While the West was being won, slavery was an issue and Queen Victoria sat on her throne, there were a few ultra modern things going on, hilariously phrased by modern standards, but modern nonetheless.    Another Girl in Pants Boston, MA  Jan 1, 1853      Both Emma and Harriet would be arrested several more times in various places for wearing pants. When Harriet was arrested for a third time in New York she claimed she had only worn trousers "to get more wages" as a man.  As early as 1845 American cities were passing ordnances forbidding crossdressing or men wearing makeup.  Cross dressing was considered "being in disguise."  When not being lampooned, bloomers were sharply criticized as immoral because "women shouldn't wear men's clothes."      Today, we'd hardly think of "bloomers" or "Turkish Trousers" as being pants.  Named for an advocate of dress reform, Amelia Bloomer, the clothing was loose p...

Godey's Book 1860 Between hoop skirts and corsets, Victorian women showed off an exaggerated female shape in a way even a modern day bikini does not. “My Victorian black wool dress is historically accurate because it’s completely hand-sewn. Early Victorian dress were always sewn by hand. All seams – the visible as well as the hidden seams are hand-sewn! It took me 28 hours from start to finish: 11 hours for the skirt and 17 hours for the bodice. Yes, I measured the time because I was curious how long it took back then to sew a dress entirely by hand!”—modern day re enactor Hoop Skirt History Fashion historians know the hoop skirt in the 1830s and  1840s was not its first appearance, rather a reappearance  of a fashion set by the 16 year old Princess Catherine of  Aragon, fiancé of Arthur Tudor, Prince of Wales.  Catherine’s dress of the 1500s was straighter and less  bell shaped. As with Catherine’s time, preceding  women’s fashion had been nearly the opp...