Author’s Note: Because of the difficulty of obtaining sources (outside of an extended visit to the Library of Congress), this essay concentrates on the Women’s Dress Reform movement in America. This essay is meant to be entertaining and informative, but not the definitive source of information on this subject.
In Crocodile on a Sandbank (and other Amelia Peabody mysteries), Amelia describes one of her outfits as based on those proposed by the Rational Dress Movement. In order to understand what the rational dress movement was, one must first understand what fashionable women in mid- to late-19th century were wearing.
The size of skirts gradually began increasing, starting in the 1820’s, until by the 1840’s, the fashionable woman was required to wear around 9 pounds (sometimes more) worth of petticoats to support their girth. Dress reform might have taken off at this point, had it not been for the invention of the crinoline. Crinoline is actually a material made of horsehair, originally used to keep the collars on men’s shirts stiff. In the 1850’s crinoline was used to create a wide under-skirt which stood away from the body. The crinoline was sometimes reinforced with wood, wire (as much as 60 yards per skirt) , whale bone or bamboo, and allowed women to wear exceedingly large skirts, without carrying as much weight. 1 The fashionable silhouette was now one in which the lower portion of the body resembled a bell.
Corsets also came back into fashion during the 1820’s, and they maintained their popularity right up through the end of the century, gradually becoming tighter and tighter, forcing women into more and more unnatural contortions. In 1859, in a Paris newspaper, it was reported that a young woman had died due to an over-tight corset - her liver had been pierced by three ribs. 2 Although the unhealthy effects of corsets (displacement or prolapsed uterus; atrophy of abdominal muscles; displacement and damage to the liver; displacement of the stomach and intestines, causing extreme digestive difficulties; constriction of the chest and malformation of the ribs, affecting one’s ability to breathe 3), they continued to be worn by trendy women. At this time, frailty was considered fashionable and feminine. It was a form of social status and one-upmanship to discuss one’s latest illnesses and weaknesses with one’s lady friends.
In the 1870’s the wide, flaring skirt of the crinoline was replaced by the bustle. The bustle was a large pad constructed of horsehair, or whale bone with wire springs. The skirt was flounced and draped over the bustle. Corsets remained fashionable. Petticoats, which were also worn with the crinoline, were still worn - as many as five to seven. Knowing this, one can understand why Amelia was flailing around in a tent, all tangled up in her petticoats, during a crucial moment in Crocodile on a Sandbank. However, the number of petticoats considered necessary did drop to one during the last decade of the 19th century. The neckline of dresses gradually rose, and dresses became tighter, until, by the 1880’s, the dress enclosed the body from neck to knee as close as possible. In some cases, the knees were actually tied together, in order for the fashionable woman to maintain what was considered a graceful walk.
It was against this backdrop of fashion which restricted movement, caused deformation, illness and sometimes death, that the dress reform movement began. In America, the dress reform movement was inextricably linked with suffragettes, and those fighting for equal rights for women. In 1851, Elizabeth Cady Stanton visited Amelia Bloomer, who was then the editor of a temperance magazine, The Lily. Stanton wore a costume of Turkish trousers over which a short skirt, or long tunic top, was worn. Not only was the outfit modest, it also allowed for greater freedom of movement (Figure 1). Amelia Bloomer was immediately taken with the costume, adopted it herself, and promoted it in her magazine. The New York Tribune noted the story, and labeled the costume "Bloomer." This outfit was not received very well by the general public. Women dressed in the Bloomer costume were often unceremoniously ejected from lecture halls or churches. Even walking down the street had its hazards, as they would be harassed by men and children alike.
To comprehend why this outfit could cause such a commotion, one has to understand that until recent times, a woman could be arrested and imprisoned for "impersonating a man"; that is, wearing men’s clothing. For example, it was a punishable offense in the Middle Ages; after the Civil War, one woman who had dressed as a man and served in the Union Army, was later given a special permit by the government allowing her to wear men’s clothes. In the 1930’s, in Paris, Marlene Dietrich was accosted by police for wearing men’s trousers while walking along the Seine. Many perceived that those wearing the Bloomer outfit bordered on "impersonating a man."
On a visit to Great Britain to promote the outfit, the women dressed in the Bloomer costume were harassed in the street. Their lack of popularity in Great Britain was further ensured when a ball in which all women in attendance were supposed to wear the bloomer outfit, was crashed by a large party of prostitutes, and resulted in an orgy of sorts. The costume never really caught on in America due to its linkage with the suffragette movement - rights for women were considered by many to be the beginning of the downfall of society, and therefore, so was this outfit. In 1857, even Amelia Bloomer discarded her namesake costume for the crinoline.
The dress reformers of the 1870s concentrated on reforming the undergarments, rather than trying to change the fashion of the outer dress. The bustle was not considered hazardous, so it was allowed to be an acceptable part of reform dress. Reformers urged replacing the corset with a "waist," a short-sleeved, high-necked garment which supported the upper body. It also had buttons on its lower edges, so that one might button one’s petticoats to it, thereby using the shoulder to support the weight of the skirts. These outfits allowed greater freedom of movement, and were called "Emancipation Waists."
This new reform in undergarments did not solve all the problems associated with fashion. By the 1890’s, crinolines were gone, but skirts were still so long that they dragged on the ground, collecting all sorts of rubbish (tobacco, cigarette butts, toothpicks, orange peelings, etc.). In a rainstorm, such long skirts became almost impossible to manage. Yet by the 1890’s, it had became acceptable for women to be healthy, even athletic. The long, dragging skirts were impractical for such activities as ice-skating or bicycling - a new craze among women with the invention of the "safety bicycle" (more like the modern bicycles, with both wheels the same size). Shorter skirts were deemed acceptable for ice skating or roller skating. A variety of fashions arose for bicycling, from a divided mid-calf length skirt, to wider versions of men’s knickerbockers (See figures 2 and 3). More and more middle-class women were also entering the workforce, as secretaries, stenographers, telephone operators, librarians, sales clerks, managers, and in other office positions, and so required a dress which would allow them to perform their job adequately, and required sober (not frivolous) attire. They could not afford to be hampered by corsets, or to get tangled up in their skirts. Tailor made dresses, consisting of a jacket, a high-necked blouse, and a skirt were introduced in the 1890’s, and became popular with working women - they allowed freedom of motion. Gradually, various styles of reform dress became accepted, because fashion was not followed as closely, and people had become used to seeing women in bicycling costumes, or other athletic outfits.
But what are the "Rationals" to which Amelia Peabody occasionally refers? In brief, "Rationals" was the British name for what Americans referred to as a bicycling costume, as depicted in Figure 3.
Foster, Vanda. A Visual History of Costume: the Nineteenth Century. London: B T Batsford Ltd., 1984.
Kybalova, Ludmilla, Olga Herbenova, and Milena Lamarova. The Pictorial Encyclopedia of Fashion. Trans. Claudia Rosoux. New York: The Hamlyn Publishing Group Ltd., 1968.
Sprinthall, Carolyn. "Nineteenth Century Dress Reform: Changing the Shapes of Women’s Lives." Durham: Duke University, Diss. 1986.
Victoria & Albert Museum. Four Hundred Years of Fashion. Ed. Natalie Rothstein. London: William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd., 1984.
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