American Colonies, 1600s – 1800s |
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All American
People
Events1450-1600: This is part of the Renaissance
period in which the Catholic church no longer had a hold on the people. This is
considered Anthropocentric or the “man centered” period. ResourcesA Visual History of Costume The Sixteenth Century an excellent source of raw material. Jane Ashelford not only shows the beautiful pictures but she breaks it down as to what some of the items they are wearing are. The glossary is also a select index so you can see it on a specific picture with minimal search. Two Centuries of French Fashion This book has photographs of the 49 dolls given to the United States by France for their assistance. These dolls are kept at the Brooklyn Museum. Each picture gives the name of the dress and in some cases the person who wore it and who the designers were. The pictures even give the year that the dress was done. Updated February 24, 2002
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Women’s FashionsStudent, University of North Carolina at Pembroke, 2002 Women’s fashions during the American Colonies was measured by how expensive they were, how many accessories came with it like jewels, made from richly fabrics, with deep colors and patterns, fur or sable and did it have any embroidery on it. Reader’s Digest Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary defines fashion as “1. The current style or custom, as in dress or behavior; the mode for the present: out of fashion” “3. Fashionable or style-conscious people in general; the social elite”(608) During this period the fashion was determined by who you were, what country you came from, as well as your religion. In order to understand how things were determined we define social class. Reader’s Digest defines social as: “c. Of or pertaining to human society and its modes of organization: social classes”(1574). From here we look up class. Using the same reference, class is defined as “3. A social stratum whose members share similar economic, social, and cultural characteristics.” and “4. a. The division of society into relative strata or ranks: discrimination on grounds of class.”(328). To better understand we look for the requirements for social status. Encyclopedia of Sociology, Second Edition, Volume 5 states that: “Status attainment is the process by which individuals attain positions in the system of social stratification in a society.” (3042) Normally, to achieve this, a person must a have a good or advanced education, a good or high income and a respectable or prestigious occupation. (3043) These types of people were usually referred to as aristocrats or the elite. If the person is considered an aristocrat then she would more than likely wear the finest clothes available. She could be of royalty or a successful businessman’s wife. Now that we know what is required for status, lets see if the women’s dresses tell us anything about the social classes during the American Colonies period. The European dress came from different countries such as France or Spain. For example Warwick Edward, Henry C. Pitz, and Alexander Wyckoff, Early American Dress; The Colonial and Revolutionary Periods reads that the “European aristocracy, a society that attempted to reproduce the life of England and the Continent.”(148). It continues that dolls were made in Paris by the Mantua-makers and then sent to London’s ladies. Then with additional dolls made from the milliners in London they were finally sent to America for the women who waited for them. Their wish was to see what the latest fashions were. Still it mentions that these fashion “babies” as they were called, were put on display and then when they no longer served a purpose they were given to children for play. (172) During Colonial times many would don their fancy dresses though their life was not one of riches. This was because they didn’t want to be outdone and wanted to be first with the latest fashions Jane Ashelford, A Visual History of Costume The Sixteenth Century comments about “A German visitor to London in 1592 observed that acquiring fine clothes appeared to be more important to some women than having food in the house: ‘The women … go dressed out in exceedingly fine clothes, and give all their attention to their ruffs and stuffs, to such a degree indeed, that, as I am informed, many a one does not hesitate to wear velvet in the streets, which is common with them, whilst at home perhaps they have not a piece of dry bread.’”(12) It is believed that this was also the case in America as women got the latest fashions. Spain supposedly was the main country that was imitated, because of its beauty and elegance in clothing. They are credited for giving Europe many items like the ruche; Ashelford defines this as “material that has been gathered together in close folds so that it can be used as a trimming.” She also defines ruff as “originally the frill that edged the standing collar of a shirt. Ruffs increased in size until, by the 1570s, they had become separate articles. Through the use of starch and setting-sticks ruffs could be very wide and consist of many layers.”(144) The corset according to A. Merriam Webster, Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary is “a woman’s close-fitting boned supporting undergarment that is often hooked and laced and that extends from above or beneath that bust or from the waist to below the hips and had garters attached.”(294) Then R. Turner Wilcox, Five Centuries Of American Costume mentions “The knitted silk stocking, … the shawl and mantilla, used by women, to give an air of beauty and mystery to the wearer.”(105) Due to the shape required for this type of dress the people wore leather corsets. As it is today, they also had to diet to maintain such lovely figures. The Portuguese wore the same styles of dress with just a few exceptions, such as the shawl was over the head. The French with their sewing talents and love for clothing did the occasional costumes. Most of the time they wore their colorful dresses from their original or native provinces. The rich Dutch would dress up for church or on occasion with imported fabrics from the homeland, made by the local Dutch tailors and seamstresses. These were done by hand because the sewing machine had not yet been invented. The Quakers were the ones that had the plain look. Wilcox describe their wear as “dispensed with all fripperies of dress yet occasionally did wear wig and powder, even William Pen himself who had a supply of wigs. The feminine head covering which has come down to us as the Quaker bonnet was the height of fashion in that day and hailed from Paris but the fact that it was worn bare of ornament marked it as the Quaker bonnet.”(109) As we have seen, women’s fashions during the Colonial period were something very much sought after. We defined what a social class is as well as fashion and how the trends kept coming through the fashion Babies from Paris. The other styles came from Spain, England, Portugal, Holland, and other European countries. The amount of ornaments and fancy decorations was a sign of the importance of a person. This was because in some cases only the elite could afford such finery. Even in the religious groups such as the Quakers, had their garments made of expensive materials. Yet theirs were without the ornaments and frills. The different fashions that came through the Colonial period were so many, that it helped the economies of most countries, especially France. Works Cited
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