Title: Women's Clothing Styles During the Revolutionary War | LEAFtv
Headings: Women's Clothing Styles During the Revolutionary War
Women's Clothing Styles During the Revolutionary War
Defining Roles, Adapting to Practicalities
The Basics: Shifts, Stays and Petticoats
Layering: Robes, Gowns and Stomachers
Accessories: Cap and Hat to Hose and Shoes
Clothing as an Expression of Patriotism
References
Writer Bio

Content: Women's Clothing Styles During the Revolutionary War | LEAFtv
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Women's Clothing Styles During the Revolutionary War
By Bonny Brown Jones
darkbird77/iStock/Getty Images
Fashion wasn't always foremost on women's minds during the American Revolution, but that didn't mean they abandoned it. From the cities -- Boston, Charleston, Philadelphia and New York -- to farms and the frontier, women kept up with what was being worn in London and Paris. They adapted styles as needed for reasons of practicality, economics -- and patriotism. Defining Roles, Adapting to Practicalities
As in any time and place, fashion distinguished worker from aristocrat, and also was influenced by climate; women in warmer Colonies wore lighter clothing. Women in the Colonies had access to fabrics not available in England -- calico, for example, had been banned in Britain because it interfered with the wool industry -- and some families boycotted English goods. Formal-wear was different from day-to-day dress. Luxury goods and store-bought accessories were available even in remote areas as merchants moved westward, historian Kate Haulman has written. The Basics: Shifts, Stays and Petticoats
Eighteenth-century women dressed in layers -- just a few if it was hot or that was all they had;