As the 19th Century dawns in America, women’s fashions are dictated by the rules of “coverture” and dame school education. The former surrenders independence of married women to the will of their husband. The latter teaches the virtues expected of them: keeping a tidy home, raising children, displaying proper decorum in public. These confinements are evident in the fashions of the day, with the symbols being tight corsets and elaborate hoop skirts, often 6 feet in diameter. For the wealthy they extend to accoutrement such as fancy hats and ostrich feather fans.
Fashions begin to change in response to women’s attendance at female seminaries such as Mt. Holyoke in 1837, and at the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention, where Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony announce their Declaration of Female Independence. Those wishing to signal gender equality abandon hoop skirts in favor of “bloomers,” which provide freedom of movement and parity with men’s trousers. This transition requires courage, but it gradually takes hold.
Going forward, more women trade in their homebound status to pursue careers as teachers, nurses, clerks, factory workers and the like. In turn, dress takes on a much more informal look in service to comfort and functionality. By the 1860’s, women are no longer bound by fashion rules set by men, but are now free to take charge of their own individual appearance.