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WHAT ARE THE TREND IN CLOTHES WORN AT WORK, LEISURE,SPORTS IN THE EARLY 19th CENTURY AND TODAY IN THE WORLD ?

Track the trend in clothes worn at work, leisure, sports in the early 19th century and today in the world and india. Track the impact of colonization on the handloom workers and industry and compare it with changes in handloom and khadi industry since independence . Interview different classes of people on the clothes they wore when they were young . (PROJECT ON HISTORY OF CLOTHES)

The style of the 19th century changed several times over the years. There is the Regency Era, the Romantic Era, Civil War Era, and Victorian. Edwardian is more of the 20th Century (picture the movie Titanic). Clothing also depended on how wealthy your character is and where they are located.
If you were a wealthy women, you had a seperate gown used for managing the servants or slaves and doing housework. Generally speaking it was just a day dress. Good for working, but also kept in well enough condition to receive callers if someone stopped by unannounced. You would keep this clean by wearing an apron. Since this is a wealthy women, it would be an all white, starched apron. This is to keep your skirts clean. You would not under any circumstances leave the apron on if a caller arrived. So for a reenactment, you wouldn’t even have to worry about having an apron because visitors would be in and out throughout the day and your portraying a women who would not every be caught laboring her soft, uncaloused hands.

If you were a farmers wife, styles changed just like the wealthy womens. Only you are more practicle for your everyday lifestyle. While a wealthy women would not ever want to be caught doing anything that would bring sweat to her brow, a farmers wife is more self-reliant and proud. Only she would be proud in a humble, non-boasting way. From about 1800 to the 1820’s, the waist is high. A good example would be the movie "Sense and Sensibility" for your waistline. Your clothing would still be a simple cotton dress for work, and a fancier version for Sunday Meeting. From the 1830’s on up to the 1860’s, their styles stayed relatively the same. In the 1830’s the waistline was lowering back to the natural waist line. Generally speaking, a women would always have on a chemise. Drawers, Pantaloons, or Pantalets depended on location and exact time period or season (winter/summer). I recommend these year round no matter what your portray more for modesty. Even a small breeze caught at the right angle can blow the skirts up. The chemise is normally tucked into whatever you use for pants, and then you would have a stay on. No women, no matter what her class, went without a stay. If you went without a stay, it is the same as we think in the 21st Century of a large busted women going without a bra. I will have more information on Stays in the next paragraph. Over your stay, you would put on 3 petticoats. More if you are a well off farmers wife. In the 1830’s to 1850’s, the puffier your skirt or more petticoats you wore, the wealthier you were. Now if you are working on a farm all day, cooking, gardening, helping in the fields, and chasing young children, all those petticoats can get heavy. A lot of women would take the time to cord one petticoat all the way from the top to the bottom. Then they would cover that one with a lighter one to make more body. This would get the same effect as having numerous petticoats. Over this you would wear your dress. If you are a child under the age of 13 or 14, your dress buttoned up the back. If you were older, you would button or hook ‘n eye up the front. There are numerous reasons why this changes to the front, including breastfeeding babies after you are married. If you are a young girl, you would then tie on your pocket and apron. If you are a young women or older, your pocket would go under your petticoats. When you button up your dress in the front, there is a hidden slit in the front of your dress where you can reach down through your skirts and petticoats to get to your pocket. Personally speaking, I hook ‘n eye my pocket to the botton of my stays. The weight of all my 21st century items (cell phone, car keys, money) makes it come untied easily. Nothing is more embarrassing if your standing, talking to visitors and all the sudden your pocket falls down with a thump betwen your legs.

Stays are different from corsets. Stays were generally unbonned for the working class, and bonned for the wealthier. The idea of cinching in your waist was not an idea until later on in the century. Stays were just to give you a shape to match fashion. Just like the 18th Century where the idea was to make you have a straight-line in front by pushing your bust in and up. That way the gown had more of an upside down cone look. Stays were not meant to be uncomfortable. From my experience, Stays that are fitted to your figure (even though they are shifting your shape) are very comfortable. Stays that are just boughten off the shelf are way cheaper BUT cheap is exactly what they are. If you were going to buy a large Stay, how many people do you know whose figure is EXACTLY the right measurments. It may fit perfectly over the bust, but the waist is too loose and the hips are too tight. Or vice-versa. I would recommend the side-lacing stay over the back lacing stay for those would have heavy skirts. It relieves the pressure and lessens the burden on your lower back and hips.

Wealthy men and working class men generally wore the exact same things. The only difference would be the type of fabric used. No field worker is going to wear a silk blouse.