In this exhibit, we will examine how historic Idaho dressmaking was motivated by practicality, more specifically, a deviation from the traditional elaborate Victorian wedding practice. To do this, we will first examine the characteristics of Victorianism. Second, we will expose the historical reasons women on the American frontier could not meet the Victorian expectations. Lastly, we will discuss technological innovations such as the sewing machine that empowered women and made fashion more accessible and less time consuming.

*photos can be enlarged by clicking on each one individually.

A woman’s dress is a unique cultural artifact that provides glimpses into specific cultural identities¹. Historically, Idaho women’s clothing was marked with practicality; structure and function were paramount to the fashion trends of the 19^th century. The wedding dresses displayed in this digital exhibit provide unique insights into Idaho women’s cultural tradition. These dresses, although they are cut to accommodate the modest fashions of the 19^th century possess a color and style that was more practical for life on the American frontier.

For more than half of the 19^th century Great Britain, and more specifically Queen Victoria, set the trend in both societal customs and fashions. In fact, the years between about 1840 and the turn of the 20^th century are referred to as the Victorian era. During this span of time Victorianism spread throughout Great Britain and much of the United States. Victorianism is most commonly thought of as a set of rather strict values, a kind of social-moral code to follow —  obsessively concerned with modesty and propriety. By being so obsessed with modesty Victorianism also had a distinct fashion trend that lasted throughout the era².

Victorian women’s fashion consisted of dresses with high necklines, often rising above the collarbones, sleeves reaching to the wrists and full-length skirts grazing the ground and adding several pounds to the garment. Nearly every part of a proper Victorian woman’s body should have been covered, especially the entirety of her legs³. The bodice and sleeves of Victorian dresses were tightly fitted to the body of the woman wearing it4. Corsets were worn underneath dresses in order to create an illusion of a tiny, hourglass waist, a prominent body modification trend of the 19^th century. Another typical style of the 19^thcentury came with the development of the bustle.

The bustle consisted of fabric, bunched up and draped to accentuate the hips of the dress wearer. The bustle eventually lost popularity because of the difficulty of execution in dressmaking. While still Western in structure, all of the dresses in this exhibit have some qualities of Victorian trends.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ENDNOTES

1. Nancy Micklewright, Late-Nineteenth-Century Ottoman Wedding Costumes as Indicators of Social Change (BRILL: Leiden, 1989) 161.

 

2. Kelly Boyd and Rohan McWilliam. Victorian Studies Reader (New York: Routledge, 2007).

 

3. Chris Ingraham. White Weddings: Romancing Heterosexuality in Popular Culture (New York: Routledge, 2007).

 

4. Ingraham, White Weddings.

While most historical fashions are in someway similar to Victorian fashion, one aspect of Victorian fashion new for Victorians was the notion of a white wedding dress. Queen Victoria set this trend in 1840 by wearing a white satin gown at her wedding. Soon after the Queen’s wedding, brides in much of the Western world were following suit, literally, by choosing white as the color for their wedding gowns⁵. Generally, women wore their high Victorian fashion garments to relay a societal message of personal or familial prestige and class⁶. However, brides living on the American frontier had more to consider when choosing a wedding dress than the trends of the Victorian era. Practical interests such as keeping warm, dry and safe were pressing issues, thus clothing was durable – “not necessarily stylish or good looking⁷.”

ENDNOTES

5. Historic Costume and Textiles Collection, Ohio State University. “Wedding Traditions” Last updated 2012. Accessed May 1, 2012. http://costume.osu.edu/exhibitions/wedding/#latevictorian

 

6. Donald Clay-Johnson. Wedding Dress Across Cultures (Oxford: Berg, 2003) 1.

 

7. Katherine Krohn. Calico dresses and buffalo robes: American West fashions from the 1840s to the 1890s (Minneapolis, MN: Twenty-First Century Books, 2012) 16. Accessed April 1, 2012.

Life on the American frontier meant countless hardships. Many people living in what are now states like Idaho, Montana and Utah homesteaded and relied mostly on themselves for everyday things like clothing, food and housing. Being self-sufficient, out of necessity, meant that many frontier brides had to sew their own dresses or wear a dress handed down from relatives or neighbors. Also, fabric was not easy to come by since many people lived in small communities far away from merchants or postal stations where they could purchase fabrics. Thus, most wedding dresses on the frontier were simply “best” dresses. Frontierswomen often wore their “best” dresses for multiple occasions such as weddings, funerals, church gatherings, etc. A frontier bride did not only wear this dress for her wedding, but throughout her life and probably loaned out to other women when needed, or passed down to relatives and children⁸. When thinking about the American frontier it is easy to assume that it was not the cleanest environment. Old photographs often show dirt streets and dusty homesteads, even the people in the photographs sometimes appear with dirty shoes and even dirty clothes.

We have learned that people living in the frontier did not have easy access to materials like fabric, leaving their wardrobes minimal and consisting of only a few necessary articles of clothing. We have also learned that frontierswomen often wed in their “best” dress, a dress to be worn on multiple occasions throughout her life.

Lastly, we have learned that living on the frontier meant living in a rather dirty environment. Knowing all of that it is not surprising to learn that many frontier brides did not wear white dresses on their wedding day. Color became very important in the evolution of dressmaking during the Victorian Era⁹. In more industrialized locations, such as London and New York, white did not seem as impractical as it did in the West. However, the use of color served a practical purpose for women in the West, as choices in clothing and the maintenance needed for white fabrics were not as accessible. In fact, many surviving dresses are different shades of brown, grey and even black. Some are more aesthetically pleasing colors, like periwinkle or velvety red, but very few are white.

White, as is still believed today, is a difficult color to keep clean. Think about life in the 19^th century American frontier: clean water to wash clothing with was not common, brides wed in a dress that had to be worn more than once and the surrounding environment did not accommodate anything white. Thus, wedding dresses of the American frontier were rarely white.

For the sake of practicality, frontierswomen’s wedding dresses differed in many ways to the Victorian fashions of most of the 19^th century. While the dress cuts may have been accommodating to the modesty of Victorianism, the colors and styles were more practical for life on the American frontier. Now that we understand the historical context of Victorian fashion and the practicality of the American West, we will now explore the technology used to craft these dresses.

ENDNOTES

8. Sandra H. Luebking. “Your Search for U.S. Marriage Records.” Ancestry: A Family History Source from Amcestry.com 20; 3 (2002): 26. Accessed May 1, 2012. http://books.google.com/books?id=gn_YSif8RLEC&pg=PA26&dq=history+of+american+frontier+wedding+dresses&hl=en&sa=X&ei=M76iT-glpeSIAvyCqdgH&ved=0CEMQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=history%20of%20american%20frontier%20wedding%20dresses&f=false

 

9. Hackettstown Historical Society. “Fashion in the Victorian Era.” Accessed May 4, 2012. http://www.hackettstownhistory.com/narticle_fashion.shtml.

The late 19^th century and early 20^th century represented a time of innovation and great change for the United States. As the nation expanded from the East to the West, those moving westward experienced a completely new way of life. Women faced the most significant changes upon arriving in the west.  Once adapted to the new environment, women learned to deal with the extra responsibilities on the frontier. Due to the vast distances between each property and the low female population, women encountered forced isolation. Subsequently this influenced an innovation in the arts and crafts movement.

The technological advancements made during the Industrial Revolution redefined dressmaking on both a large and small scale. Mass production became possible, allowing women to work, and even purchase clothing traditionally only worn by wealthier women¹⁰. According to the National Museum of American History, “as a fixture in domestic life, (the sewing machine) obviously improved the housewife’s chances of adequately clothing her family¹¹.” Not only was it possible to produce clothing in a timely manner, but also patterns and advertisements included in magazines provided western women with the latest fashions around the world¹². For most women in the west the sewing machine brought a new world of craft. Clothing began showing more expressive and creative qualities, which brightened up the plain drab clothing worn by most ladies of lower classes. Over time fashions of the East coast and even European influences made their way to the West. As the century progressed wedding traditions changed, as most American cultures began adopting the use of a white wedding dress. Prior to that time however, “homemade, made-over and second-hand clothing comprised the greater part of most early 19^th century women’s wardrobes¹³.” Women commonly re-used their dresses, sprucing them up for special occasions and passing them down to future generations. This iridescent silk pagoda wedding dress, used for years, likely by several women, is a great example of a machine-sewn garment, hemmed over the years to accommodate its wearers.

The fabric used is iridescent gray-purple silk and has blue velvet lacing around the layered pagoda sleeves. There is a lot of visible stitching which suggests the dress had many years of use either by the same women over several years or handed down to younger generations. The sleeves and collar have laced trim. The fabric flows from the shoulders and into a bell like skirt. The waistline was tightened with riveted stitch work. The violet dress shows qualities of alteration for its user; on the back an extension was added to accommodate either a growing girl, or a larger woman.

 

 

Homemade dresses following the release of the sewing machine came adorned with intricate beadwork, ruffling, buttons, and lacework. This dress, worn for a wedding in the late 19th is a prime example of a dress made with a sewing machine.

The dress and coat material is made with a brown velvet fabric and tan iridescent silk fabric. It includes flower trim detailing made from twisted rope on the elbows and right above the waistline. Originally metallic gold, this dress’s luminescence has tarnished over time. The dress includes a built in bustle and jacket. The jacket has lacing along the collar and wrist cuffs; it too has discolored over time. The dress appears to be made with a sewing machine, but hand stitch hems are present.

Aside from refining clothing production on a major scale, the sewing machines presence influenced the dress reform of the late 19^th century. Women in the West lived in a hotter and dryer climate; wearing heavy thick-layered dresses over tightly laced corsets quickly became tiresome. In protest to the uncomfortable clothing, women everywhere began altering their dress to better suit them. Lucy Stone expressed her opinion on dress and its influence on women’s equality, “ when she is so, and takes her place, clothed with the dignity which the possession and exercise of her natural human rights give, she will be able, unquestioned, to dictate the style of her dress¹⁴.” The new confidence inherited from the dress reform helped motivate women to seek further equality among men.

In the early 20^th century Cecil Gladys Hall married Wesley Cooper in Oakley, Idaho. Like most women living on the western frontier, Hall had a large load of responsibilities, both at home and in public. This sewing machine made in 1901, and handed down to Hall from her mother, made providing clothing for her family much easier.

 

ENDNOTES

10. Fernandez, Nancy Page. “Innovations for Home Dressmaking and the Popularization of Stylish Dress”. Journal of American Culture. Accessed April 4, 2012) http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1542-734X.1994.t01-00023.x/abstract

 

11. Fernandez. “Innovations for Home Dressmaking and the Popularization of Stylish Dress.”

 

12. Fernandez. “Innovations for Home Dressmaking and the Popularization of Stylish Dress.”

 

13. Fernandez. “Innovations for Home Dressmaking and the Popularization of Stylish Dress.”

 

14. Fernandez. “Innovations for Home Dressmaking and the Popularization of Stylish Dress.”

ENDNOTES

 

1. Nancy Micklewright, Late-Nineteenth-Century Ottoman Wedding Costumes as Indicators of Social Change (BRILL: Leiden, 1989) 161.

 

2. Kelly Boyd and Rohan McWilliam. Victorian Studies Reader (New York: Routledge, 2007).

 

3. Chris Ingraham. White Weddings: Romancing Heterosexuality in Popular Culture (New York: Routledge, 2007).

 

4. Ingraham, White Weddings.

 

5. Historic Costume and Textiles Collection, Ohio State University. “Wedding Traditions” Last updated 2012. Accessed May 1, 2012. http://costume.osu.edu/exhibitions/wedding/#latevictorian

 

6. Donald Clay-Johnson. Wedding Dress Across Cultures (Oxford: Berg, 2003) 1.

 

7. Katherine Krohn. Calico dresses and buffalo robes: American West fashions from the 1840s to the 1890s (Minneapolis, MN: Twenty-First Century Books, 2012) 16. Accessed April 1, 2012. http://books.google.com/books?id=P1V7a1Syc_EC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage$q&f=false

 

8. Sandra H. Luebking. “Your Search for U.S. Marriage Records.” Ancestry: A Family History Source from Amcestry.com 20; 3 (2002): 26. Accessed May 1, 2012. http://books.google.com/books?id=gn_YSif8RLEC&pg=PA26&dq=history+of+american+frontier+wedding+dresses&hl=en&sa=X&ei=M76iT-glpeSIAvyCqdgH&ved=0CEMQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=history%20of%20american%20frontier%20wedding%20dresses&f=false

 

9. Hackettstown Historical Society. “Fashion in the Victorian Era.” Accessed May 4, 2012. http://www.hackettstownhistory.com/narticle_fashion.shtml.

 

10. Fernandez, Nancy Page. “Innovations for Home Dressmaking and the Popularization of Stylish Dress”. Journal of American Culture. Accessed April 4, 2012) http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1542-734X.1994.t01-00023.x/abstract

 

11. Fernandez. “Innovations for Home Dressmaking and the Popularization of Stylish Dress.”

 

12. Fernandez. “Innovations for Home Dressmaking and the Popularization of Stylish Dress.”

 

13. Fernandez. “Innovations for Home Dressmaking and the Popularization of Stylish Dress.”

 

14. Fernandez. “Innovations for Home Dressmaking and the Popularization of Stylish Dress.”

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

 

Boyd, Kelly and McWilliam, Rohan. Victorian Studies Reader (New York: Routledge,   2007).

 

Clay-Johnson, Donald. Wedding Dress Across Cultures (Oxford: Berg, 2003).

 

Fernandez, Nancy Page, “Innovations for Home Dressmaking and the Popularizations of Stylish Dress,” Journal of American Culture 17, 3 (1994) 23, accessed April 4, 2012, http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1542-      734X.1994.t01-1-00023.x/abstract

 

Hackettstown Historical Society. “Fashion in the Victorian Era.” Accessed May 4, 2012. http://www.hackettstownhistory.com/narticle_fashion.shtml.

 

Historic Costume and Textiles Collection, Ohio State University. “Wedding Traditions” Last updated 2012. Accessed May 1, 2012.  http://costume.osu.edu/exhibitions/wedding/#latevictorian

 

Ingraham, Chris. White Weddings: Romancing Heterosexuality in Popular Culture. New York: Routledge, 2008.

 

Krohn, Katherine. Calico dresses and buffalo robes: American West fashions from the 1840s to the 1890s (Minneapolis, MN: Twenty-First Century Books, 2012) 16. Accessed April 1, 2012. http://books.google.com/books?id=P1V7a1Syc_EC&printsec=frontcover#v=onep age$q&f=false

 

Levitt, Sarah. Victorians Unbuttoned. London: George Allen & Unwin Publishers, 1986.

 

Luebking, Sandra H. “Your Search for U.S. Marriage Records.” Ancestry: A Family       History Source from Ancestry.com 20; 3 (2002). Accessed May 1, 2012. http://books.google.com/books?id=gn_YSif8RLEC&pg=PA26&dq=history+of          +american+frontier+wedding+dresses&hl=en&sa=X&ei=M76iT-            glpeSIAvyCqdgH&ved=0CEMQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=history%20of%20a  merican%20frontier%20wedding%20dresses&f=false

 

Micklewright, Nancy. Late-Nineteenth-Century Ottoman Wedding Costumes as Indicators of Social Change. Leiden: BRILL, 1989.