tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5022318990784415929.post3849106630865367179..comments2023-10-20T11:17:47.246-04:00Comments on Two Nerdy History Girls: Fashions for Mature Women in the 1800sUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5022318990784415929.post-9398231988121987862018-04-26T06:43:56.961-04:002018-04-26T06:43:56.961-04:00I think that the presence of children doesn't ...I think that the presence of children doesn't necessarily mean the mother is an older woman. Remember they got married at really young ages. Plus kids are wearing. I have a picture of my great grandmother (I forget at the moment how many greats) with nine of her children and she looks about thirty years older, no joke, than her husband who is about her age.KarenAnnehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05546288509130256898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5022318990784415929.post-27632739576255266882018-04-23T15:46:20.170-04:002018-04-23T15:46:20.170-04:00Nancy, I did point out that the clothes were for m...Nancy, I did point out that the clothes were for matrons. As to the age of the women in the fashion prints, though, we must be seeing different images, because none look older than 30 to me, if that, and when shown with children, are shown with very young children, conveying a youthful image. I don't doubt that older women bought the clothes, just as today older women buy the clothes displayed on fashion models of 14. As is explained in the link, older women might want to be fashionable and might be the ones spending the most money on their clothes, but youth and idealized bodies are what's used to market the goods.<br /><br />Su, as I understand it, the "common folk" tended to wear clothing appropriate to their work, rather than according to fashion. The fashion plates were aimed at those who were well off and could afford to be fashionable. Most working folk couldn't. Labor was very, very cheap, and working people generally focused on getting enough to eat and a roof over their heads. Farmer's wives' attire varied according to their means. Some were quite well off and dressed fashionably--and satirists mocked them (and others) for "dressing above their station" or "aping their betters." Whether working class or not, you find exceptions everywhere. Maids, for instance, might wear their mistress's castoffs. Clerks were mocked for trying to dress like "gentlemen." One thing I've learned is that clothing offered symbolism in the early 19th C that has largely but not entirely disappeared.Loretta Chasehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02170060214285828433noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5022318990784415929.post-65793088614231152762018-04-23T12:38:01.675-04:002018-04-23T12:38:01.675-04:00My issue here is that a 'common woman' wou...My issue here is that a 'common woman' would not have had a portrait made. One should also consider artwork depicting groups of common folk. <br />Yes, a lady of means would likely still keep up with fashion, especially in a portrait. But a farmer's wife? <br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05647144221707788107noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5022318990784415929.post-15685325496858217522018-04-23T12:30:29.989-04:002018-04-23T12:30:29.989-04:00I disagree. I know that is heresy but I think many...I disagree. I know that is heresy but I think many of the fashions illustrated in the magazines are shown on mature women. Many have children with them.Perhaps different magazines have different aged models but so many look as though they have on breast plates and are tightly corseted. The colors are also those of mature women and not those of debutantes. yes, there are many fashion illustrations of ladies who look to be in their late teens or early twenties but I would say quite a few were thirty or forty.<br /> The mature married woman or widow was the one who could afford the clothes. Young things couldn't. Girls bought new clothes to wear after they were married because the fashionable styles were all for older women.<br /><br />I have several examples of fashion pictures of women with children and woman who were definitely beyond the first blush of youth. My impression has been that there were fewer illustrations featuring young women than older.<br /><br /><br />I can't upload examples of the many I have found on line.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Regencyresearcherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10828749339318882968noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5022318990784415929.post-45248124572590029802018-04-23T09:23:13.661-04:002018-04-23T09:23:13.661-04:00Thank you. I asked because I wanted to know what w...Thank you. I asked because I wanted to know what was worn by "women of a certain age." Martihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08503575115890484788noreply@blogger.com