In the Nineteenth Century, women had been expected to concern themselves only with domestic matters. They could not vote and had limited legal rights. Even so, women were idealized because they were thought to have a higher sense of morality than men. Victorian women's clothing reflected their place in society; although frequently beautiful, their dress was extremely constricting and confining. The woman's costume of the 1800s featured a pinching corset with whalebone or spring steel stays, tight bodice, long, heavy skirt, and gloves a size too small. When fully dressed, women completely covered their bodies and only their faces and hair showed under their hats. Victorian morality dictated that a woman should not show her "limbs," and even a glance of a woman's ankle was considered shocking.
Women's position in society was changing then, but very slowly. Both the bicycle and the automobile led to new courting styles and eventually to more freedom for women. High school and college enrolments by women increased during this time, and more young women entered the workplace although, for many, their working years were a prelude to marriage. Only a few women had careers. The modern short skirts and loose chemise dresses that slipped on so easily symbolized a change in the role of women. No longer bound in tight, boned corsets or hampered by long ground-sweeping skirts as they had been in Victorian times, women at last could work or play with ease.
By the turn of the century, clothing had begun to change only slightly. The Gibson Girl became a symbol of America's model woman. Idealized in the drawings of Charles Dana Gibson, the Gibson Girl possessed a beautiful face framed by a lovely hair style and often crowned with a wide-brimmed, elaborately decorated hat. She had a very peculiar silhouette because the type of corset worn at the time forced the figure into an unnatural bent position, sometime called the "Gibson bend."
This style continued for almost a decade until the new mode of a straight, upright figure, which Paul Poiret, a Parisian designer, introduced, became popular. Long skirts continued to be the norm until the mid-teen years when women raised their skirts to ankle length.
By the 1920s women's clothing had changed drastically and now featured chemise-style dresses with short skirts, light-weight fabrics, and short or no sleeves. In order to look good in the waistless chemise, which had a rectangular shape, women had to have boyish figures. As they had in previous decades, women used foundation garments to achieve the ideal silhouette so that they could wear the fashionable styles.
During the transition from the Victorian times of the 1890s to the modern times of the 1920s, women's increased interest in participating in sports influenced clothing styles for, even in sports, women had been hampered by clothing that restricted their movements. The bicycling craze of the 1890s had caused a grassroots movement among women cyclists to alter their clothing so that they could cycle more easily. This was the first sign that women meant to adjust their clothing to their lives rather than their lives to their clothing. Sportswear changed very slowly also, but by the 1920s it permitted the movement needed to swim, golf, play tennis or other sports.
From the 1850s, some women had been concerned with dress reform for reasons of physical comfort, ease in movement, and as a political statement. Even after the woman suffrage supporters decided to abandon the drive for dress reform, a few women continued to agitate for dress reform. Ironically, not long after the Nineteenth Amendment became law, the reformers' wishes came true; women's clothing styles reflected a new-found freedom, a change from Victorian to modern.
This shows the history of women’s clothing as well as how our footing with men changes along with the types of garments our outfits evolve into. This can be seen from in the past where men ruled over women, women’s outfits constrained women from doing “male” stuff.
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