece from "The way when climbing stairs or walking on eventually became impractical. Lady's Guide to Perfect Gentility" a muddy street. Navigating in such Because of the size of these attire was not simple. Due to the “contraptions,” men often crinoline, the wearer tried to adopt a complained that they could hardly gliding walk, with perfect balance to enter a room beyond the door when prevent the skirts from swinging or three or four women wearing bouncing. Bouncing crinolines were said crinolines occupied the room. The to be extremely seductive to men, as hoopskirt’s physical dangers were they got to peek under the skirts. Young also very real, as many wearers were women who wore hoopskirts were often burnt to death by inadvertently known as “tilters” because of the skirt’s approaching too near a fire.

As war took over the country, however, change. Some campaigned against the The War-Time Economy women began to dress in conformance corset on grounds that it imperiled their with the economy. When husbands, health. Others complained of the fathers, and brothers marched off to the difficulty of keeping their long skirts fight, women took over the work on the clean - one popular writer stated that home front. Many donned sunbonnets women should be paid by New York and simple dresses to do field or factory City for sweeping its streets every time work. Often their fashionable finery was they took a walk. Still others saw turned into bandages for use in the many women's dress as the implements, as hospitals created out of the necessity of well as the symbols, of their subjection war. The new look became a simple to men. As early as the 1840s, southern cotton or muslin dress, as Southern periodicals reflected the medical opulence and Northern high society wisdom of the dress reform campaign, fashions basically ceased to exist. even if the 1860s woman did not. An 1842 article in Magnolia chastised:

Fabric was conserved by piecing “Nothing can be more absurd – nothing

together smaller sections of matching more detrimental to health and beauty

prints, and using the pieced bits in than the system of tightlacing.” Even so,

inconspicuous places. Work clothes dress reform was a dangerous topic and used reversible, solid fabrics or fabrics any change in a woman's appearance with woven prints with no “up” or was sure to provoke ridicule. Indeed, “down,” so that the panels (especially in discussion of women's dress was the skirt) could be turned upside down effectively banned from the first and inside out for re-use when a national Women's Rights Convention garment became faded. Prints were held in Worcester, Massachusetts in usually used for work dresses as they hid 1850. So, despite the impracticality and the dirt better. Dress fronts were discomfort, women continued to heed generally fastened with hooks and eyes, the dictates of fashion rather than straight, or safety pins; buttons, if used, practicality in matters of dress. were covered with the same fabric as the dress. Metal and jet buttons were saved for use on outer clothing, while wooden ones were sewn on underwear.

Ladies’ fashion of the mid-1800s never claimed to be comfortable or practical, and soon many women sought Gentlemen’s Attire Martine's Handbook of Etiquette (1866) The business uniform of the day described men’s attire thus: became the sober black , white

“The dress of a gentleman should be such linen shirt, black scarf tie (), tall as not to excite any special observation, silk hat, and boots or gaiters. Formal unless it be for neatness and propriety. evening wear changed hardly at all The utmost care should be exercised to from around 1860 until the 1920s, and avoid even the appearance of desiring to often consisted of a woolen black tail attract attention….His dress should be coat with a satin insert at the lapel. studiously neat, leaving no other Vests were of black or white satin, impression than that of a well dressed accentuated by a silk cravat or white gentleman.” . were usually black and the white shirt was heavily While women’s fashions were often starched. White gloves were an flamboyant, men’s clothing took on a essential accessory, especially when

conservative look, as successful dancing, as touching a lady with bare

businessmen sought the loftier, more hands was not only a bit crude, but distinguished appearance of statesmen. one's sweat could soil her .

th The Essential Men’s dress shirts pulled over the head 19 century, only those doing hard Men’s Wardrobe and had three small bone buttons, with manual labor ever dispensed with the cuffs that closed with cufflinks. Made of vest – and even these fellows would white cotton and cut very long, they sport one on occasion. Coats and came down to the wearer's knees, but trousers of the same color and fabric were not as full as shirts of the 1700s. were called “ditto” suits, and the outfit Shirts were tucked, with pre-tied ties was completed with the addition of the and one of any number of available new “bowler,” a hat often worn with the collars. Collars were detachable, pushed in to form a bowl. attached, starched, soft, or hardly there

at all. One style was stiffly pointed, and Boots were knee-high and worn under

often called the “Patricide,” based on a the trouser leg, although another

innovation during this period was the story of a young man returning from university wearing this new (in the 1850s) lace-up shoe, first appearing in the 1850s. th style of starched collar. When his father By the second half of the 19 century, embraced him, the points on the collar black patent leather became fashionable allegedly cut his father's throat. to wear with men’s clothing. Although fictitious, the story was enough to name the collar. Detachable collars and cuffs were convenient for travelers who could now freshen these items without having to change shirts. Stiff collars could be washed and starched apart from the shirt, and thrown away when they became worn, while the shirt could remain in service

for years to come. Initially made of

linen, the collars were later created of

cheap paper and celluloid.

Daily wear for businessmen might be a wool coat, loosely cut trousers, and a silk brocaded vest. Winter saw men dressed in wool hammertail frock coats which were double-breasted, with a wide notched collar. Vests were usually made of the same material as the jacket and trousers, however, some sported garish colors, often of patterned Chinese silk. Considered an essential part of a gentleman’s wardrobe in the Formal vs. Informal The sack suit, or business suit, was the knee, and distinguished by a squared leisure wear for men who might wear a shape at the bottom front. Morning , but often considered the coats were single-breasted, with a

Sack Suit “best clothes” of the vast majority of rounded, swallow-tail shape. Both were American men. A banker would wear a referred to as “morning” dress, sack suit to a picnic, while a cowboy or distinguishing them from evening wear, farmer would wear it to church. It first and worn with contrasting pants and top came into fashion in the 1850s as a very or broad-brimmed, low-crowned hats. large, baggy garment, becoming more fitted in the 1860s and beyond, In the 1880s, a compromise was made

eventually evolving into the modern between the rigid formality of the frock

three-piece suit. Common colors were suit and the casual informality of the

black or gray, and the pieces usually, but sack suit, resulting in the “morning suit.” not always, matched. Colors were not Retaining the gray, striped trousers, restricted to these two choices, however, black vest and black coat of the frock and plaid was particularly popular. suit, the cut was softened a bit by Typically, the coat had four buttons, rounding the bottom hem of the coat with the top one generally buttoned and and shrinking the lapels. And, unlike the the rest left undone. Buttons on sack frock suit for which a top hat was suits were usually not covered, and essential, the morning suit allowed a made of wood, bone, or gutta-percha certain amount of latitude in - (galvanized rubber), in contrast to the top hats for business and formal calls, a buttons covered in silk or other fabric tall crowned bowler for less dressy used on frock or morning coats. The occasions. Although the morning suit

Morning Suit sack suit’s popularity was assured by the was considered acceptable attire for fact it could be purchased, ready-made, business, the frock coat still reigned

at prices working men could afford. supreme with the management in the

office. The sack or morning suit was

Frock coats were single- or double- considered more appropriate for junior breasted, usually black, hemmed above staff and clerks.

Men’s Accessories Men had considerable choice of necktie Confederacy, but for its union of top and styles, although many working class bottom into a one-piece garment), types did without them entirely. By far was also worn. were of the most common was the small, black, homespun wool, and when the foot tidy bow tie, made from black silk portion wore out, the tops were carefully ribbon about an inch wide and a yard unwoven, the thread twisted on a

long. Various forms of cravat, from the spinning wheel,then knit into a new pair.

Windsor to the Ascot, also found their Cotton socks were also available, but

way under men’s chins. Usually of wore out more quickly, and were held in patterned silk, Windsors became the disdain by most men of the era. common neckwear with the morning suit, rather than the more formal bow Work shirts were wool flannel, linen, or tie, allowing this garment to be worn at cotton pullovers, with a double-breasted weddings, funerals, and other daytime front closure for warmth. Red, blue, or formal occasions. Colorful cravats were checked material was popular. Wool, often seen with frock coats in the 1860s, corduroy, or denim trousers were worn but by the 1870s were again replaced by farmers, laborers, ranchers, and mostly by small black bow ties. factory workers, and held up by suspenders, though this accessory was Most men’s work clothes and unpopular with men who had to underwear were homemade. Under- frequently bend and stoop. Trousers did clothing included woolen not commonly have belt loops until the th and drawers, with knitted cuffs. 20 century. Most men’s clothes of this

Drawers were held up by thin, era, were worn looser than in previous

lightweight suspenders that buttoned on decades, with many individuals seeming

the garment. The “union suit” (so-called to take pride in their “rumpled” look. not for the Union as opposed to the

By the end of the 1850s, most women’s the more numerous firms of traditional Dawn of the Ready-Made clothing, men’s work clothes, children’s custom tailors, who had devised a garments, and underwear were still proportional sizing system to cut and Clothing Industry homemade. But ready-made men’s sew for the “average” man during slack business and formal attire was a seasons when individual orders were few. booming industry - even before the arrival of the first sewing machines in But not until the Civil War were the mid-1800s. While wealthy women commercial possibilities for ready-made traveled to Europe, New York or Boston clothing realized, as the Union Army, to find the latest styles, and have copies desperate for uniforms, conceived a set of of the latest English or French gowns standard sizes for soldiers and began made, over 4,000 men’s clothing sending orders to clothing manufacturers. manufacturers did business in the As the practice of making standardized United States by 1850. Ready-made outfits caught on, ready-made clothing clothing establishments competed with became a major industry.

Army Uniforms Gray vs. Blue - Early in the war this rule uniforms. One Louisiana unit, fighting at didn't apply. Many Federal units went Shiloh, took off their blue coats and to war wearing the bluish-grey uniform turned them inside out, to prevent taking of the pre-war militia cadet, and many friendly fire from their own forces. Confederate units wore dark blue

Union The Northern clothing industry benefited the indispensable grey flannel underclothing Forage Cap enormously from the boost given to new and accessories – grey wool socks, technology by the Civil War. The number suspenders, etc. – and leather army shoes of sewing machines almost doubled called brogans, among the first mass- between 1860 and 1865, and clothing produced which distinguished manufacture became a mammoth industry. between the right and left foot. It was also Woolen mills, galvanized into activity by during the Civil War that soles of boots were the disappearance of Southern cotton, first sewn to . But bad quality shoes enjoyed a boom under the stimulus of during the war’s first years seriously plagued

contracts for uniforms. Wool production the Union infantrymen. more than doubled, and a number of manufacturers amassed profits so The original 1858 forage caps had a narrow stupendous that they were able to reward leather visor and high crown with a round, their stockholders with annual dividends of usually flat top flopping forward at a sharp

between 10 and 40 per cent. angle. The kepi was a French style forage Kepi cap with a lower crown and a top tilting at a Uniforms of the Northern army were fairly much smaller angle. Where the top of a consistent, with the exception of widely forage cap was flat, a kepi usually had a varying headgear. And indeed, hats and raised roll around the outside of the round caps were usually the first item of clothing top. Except for some rare and important to disappear in the heat of battle. exceptions, the forage cap became the

Traditionally, blue was the distinctive color headgear of choice.

for the infantry, yellow for the cavalry, and

red for the artillery. Insignia worn by the Initially, extraneous accessories often weighed down the campaigning soldier, and infantryman was the bugle, crossed swords for cavalry, and crossed cannon barrels for quickly joined other useless accoutrements in roadside ditches. But after 1862, the artillery. These could be found on uniform different parts making up the army uniform buttons or fastened to headgear. Uniforms were of excellent quality. The care put into scarcely changed over the course of the the uniform’s manufacture, the industrial war, with the army-issued outfit principally consisting of the Hardee hat, fatigue/forage technology used, the quality of the materials, cap (kepi), a blue woolen with one and the know-how of the textile workers, row of nine copper uniform buttons, a among others, contributed to the Union army having one of the best equipped short flannel coat, a blue jacket with a collar th and pockets, a grey cotton or civilian-style infantries of the late 19 century. Practical “hickory” checkered shirt, sky-blue uniforms and often-lightened equipment contributed in the same way as armament to trousers for soldiers, dark blue for officers, a sky-blue overcoat with a detachable cape, the modern aspect of the conflict.

Confederate Due to its diverse richness (or lack of included army-issued cotton or homespun industrial means, depending on one’s wool socks and suspenders made of view), Confederate troops displayed a cotton, linen, canvas, or leather if panorama of uniforms. Early in the war, available.

each unit had its own distinctive design,

and Southern troops arrived on the Hats provided warmth in winter, shade in

battlefield wearing uniforms of varying summer, some protection from rain, and colors and cuts. Unfortunately, most served as handy bags to carry foraged uniforms issued by the army were very ill- supplies. Favored headgear of Southern fitting, and many soldiers had to hastily troops was the slouch hat, often with a learn to sew in order to make them beehive-style crown. The white linen wearable. The basic parts of the uniform havelock was initially introduced to be were identical to those produced and worn on the head to protect from used by the North, and any rare sunstroke, and sewn in quantity by differences can be attributed, in part, to Southern women to send to the troops. It industrial factors and hazards of the soon became a nuisance, and a dislike for Northern blockade. the accessory became readily apparent: “…as it was made sufficiently large to cover One reason Southern industry was less the neck and shoulders, the effect, when

successful at clothing the Confederate properly adjusted, was to deprive the

troops, was the inadequacy of the wearer of any air he might otherwise

Quartermaster Department, soon enjoy.” Havelocks quickly became

dishcloths and coffee strainers. overwhelmed by the difficulties in

providing supplies. A glaring example involved the establishment of a large Leather brogans were issued, but keeping factory in Richmond in 1861, responsible the Confederate soldier shod in good for cutting the cloth for uniforms but not footwear proved a problem for the army for producing the finished product. The throughout the war. Raw leather was in Slouch Hat assembly was entrusted to local women, short supply, as the region had been doing the work in their homes. Soon accustomed to buying its shoes and there were 2,000 women stitching saddles from the North. Expectations to uniforms in Richmond, another 3,000 in get needed leather from the cattle and Atlanta, and thousands more throughout horse farms, and tanneries of Tennessee the South. This decentralized cottage were thwarted when the source was cut off industry was highly dependent on by the Northern invasion in 1862, leaving

transport, and the South’s fragile railroad the South with a chronic shortage of the

system was never equal to the task. As a material. In coping with wartime shortages, independent entrepreneurs result, military uniforms remained in often showed more flexibility than did short supply. government bureaucracy or military

Compounding the problems of poor agencies, experimenting with the skins of planning and implementation was the fact squirrels and alligators, and selling as that individual states often reserved most many wooden clogs as they could make. of the cotton and wool produced within their borders for men of their own The necessity of using war booty, militias. This practice left little cloth for especially in the South, often caused the the overall Confederate troops. At the Confederate troops to claim they were end of 1864, North Carolina was fighting so as to get a pair of boots off the consuming the entire production of her bodies of dead Union soldiers. 40 textile mills - fully half of the mills still remaining in the South.

Confederate soldiers usually wore hand-

sewn shirts, and drawers made of cotton

Havelock sheeting with drawstring closures on the ankle cuffs. Trousers were of gray wool cloth, as were jackets which had brass buttons and blue edging on the shoulder straps. Essential items of any uniform Initially, uniforms were made of un-dyed adopted during 1863 - not as a A Myriad of Colors wool. Although grey was officially chosen substitute or actual conscious choice, by the Confederacy as the color to but rather as the result of distinguish its army from that of the North, circumstances and adapting to the over the course of the war, several different trials of the moment. Originally a colors were used for uniform jackets. brown/tan/khaki color appearing as Confederate States (CS) gray, a steel blue early as 1862, it was in extensive use by color, was the "ideal" gray ordered used 1863, and worn almost exclusively by by the government. However, it soon the Confederate army by late 1864. Steel Gray became the color used only by officers and One theory of the color’s origin was those in Richmond, and for one reason or use of a different gray dye which another, very few fighting men were ever changed colors after getting wet. issued coats of this hue. Other gray colors Although not noticeable when slightly included: Tuscaloosa gray, lighter than CS damp, it could change hue in one heavy Gray with a slight tan pigment; Richmond downpour. Another explanation was Richmond Gray gray, a very dark gray looking almost black the supposed use of leaves, bark, and in some lights; Cadet gray, a gray unripe fruit of the North American containing a heavy sea blue pigment and a butternut tree to make a chocolate- cross-section of white thread (this gray was brown dye, thus creating the distinctive mainly used for the boys in southern butternut color. At times, the dye color military schools), and gray jean wool, the would become darker as it endured most correct color of gray, which was a more rain and weather. Neither a very Gray Jean Wool mixture of gray and white wool, and dark nor light brown, butternut had no sometimes referred to as “salt and pepper hint of gray in its makeup. gray.” Brown jean wool was of the same concept as the gray jean, but the color was Most of these colors were also used for a mixture of brown with a touch of gray, trousers, the only additional hue being resulting in a light brown/dark tan shade sky blue, the same color used by the Brown Jean Wool mixed with gray and white stitches. Federal infantry. Sadly, however, and particularly during the last months of The butternut color, so commonly the war, the Southern soldier ended up associated with the Confederacy, was with little better than rags to wear.

Butternut

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