Thursday, October 12, 2006



"Strive as you will to elevate woman, nevertheless the disabilities and degradation of her dress, together with that large group of false views of the uses of her being and of her relations to man, symbolised and perpetuated by her dress, will make your striving vain."

Gerrit Smith, abolitionist and founder of the movement for women's dress reform, 1885.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Surely Mr Smith would have approved of the above attire given that his protest was against the fashions of the day - typically involving thirty-five yards of fabric and ten pounds of petticoats.

Anonymous said...

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/totp2/ugotthelook/hammer.shtml for another follower of the fashions advocated by Geritt and the Womens Dress Reform Movement:

This too unfortunately suffering the same fate as the Bloomer beloved by Geritt:

"Many women’s rights advocates took to wearing the Bloomer costume, but they were so ridiculed that after a few years they abandoned it"

Auntie Em said...

Ah yes - Ms Hilton's outfits are well known for being practical as well as becoming!

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