Clothing on the frontier..

[lucywalker]

this is a rabbit hole that I will later go down, but for now....

how quickly would the ladies of a town on the frontier, (let's use Jonesborough, TN, in 1797. This little town is in the Appalacian mountains, in 1797 it had recently been the Western District of NC, and it was a "launching place" for those traveling west (west would have been, ummmm, Nashville (or Nashboro, at this time).)

I picked the date 1797 because I am guessing that is the cusp of a major fashion change- so let's use whatever year is appropriate for that time period of leaving one style and starting another.

Would a remote, dirty, busy, industrious community have had fashion forward ladies who had the inclination to start wearing a "regency style" dress. What fabric, color would have been appropriate for such a location? How long would it have taken for other ladies to want to start wearing those clothes, and how quickly did the style travel?

At this time, I am not going anywhere with this inquiry, but possibly in the future, when I get my hectic life under control...

Kindest Regards,
Miss Lucy Walker.

[dawnluckham]

Lucy, you need to get a copy of the catalogue from the museum exhibition "Fashion on the Ohio Frontier". dept.kent.edu/museum/exhibit/ohio/main.htm

The author is Anne Bissonnette.

This is a sizable text and works with the specific question of who wore “fashionable” clothing in the woods in Ohio and why did they care? Social history!

It should be required reading for re-enactors and living historians covering the eras from the 1790's to 1825.

[lucywalker]

I am miuch obliged.

[artemisiajolie]

What a fantastic find, Dawn. I would not have imagined a frontierswoman wearing high fashion! I'm happy to be wrong here

[Anna]

It's worth noting that unlike many Victorian fashions, Regency clothing is actually remarkably practical and economical of fabric. I have to imagine that that sort of thing affects how easily the poorer frontierswoman could adopt something like this. It's easy to remake your round gown into a Regency silhouette, whereas it's much harder to make over your Regency dress to go over a hoop crinoline.

[missmardi]

Apr 29, 2010 8:34:45 GMT -5 dawnluckham said:

Lucy, you need to get a copy of the catalogue from the museum exhibition "Fashion on the Ohio Frontier". dept.kent.edu/museum/exhibit/ohio/main.htm

The author is Anne Bissonnette.

This is a sizable text and works with the specific question of who wore “fashionable” clothing in the woods in Ohio and why did they care? Social history!

It should be required reading for re-enactors and living historians covering the eras from the 1790's to 1825.

Is there anywhere this is still available? I tried the link, and even google searching, but I am not able to get anywhere.

[quindaro]

You might try borrowing it through Interlibrary Loan. I did a quick search through WorldCat and it showed 23 libraries holding copies.

[missmardi]

I am hoping that is true here in Canada, too. I just put in a request through my local library.