thecivilwarparlor:Hoopskirts, Union Blues, and Confederate Grays: Civil War Fashions from 1861 to
thecivilwarparlor: Hoopskirts, Union Blues, and Confederate Grays: Civil War Fashions from 1861 to 1865 Upper-class women wore tight corsets, bustles, and wide hoop skirts to fancy balls. The layers weighed almost 30 pounds (14 kilograms)! For everyday, whether at home or nursing soldiers, women put on multiple layers of simple fabrics. Some daredevils sported women’s trousers—called Bloomers—to make a statement on women’s rights. Civil War soldiers wore flannel and wool uniforms—blue in the North and gray in the South. Men of fashion donned suits with velvet collars and silk lapels during the day and coats with fancy tails for parties. Underneath their everyday clothing—a shirt, tie, vest, coat, and trousers—men wore “drawers,” baggy long undergarments that buttoned in front and tied in back. Slaves wore whatever their owners gave them—usually only two sets of rough linen clothing, one for winter and one for summer. Girls had loose garments called pantalets and pinafores, while sailor suits were popular for boys. Read more about wartime fashions of the 1860s—from ankle boots to parasols and tiaras http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/hoopskirts-union-blues-and-confederate-grays-kate-havelin/1110782821?ean=9780761358893 -- source link