Women's Clothing in The 19th Century

Ashley: Since revealing part of your body is usually considered provocative, concealing it is thought to be more modest. Hi welcome to watchmojo.com, I’m your host Ashley and today Cynthia Cooper is going to take us through the 19th century women’s wear.

Cynthia Cooper: People often think that the sorts of clothing that was worn prior to the 20th century was rather prudish because it covered women’s bodies from their necks to the floor but in fact in its own time was considered was considered sexually attractive for the way it outlines the body and even exaggerates the shape of the lower body. Women wore crinolines and bustles underneath their skirts to give them that exaggerated shape.

Boundaries of modesty are always being negotiated in fashion. It’s something that we see in the 19th century if we look at boots and stockings that women wore in that period. We see that they’re very decorative, very ornate, so clearly, they were intended to attract attention and this idea carries through today. We can see the same sort of phenomenon happening with bra straps and the tops of thong underwear which are also designed to show and be revealed.

In the 19th century, women did wear very revealing clothing. They wore very low necklines for formal wear and this type of garment was known as full dress which is rather ironic because it exposed quite a bit of their upper body. It can be very surprising to realize that there were rules and regulations enforcing this kind of garment. In 1878, a new governor general, the Marquis of Lorne invited citizens to meet him and published an ad in the paper saying that women must wear low necklines. If they had a medical certificate, they could wear a square neckline that covered the shoulders but still had to show some of their cleavage and if they wore a dress button up to the neck they would simply not be admitted.


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