Women’s Fashion throughout History:
From Sacks to Sex
How is a woman defined in today’s
society? Most people would agree that a
woman is a fragile yet fierce, sexy yet elegant, and yielding yet obstinate
being. She is the bringer of life, the consoler
of hearts and the strength of many. Women
have come a long way in society since the beginning of time. The woman was once the passive member of the
home who complied with every order of the man.
Today, a woman can hold her own.
A woman can be sexy and fierce and unyielding without the judgment of
man and with acceptance from society.
One aspect of the woman that has expressed her character throughout
history is her clothes. From the
conservative and shapeless wardrobe of the medieval age to the suggestive and
tight-fitting trends today, there have been many changes to the way a woman
presents herself.
Women have always been referred to
as the delicate sex. With their smaller
frames and softer outer shell, this is an understandable conception. In most cases when someone obtains something
that is fragile, he or she will try to protect it or keep it safe. This is more or less the point of view
towards women in earlier times. Men saw
women as weak, but also precious and something that should be contained. This is what began the traditional wardrobe
of the woman. Women were always covered
from head to toe. In the medieval era of
the 1300’s, women dressed in sack-like garments. All was covered and there was no shape or
figure to the body. There was no hope
for women’s fashion at that time whereas the men’s dress was created to enhance
the beauty of their bodies to promote masculinity. The original expressive aim of female dress
was modesty and this is still practiced in some cultures and religions today.[1] However, women could not flaunt their curves
or even their skin up until the fourteenth century.
The fourteenth century marked the
beginning of a revolution for women’s clothing.
Up until then, women could not show any skin or they would be basically
shunned from society. Women began
showing more skin in the 1500’s however.
The lowering of the neckline instigated the potential new view of the
woman. She was no longer the precious being
in which you protected. She was now
starting to show the sexy side of herself.
France referred to this change as “décolletage” or “selective exposer of
the skin.”[2] This décolletage aroused a new erotic view of
women. The idea of women as sexual
figures sparked the change in women’s fashion forever.
Now that the neckline had dropped, women’s clothing could be
altered differently and was done in a less modest manner. Although dresses were always the standard
attire for women, they were not varied until the sixteenth century. Dresses became popular in more than one
variation after the male revolution of the middle ages. This was the start of real “fashion” for
women. Two-pieced dresses were common as
well as the petticoat and headdress.
Petticoats were basically an undergarment that women wore under their
skirts which hung from the waist to the floor.
The headdresses were important, for they expressed the ongoing theme of
modesty, even though the modesty had phased out into a lesser concentration. The petticoat and veil were major defining
female garments. When long hair and head
coverings were given up in the seventeenth century, the change was shockingly
profound.[3]
Women continued to dress in two pieced
dresses with petticoats and low necklines throughout the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries. The eighteenth
century introduced the importance of the silhouette of the woman’s body. Corsets and many more petticoats were worn to
exaggerate the structure of the hourglass figure. More color and design was put into play when
designing a woman’s dress during this time period.[4] Fashion became more prominent of an idea
instead of just clothing. Women were now
dressing to flaunt their curves and womanly features rather than hiding and
protecting them. The late 1800’s brought
forth a brand new idea for women’s dress:
trousers.
Trousers for women in the late 1800’s were still socially
unacceptable but were worn on occasion.
Pants were worn by low-class women.
These women included dancers, acrobats, actresses, singers, mine
workers, fisherfolk, and agricultural laborers.
Women had begun to work men’s jobs during this time period but were
considered low-class. Other than being
low-class, pants were unacceptable because they were viewed as soft-core
pornography at the time. The separation
of a woman’s legs by a piece of fabric was only used for seductive purposes and
therefore was socially intolerable.[5] Although they were not widely worn, pants had
begun to appear on some women which had unknowingly originated a new revolution
for women’s fashion which took place in the twentieth century.
The 1900’s opened new doors for women in many aspects, fashion of
course being one of them. World War I
gave the opportunity for women to work men’s jobs while their husbands were
away. This alone gave a new idea of
women’s independence and freedoms.
Publicly working women wore skirts and factory working women wore pants.[6] Only the women working in factories and other
hidden jobs wore pants because they were still not entirely accepted by the
public yet. Meanwhile in France, women’s
pants were an idea for designers’ inspiration.
Paul Poiret, a French fashion designer, designed a trend of “divided
skirts” which led to his first women’s trouser design in 1913 referred to as
harem pants. Harem pants were wide-legged
trousers that gathered up at the ankles, giving them the look of a skirt. These were based off of costume designs and
were to be worn with a long tunic.[7]
Aside from the skirt-like pants of Poiret, another French designer
had ideas of her own. Gabrielle “Coco”
Chanel had respect for the wearing of pants.
In fact, she often wore her husband’s suits around in comfort. Coco had once said, “Fashion does not only
exist in dresses.”[8]
Chanel had visited Venice, Italy in the early 1900’s and was inspired by the
pants worn by the gondola rowers. These
pants influenced her design of the wide-legged women’s trouser pants.[9] This design exploded the likeliness of a
woman’s ability to wear something other than a skirt. In the 1930’s, pants were stylish but still
shocking to wear. It was acceptable to
wear pants however for sports and activities like horseback riding which were
designed also by Coco Chanel. People
still saw pants on women as unnatural and masculine but this did not prevent
some women from wearing them. Famous
women like Marlene Dietrich and Katherine Hepburn wore pants on a regular
basis. This made the women’s pants into
a trend. In 1939, the first vogue was
issued with women in pants playing sports pictured on the cover.[10] Pajama pants were also widely acceptable for
women and seen as a fashion staple in the 1930’s.[11]
After pants became a trend in the 1930’s, the designs and
variations of them increased throughout the 1900’s. The 1940’s gave more opportunities for women
to work which made pants more acceptable to wear. However in the 1950’s, pants were discouraged
more because of the post-World War II feminine look. Although they were discouraged, they were
still accepted and worn. Audrey Hepburn
created the trend of high-waist cigarette and capri pants which continued into
the 1960’s. The sixties was a decade of full social acceptance of women wearing
pants. Women could wear pants casually
and in the workplace judge free and comfortably.
Now that women could freely wear pants as they pleased, designers
created what seemed to be a new trend of women’s pants each decade. The seventies are known for the bell bottomed
flare trousers as seen in the Charlie’s Angels movies. The eighties was a decade of tight fitting
clothing on the bottom half. Skinny
jeans and cotton leggings were worn regularly by women during this time. The nineties consisted of the “grunge” look
which normally meant baggy or ripped jeans on women. The 1990’s put forth a vibe of “I just rolled
out of bed” from everyone and women were equally as grunge as the men.[12] In the late 1990’s, two-thirds of the women
in the United States wore pants several times a week.[13] This was the conclusion of the women’s dress
revolution. Women were allowed to
express their identities through their clothes however they pleased and it was
socially acceptable.
The turn of the century
introduced low-rise, boot-leg, flare, and boyfriend style jeans for women. By 2010, all types of jeans were basically
designed and so now the trends are mainly repeats of the past trends.[14] The twenty-first century also increased the
sexuality of women in their attire.
Women seem to think along the lines of “less is more” when getting
dressed in this day and age. However, it
is socially acceptable.
In conclusion, there is a
noticeable difference in the way women present themselves today compared to how
they did many centuries ago. Women
started off wearing sack-like dresses that covered every inch of their body and
are currently wearing less and less daily.
Women can freely express their sexuality and character with the help of
fashion. Fashion can emphasize a woman’s
elegant or feminine side as well as her sexy and independent side. Every woman can thank the historical events
and courageous women and men that began and concluded the revolution of women’s
fashion, for now women have the ability to wear whatever they feel.
[1] Anne Hollander, Sex and Suits (New
York: Knopf, 1994), 42
[2] Anne Hollander, Sex and Suits (New
York: Knopf, 1994), 47
[3] Anne Hollander, Sex and Suits (New
York: Knopf, 1994), 48
[4] Fashion
Timeline. Vintage Fashion Guild. Accessed March 25, 2014.
http://vintagefashionguild.org/fashion-timeline/
[5] Anne Hollander, Sex and Suits (New
York: Knopf, 1994), 48
[6] Trousers
for Women. Fashion Encyclopedia. Accessed March 18, 2014. http://www.fashionencyclopedia.com
[7] Valerie Steele, Paris Fashion: A
Cultural History (New York: Oxford University Press, 1988), 36.
[8] Valerie Steele, Paris Fashion: A
Cultural History (New York: Oxford University Press, 1988), 12.
[9] Fashion
rewind: A brief history of trousers
through the ages. Secret Closet.
Accessed November 24, 2014.
http://www.secretcloset.pk/
[10] Trousers
for Women. Fashion Encyclopedia. Accessed March 18, 2014. http://www.fashionencyclopedia.com
[11] Fashion
rewind: A brief history of trousers
through the ages. Secret Closet.
Accessed November 24, 2014.
http://www.secretcloset.pk/
[12] Fashion
rewind: A brief history of trousers
through the ages. Secret Closet.
Accessed November 24, 2014.
http://www.secretcloset.pk/
[13] Trousers
for Women. Fashion Encyclopedia. Accessed March 18, 2014. http://www.fashionencyclopedia.com
[14] Fashion
rewind: A brief history of trousers
through the ages. Secret Closet.
Accessed November 24, 2014.
http://www.secretcloset.pk/
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