HISTORY & CULTURE
THERE'S TIME TRAVEL IN THIS SHOW?!
THE 18TH CENTURY (1701 - 1800)
MANNERS/BEHAVIOR/ ETIQUETTE
Information quoted and provided from Debretts.
MEN
"Pay some attention to your behavior at the table, where it is exceedingly rude to scratch any part of your body, to spit, or blow your nose, if you can possibly avoid it, to eat greedily, to lean your elbows on the table, to pick your teeth before the dishes are removed, or to leave the table before Grace is said."
"Eating quick, or very slow at meals, is characteristic of the vulgar; the first infers poverty, that you have not had a good meal for some time; the last, if abroad, that you dislike your entertainment."
"Humming a tune to ourselves, drumming, with our fingers on the table, making a noise with our feet, and such like are all breaches of good manners, and indicators of our contempt for the persons present; therefore they should not be indulged."
"Pulling out your watch in company unasked, either at home or abroad, is a mark of ill breeding... If at home, it appears as if you were tired of your company, and wish them to be gone; if abroad, as if the hours dragged heavily, and you wished to be gone yourself. If you want to know the time, withdraw."
"A polite manner of refusing to comply with the solicitations of the company is also very necessary to be learned; for a young man, who seems to have no will of his own, but does everything that is asked of him, may be a very good natured fellow, but he is a very silly one. If you are invited to drink at any man's house, more than you think it's wholesome, you may say 'you wish you could, but that so little makes you both drunk and sick, that you should be only bad company by doing it."
"It were better not to know a diamond from the club, than to become a gambler; but as custom has introduced innocent cardplaying at most friendly meetings it marks the gentleman to handle them genteelly, and play them well, I hope you will play only for small turns; should you lose your money, pray lose it with temper; or win, receive your winnings without either elation or greediness."
"To write well and correct, and in a pleasing style, is another part of polite education... Epistolary correspondence should not be carried on in a studied or affected style, but the language should flow from the pen, as naturally and as easily as it would from the mouth. In short, a letter should be penned in the same style as you would talk to your friend if he was present."
"Be careful never to tell in one company what you see or hear in another; much less to divert the present company at the expense of the last. Things apparently indifferent may, when often repeated and told abroad, have much more serious consequences than imagined. In conversation, there is generally a tacit reliance that what is said will not be repeated; and a man, though not enjoyed to secrecy, will be excluded from the company, if found to be a tattler."
"Never be witty, at the expense of anyone present... you may possibly thus gain the laugh on your side for the present, but it will make the person, perhaps, at whose expense you are merry, your enemy for ever after; and even those who laugh with you will, on a little reflection, fear you, and probably despise you."
"Some men are vain enough to think they are quite a consequence by alliance, or by an acquaintance with persons of distinguished character or abilities; hence they are eternally talking of their grandfather, Lord such a one; their kinsman, Sir William such a one; or their intimate friend, Doctor such a one, with whom, perhaps, they are scarce acquainted. If they are ever found out, (and that they are sure to be, one time or other) they become ridiculous and contemptible... A man's intrinsic merit does not rise from an ennobled alliance, or a reputable acquaintance."
"True politeness consists in making every body happy about you; and as to mortify is to render unhappy it can be nothing but the worst of breeding. Make it a rule, rather to flatter a person's vanity than otherwise make him, if possible, more in love with himself, and you will be certain to gain his esteem; never tell him any thing he may not like to hear, nor say things that will pull him our countenance, but let it be your study on all occasions to please; this will be making friends instead of enemies, and be a means of serving yourself in the end."
WOMEN
"Modesty [is] a Guider and Regulator of all decent and comely Carriage and Behavior... and is the great Civilizer of Conversations... It appears in the Face in calm and meek Looks, where it so impresses itself, that it gives the greatest Lustre to a Feminine Beauty. Modesty... banishes all Indecency and Rudeness, all insolent Vauntings, and supercilious Disdains, and whatever else may render a Person troublesome, or ridiculous to Company... It restrains all excessive Talkativeness."
"Such a degenerate Age do we live in, that every Thing seems inverted, even Sexes, whilst Men fall into the Effeminacy and Niceness of Women, and Women take up the Confidence, the Boldness in Men... Vices of Men are carefully copied by some Women, who think they have not made a sufficient Escape from their Sex, till they can be as daringly wicked as the other... And when to this a Woman adds the Sin of Drunkenness, nothing that is human approaches so near a Beast. She who is first a Prostitute to Wine, will soon be to Lust also."
"The Female Sex ought to maintain a Behavior toward Men, which may be secure to themselves without offending them. No ill-breed affected Shyness, nor a Roughness, unsuitable to their Sex, and unnecessary to their Virtue, but a Way of living that may prevent all Cause of Railleries or unmannerly Freedoms; Looks that forbid without Rudeness, and oblige without Invitation, or leaving room for the saucy Inferences Men's Vanity suggests to them upon the least Encouragement."
"Youth is apt to be foolish in its Designs, and heady in the Pursuit of them; and there can be nothing more deplorable than to have it left to itself. Children are under the Guidance and Protections of their parents, till by the maturing of their Judgements, they are qualified to be their own Conductors."
"Affability and Courtesy are, without doubt, amiable in all, but more especially in the Fair-Sex, and more necessary to them than the other; for Men have often Charges and Employments which justify, nay, perhaps, require somewhat of Sternness and Austerity, but Women ordinarily have few or no Occasions of it."
"Women should let every seven Years make some Alteration in them towards the graver Side, and not be like the Girls of fifty, who resolve to always be young, whatever Time with his Iron Teeth determines to the contrary... the Liveliness of Youtin in a riper age, looks like a new Patch upon an old Grown."
GENDER DYNAMICS
The beliefs that men and women possess naturally distinct physical, mental, and social characteristics were strongly held. These ideas and their differences seem to have stemmed from classical thought, Christian ideology, contemporary science and medicine.
Men and women were believed to inhabit similar bodies (a one body model) only made different through a fetus' womb environment. Biologically, ovaries and testes, the womb, penis, and vagina were all thought to mirror one another. Men's genitalia were driven from the body by their humoural 'heat', while women's would remain inside. With this thinking, biological gender was unfixed and could change during someone's life. This would, in turn, reinforce gender roles and those roles would need to be carefully policed.
Both men and women were thought to play very different roles in society. They both also were thought to possess different qualities. Men were viewed as the stronger sex, more intelligent, courageous, and determined. Women were viewed more passive, governed by their emotions, and expected to be chaste, modest, compassionate, and pious. These differences also echoed in the perceived faults of the sexes. Men were more prone to aggression, violence, and selfishness. Women were ruled by their bodies and emotions, which would lead to fears of their excessive lust, passion, shrewishness, and laziness.
This would also play into the role of everyday expectations. In marriage, men were expected to be the head of the household and the main breadwinner. They controlled their wives and marital property (most of which would belong to the husband, except in some cases where the property acquired before marriage remained the woman's). Women were expected to be responsible for domestic duties, some of which included housework and childcare. Women's employment would be of lower status than men's and they would be paid less. Women's jobs often required less responsibilities and skills. Women's jobs would also be more confined to industries that were extensions of their domestic responsibilities. Examples of this would be textile work, teaching, and nursing.
There were activities in the 18th centuries where both men and women, both public and private, work and leisure, engaged in. Some occupations would be done by both men and women, usually among the poorest in the communities. Some examples of this would be street-selling, weaving, housework, and childcare.
FASHION
For Women: "Along with their linen shirts and chemises, women also put on “stays” or corsets. For the better part of the century, these suffocating devices were thought a necessity for good posture. A woman’s legs were commonly covered by a petticoat and overskirt and included the “false rump” which was normally made of cork. But soon into the century (from 1713-1740), “fan hoops” made an emergence, which pushed out the fabric on all sides. There were both arguments for and against these dress contraptions. Nay-sayers complained that they made women struggle to get around and ruined comfort, but those in support insisted it kept men at a “chaste distance.” Women from every class adopted the new style. Women’s hair varied from big to small and wavy to curled with each year. Caps were immensely popular for the majority of women and embraced a lace around the brim. Women’s shoes and stockings remained rather traditional with white and black laced stockings along with high-heeled, pointed toe shoes. And not as uncommon as today, fashionable women were many accessories that interchanged between different gloves, watches, masks, and jewelry." (British Literature Wiki)
For Men: "Men’s clothing was not early as much a spectacle as women’s. Men wore mostly bland haircuts while some wore wigs which at the beginning of the century tended to be long. Hats varied in width and were commonly worn among these wigs.Three piece suits also ruled the male fashion scene, containing a jacket, vest, and pants as the essentials. With these suits, men wore black leather shoes with stockings underneath. Men’s clothing also entailed a ruffled shirt with waistcoat over it in the early part of the century. Coats appeared as longer waist coats with the rich showing off many different features while the working class displayed much simpler details. When outdoors, a gentleman wore cloaks, which later became highly unfashionable. Below all of this, a man wore breaches." (British Literature Wiki)
THE 19TH CENTURY (1801 - 1900)
MANNERS/BEHAVIOR/ ETIQUETTE
Information quoted and provided from Almanac.
Bathing: “Upon arising, take a complete bath. A simple washing out of the eyes is not sufficient. The complete bathing of the body once each day is of the utmost importance. Not more than a quart of water is necessary, preferably rainwater.”
Hair: “The head should be washed occasionally with soap and water. When the hair is inclined to be harsh and dry, a moderate application of bear’s grease or other dressing should be used.”
Skin: “Beware of exterior applications of cosmetics. Instead, once every two or three months, take a teaspoonful of powdered charcoal mixed with sweetened water or milk. This will prove efficacious in making the complexion clear and transparent.”
Kissing: “Upon the meeting of intimate friends, among ladies, at the private house, the kiss as a mode of salutation is yet common; but this is a custom which ought to be abolished for physiological and other reasons.”
Bowing: “A gentleman should not bow from a window to a lady on the street, though he may bow slightly from the street upon being recognized by a lady in a window. Such recognition should, however, generally be avoided, as gossip is likely to attach undue importance to it when seen by others.”
Dignity: “To greet someone by saying ‘Hello, old fellow’ indicates ill-breeding. If you are approached in this vulgar manner, it is better to give a civil reply and address the person respectfully, in which case he is quite likely to be ashamed of his own conduct.”
Small talk: “No topic of absorbing interest may be admitted to polite conversation. It might lead to discussion.”
Conduct to avoid at the ball: “No gentleman should enter the ladies’ dressing room at a ball.”
Card-playing: “If possible, do not violate the rules of the game and do not cheat. Should you observe anyone cheating, quietly and very politely call it to his attention, and be careful that you do not get excited. People who experience ill-feeling at the game should avoid playing.”
Marriage: “Anyone with bright red hair and a florid complexion should marry someone with jet-black hair. The very corpulent should marry the thin and spare, and the body, wiry, cold-blooded should marry the round-featured, warmhearted, emotional type.”
Husbands: “Always leave home with a tender goodbye and loving words. They may be the last.”
Train travel: “People with weak eyes should avoid reading on trains, and those with weak lungs should avoid talking.”
Street etiquette: “When crossing the pavement, a lady should raise her dress with the right hand, a little about the ankle. To raise the dress with both hands is vulgar and can only be excused when mud is very deep.”
GENDER DYNAMICS
Information quoted and provided from The British Library.
Men's and women's roles would become more sharply defined in the 19th Century, the most defined in any point in history. In earlier centuries, it was usual for women to work alongside husbands and brothers in the family business. As the 19th Century began, men commuted to work more. They travelled to a factory, a shop, or an office. Wives, daughters and sisters were left at home all day to oversee the domestic duties that were increasingly carried out by servants.
The two sexes were now thought of as 'separate spheres', which would only come together at breakfast and dinner. Women were considered physically weaker yet morally superior to men, which meant that they were best suited to the domestic sphere. Not only was it their job to counterbalance the moral taint of the public sphere in which their husbands laboured all day, they were also preparing the next generation to carry on this way of life. The fact that women had such great influence at home was used as an argument against giving them the vote.
Women did get different kinds of education to prepare from for the role of 'Angel in the House'. Rather than attracting a husband through their domestic abilities, middle-class girls were coached in what were known as ‘accomplishments’. These would be learned either at boarding school or from a resident governess.
It was important for a well-educated girl to soften her erudition with a graceful and feminine manner. No-one wanted to be called a ‘blue-stocking’, the name given to women who had devoted themselves too enthusiastically to intellectual pursuits. Blue-stockings were considered unfeminine and off-putting in the way that they attempted to usurp men’s ‘natural’ intellectual superiority. Some doctors reported that too much study actually had a damaging effect on the ovaries, turning attractive young women into 'dried-up prunes'.
A young girl was not expected to focus too obviously on finding a husband. Women were assumed to desire marriage because it allowed them to become mothers rather than to pursue sexual or emotional satisfaction. One doctor, William Acton, famously declared that ‘The majority of women (happily for them) are not very much troubled with sexual feeling of any kind’.
Girls usually married in their early to mid-20s. Typically, the groom would be five years older. Not only did this reinforce the ‘natural’ hierarchy between the sexes, but it also made sound financial sense. A young man needed to be able to show that he earned enough money to support a wife and any future children before the girl’s father would give his permission. Some unfortunate couples were obliged to endure an engagement lasting decades before they could afford to marry.
If a young man was particularly pious he might manage to stay chaste until he married. Many respectable young men, however, resorted to using prostitutes. All the major cities had red light districts where it was easy to find a woman whom you could pay for sex. Unfortunately syphilis and other sexual diseases were rife, and many young men unwittingly passed on the infection to their wives. For those unlucky enough to develop full-blown tertiary syphilis, the result was a painful and lingering death, usually in the mid-40s.
FASHION
Fashion in the Victorian Era saw changed practically every decade, part of it would become due to the Industrial Revolution and the inventions of the sewing machine, mechanical weaving, and ready-made clothing. The textile industry would be overturned. The rise of the middle class would also be due to the growing wealth that the Industrial Revolution would provide.
In the 1820's and 1830's, the high waistlines would slip down an inch every year. Gowns would be altered with wider waistbands. In the 1820's, the waist would reach its natural position. Corsets would be worn again. "Leg-o-mutton" sleeves would be popular in the mid 1830's, which would be supported by padding worn as underwear or enhanced boning. Higher necklines were also popular. The fashionable silhouette was broad shoulders through the sleeves, slim waists, and full skirts.
During the 19th Century, it was a custom to change one's dress several times each day. It was most common to change once in the late morning and once before dinner. There were different kinds of dresses for different parts of the day and different activities.
In the 1840's, the "leg-o-mutton" sleeves would disappear to more tight-fitting sleeves. Skirts would become even wider and would be supported by crinolines, which was a bell-shaped hoop skirt stiffened with horse hair and would later be made with steel rings. Evening gowns would have wider, lower necklines. Shiny, glimmering fabrics would become more popular.
In the 1850's, the crinolines would make it possible to make a skirt of a big size without the usage of so many petticoats. Skirts of many layers of fabric that would create horizontal valances were very popular.
By the end of the 1860's, the crinoline would be replaced with the bustle. The silhouette would no longer be bell-shaped, but straight in the front and projecting the back. Either a cage bustle or bustle pads were used. During this era, the dresses would consist of two pieces: the skirt and the jacket-style bodice.
In 1874, the bustle would vanish to achieve a more slim figure. Skirts would now be more narrow. Hoopskirts and padding would be removed. Skirts would be decorated in ruffles, ruches, lace, tassels, and silk flowers. The skirts would either end in a long train or be floor long. The shoulders would be very narrow with tight-fitting sleeves.
Finally, in the 1890's, the silhouette would change again to the S-curve. with a large pidgeon breast. This would be achieved through layers of ruffled corset covers and blouses. It wasn't the body that would force the unnatural shape, but more the clothes were styled and adapted.
Hair had become more extravagant until the end of the 1840's. Simpler styles would come back into fashion. The hair would be parted in the middle. Adornments would be with feathers, jewels, or false flowers. Hairstyles would stay simple from the 1850s to the 1870s. The hair would be middle-parted and have several corkscrew curls.
THE 20TH CENTURY (1901 - 2000)
MANNERS/BEHAVIOR/ ETIQUETTE
Information quoted and provided from Driehaus Museum.
The Edwardian period was indeed a “Gilded Age,” both in England and America. Yet social relationships were strictly defined, and interactions among and between the classes were governed by a series of complex and rigid rules—what we would call “manners”. The etiquette of the Edwardian era was second nature to the people who lived during this period, but to us it’s the fascinating behavior of a unique cultural moment.
Edwardians never, for example, shook hands. Women never removed their gloves in public. Men removed their hats in the presence of a superior, but not for a member of the lower classes. An Edwardian hostess carefully predetermined every aspect of a dinner party—not only the menu and seating arrangements, but even topics of conversation during the meal.
These are just a few of the kinds of details Alastair Bruce, historical advisor to Downton Abbey (as well as films such as The King’s Speech and The Young Victoria), has to remember as he works with actors. It’s his job to ensure they mind their Edwardian manners perfectly, from ramrod-straight posture to perfectly starched collars.
“You are a footman, and a footman wears gloves,” says Mr. Carson, the butler of Downton Abbey, in a tone that brooks no argument. The footmen were like the peacocks of an Edwardian country house, impressive to look at and always on display, whether greeting guests at the doorstep or serving them in the dining room. Nearly always well-dressed young men, the footmen represented crisp formality and quiet grandeur on behalf of the entire estate. A tall or particularly good-looking footman would even earn a higher salary than the other members of the household staff.
However necessary the footmen and other servants may have been, they were never, however, thanked. Notice how the Crawleys and their aristocratic peers never say, “Oh, thank you!” to the servants when they bring a cup of tea, lace up a corset, or open a door? This isn’t ungratefulness, however, but simply a matter of practicality, explains Alastair Bruce in The Manners of Downton Abbey. The servants did everything for their masters, and if thanks were given, it would be necessary to say them at least sixty times a day. That would be, as the English say, tiresome.
Etiquette wasn’t just reserved for the relationship between servant and master. A unique set of rules also governed a hierarchy within the servant class itself. The butler and housekeeper were at the head of this group in terms of dignity, authority and earnings. Then came the cook, valets, ladies’ maids, and footmen; last of all were the parlor maids, laundry maids, kitchen maids, dishwashers, and stable grooms. Even among one group of servants you would have minor differences. The first footman served the meat, for example, the choicest course; while the second footman served a minor sauce or side. The under cook was considered an apprentice to the chef, while the kitchen maids were only assistants. The order in which servants sat at their own downstairs dining room table reflected this microcosm of the class system.
All social interactions, formal or informal, were occasions that required a complex set of rules to govern behavior. Take a look at this list taken from instructions for giving a formal afternoon tea in 1904—it just scratches the surface of expectations and norms for this period.
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Cards must be issued as invitations three weeks in advance.
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Men should wear a long frock coat with single or double-breasted waistcoat to match; gray trousers; white linen; light tie; silk hat; gray gloves; patent leather shoes.
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Awnings and carpet should be provided from curb to house.
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A footman must meet guests as they arrive at the curb to open their carriage doors, and another should open the front door “the moment a guest appears at the top step.”
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Guests should leave their cards in the tray in the hall before entering the drawing room. The butler then announces them as they enter. Those who cannot attend should send their cards by mail or messenger to the hostess, timed to arrive during the afternoon tea.
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On entering, women precede the men.
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The hostess should be just within the drawing room door to receive the guests. If she has daughters who have come out in society, they should receive the guests, then mingle with them “to help to make the function a success.”
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The hours are from 4 to 7 p.m. Guests should not come at the opening hour, nor stay until the last moment.
Even in casual or unplanned moments, including with friends and family, it was important to keep oneself under control. The British are famously described as having a “stiff upper lip,” showing no inappropriate bursts of affection or anger. Alastair Bruce coaches the actors of Downton Abbey, especially those who play characters who most want to uphold the traditional way of life (including Lady Mary, her grandmother the Dowager Countess of Grantham, and the butler Mr. Carson), never to slip on this point. They can’t pat someone’s shoulder, offer a hug, clink glasses, or even say “I love you,” no matter how natural it would seem. Controlled politeness must govern their every word and expression. As William Ernest Henley put it in his classic Victorian poem, “Invictus,” “I am the captain of my soul.”
Lady Edith commits a bold indiscretion when she dines unchaperoned with (married!) magazine editor Michael Gregson in Season 4 of Downton Abbey. She’s defying some of the most stringent rules of all, those which governed the interactions between men and women. The American queen of etiquette, Emily Post, declared in 1922, “Absolutely no lady (unless middle-aged—and even then she would be defying convention) can go to dinner or supper in a restaurant alone with a gentleman.”
“As a matter of fact,” Post writes, “the only young girl who is really ‘free,’ is she whose chaperon is never very far away…but a young girl who is unprotected by a chaperon is in the position precisely of an unarmed traveler walking alone among wolves—his only defense is in his not attracting their notice.” Young single women could also not receive male guests in her own home, dine out, go to the theatre, go motoring for a significant distance, or go to a party without a chaperon present.
For well-heeled Edwardians, marriage was a practical arrangement. Rather than love, the reason for marriage often had to do with the acquisition or preservation of land. Land was the lifeblood of aristocratic wealth and secured one’s high station in society. For the same reasons, marriage may also be a pairing of two important families. The character Richard Carlisle in the first season of Downton Abbey was wealthy, but he had made his money as a newspaperman. While the penniless Lord Gillingham—who comes from a well-established bloodline—would be viewed as a more appropriate match for Lady Mary Crawley in Season 5. Whether for practicalities or love, marriage was eagerly awaited by young women; it represented their only chance for independence and a home of their own.
Courtship was not, however, permitted among the servants. Even the architecture made sure of it, as there were no rooms for a couple to live in and work in the same house together. To marry, a woman had to leave domestic service, a kind of forced independence that set her to work on her own household.
GENDER DYNAMICS
Information quoted and provided from HistoryExtra.
Though by no means the first in Britain’s history to campaign for the vote, societies like the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) – founded in 1903 and whose militant members were nicknamed ‘suffragettes’ by the Daily Mail in 1906 – took on new momentum in the period. The rapid urbanisation of the 19th-century Industrial Revolution had brought welcome changes for many women, giving them a wider range of opportunities to earn a wage. But it also came with hardship, with most women still expected to marry, maintain homes and manage families, many with multiple children (ideas of birth control would not be discussed more openly until near the end of the period).
And so, although women such as the Pankhursts and Millicent Garrett Fawcett, leader of the non-militant National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS), were from inarguably middle-class backgrounds, this was no privileged or narrow movement. In a world rigorously divided by class, tens of thousands of working-class women also joined the cause. Radicalisation of urban workers spurred on the suffrage fight, and speeches were given at factory gates, rallying women towards unionism. Suffragists like Ada Nield Chew campaigned for workers’ wages and better welfare for working mothers, advocating nursery care for the babies of all working women to be paid for, she suggested, by levying additional taxes on incomes of over £1,000 per annum.
By the Edwardian era, it wasn’t just factory work or domestic service that occupied women. The 1901 census recorded women working as lawyers’ clerks, physicians, dentists and dental assistants, and during the period there was also a marked rise in women becoming teachers. But, at a time when women and men were expected to occupy different spheres of society, the battle was far from won: a common argument was that domestic service was the best option for women because it was good ‘training’ for becoming a wife; and when a female doctor was appointed at Macclesfield Infirmary in 1901, male colleagues walked out. She was forced to resign.
The suffrage fight was particularly reviled as it bucked against the rigid etiquette of the day. Many campaigners were openly jeered. Contemporary postcards caricatured leading suffragists and suffragettes as unattractive and man-hating, or as sexually depraved creatures who needed to be ‘tamed’.
The Edwardian era was a time when ‘respectable’ women would not remove their gloves in public, when women were expected to be subservient, meek and live their lives almost entirely in the domestic sphere. In Edwardian Britain, the ideal place of women was in the home. Social mores had not yet moved on from women as the ‘angel in the house’, a Victorian ideal that Virginia Woolf later described as “intensely sympathetic… immensely charming… utterly unselfish.” Such a woman, wrote Woolf, “excelled in the difficult arts of family life,” and never “had a mind or a wish of her own, but preferred to sympathise always with the minds and wishes of others.”
Though some strides had been made in the Victorian era as to women’s marital rights, such as the Married Women’s Property Act of 1870 (allowing women to maintain ownership of their property and earnings after marriage), cultural taboos persevered into the early 20th century, with many rules around adultery and divorce favouring men, fuelled by a pervasive double-standard regarding sexual morality. In 1901, just 14 per cent of women under 45 were unmarried. These women had the limited options of living with their immediate family, or possibly becoming a ‘companion’ to an older woman or family member.
Nevertheless, the era also stoked the beginnings of a revolution in women’s private lives. Marie Stopes’ Married Love, published in 1918, was groundbreaking for openly discussing methods of birth control. Advances in technology, too, granted new opportunities. Domestic sewing machines, such as those produced by Singer, gave women more control over the clothes they wore, and the invention and mass production of the bicycle presented opportunities for wider travel – potentially without a chaperone.
The upheaval of war in 1914 brought an abrupt end to many of the Edwardian era’s most restrictive traditions, and required many women to step into roles previously held by men, such as managing budgets and taking up munitions or land work. These collapsing barriers brought down with them many of the arguments against women gaining the vote.
FASHION
Information quoted and provided from FamilySearch.
Women wore dresses or tailored suit dresses. Those who could afford it chose sumptuous and elegant fabrics, such as silk, satin, damask, or chiffon. High lace collars topped long-sleeved tops that were often heavily embellished and bloused loosely at the bodice. Hemlines grazed the floor and sometimes dragged in a modest train. If working women weren’t in uniform or workwear, they often favored versatile two-piece outfits. Party dresses included delicate, lacy tea dresses and evening wear with deeper necklines.
At the beginning of the decade, skirts were fitted at the waistline and flared at the hemline. Gradually, the curvy bell shape relaxed. Straighter, tailored suits became popular by the end of the decade. In resistance to mainstream styles, French designer Paul Poiret created corset-free dresses that draped in loose, straight lines down the body. (This look would become much more popular during the 1920s.) When participating in sports such as tennis, cycling, or horseback riding, women donned clothing made for these activities. Ladies also sometimes donned chunky, button-down cardigan sweaters while working or playing.
If not dressed for manual labor, in the early 1900s men generally wore three-piece suits (jacket, trousers, and waistcoat, or vest) with high, round-collared white shirts, neckties, and derby or bowler hats. Some men, including younger men, donned sack suits (similar to modern business suits) all day. Men who could afford it chose different suits and accessories for morning, daytime, and evening use. Though some men sported beards, the clean-shaven look was popular; so was a fairly bushy mustache that curled up on the ends, an iconic 1900s fashion look.
Summertime allowed an escape into cooler and slightly more casual linen or flannel suits, which men topped with a straw boater or Panama hat. When it was time to play, men changed into sportswear specific to the sport, such as golf, motorcycling, tennis, or baseball.
On the job, working men wore uniforms or sturdy, practical clothing that protected them from hazards or the elements. Men in photos from this period may appear in canvas, duck cloth, corduroy, or leather clothing, perhaps topped with a wool jacket or heavy sweater (jumper) if the weather was cold. Factory workers often wore white shirts and ties beneath protective aprons.
