Mary Lincoln's Fashions

[L Verge]

Having periodically spent quite some time in authentic 1860 fashions while serving at Surratt House, I can assure you that summer is not pleasant - and I cheated and left off certain under-garments! God bless showers, good soap and shampoo, and washing machines.

It is safe to say that the situation could become quite toasty and odorific; however, remember that one's sense of smell adjusts quickly to different odors, and one soon forgets that there is a stink in the room. One's wealth also helped in being able to afford better quality soaps (instead of lye soap), perfumes, scented powders, etc. Better homes also had alternatives to outdoor privies, but they still had to be cleaned frequently.

I think it is safe to say that most, slightly cultured folk, washed face, hands, and feet at least daily. A full bath was unusual and was often what you got from a basin and water and cloth and towel. Bathtubs such as we expect were unusual, and even hip tubs (we display one of those at Surratt House) submerged only a small part (the unmentionables) in water, unless one was a child.

As for dress, there were definitely light-weight clothing materials for summertime wear for both men and women. Even muslin was lighter weight than what we are used to today. Women had work dresses that required no crinoline and fewer petticoats. In fact, the crinoline was considered a blessing when it came along because it was basically a light weight cage that replaced a number of layers of stiff petticoats. I used to catch myself standing and swaying on hot days because the crinoline (hoop) would create a little breeze on my legs.

Dresses and men's shirts also had detachable collars that could be removed for cleaning without having the trouble of washing, lifting, and drying many pounds of wet cloth. Fancier women's dresses had undersleeves that went up under fashionable pagoda sleeves. The undersleeves reached from wrist to just over the elbow and could be easily cleaned also. With work dresses, one could also pull old stockings through holes cut out for hands and cover sleeves to avoid some dirt. Again, easier to wash than a full dress. When all else failed, a really dirty garment went into a washtub (I'm not sure about ball gowns).

To me, the most uncomfortable undergarment would have been the corset -- winter or summer! Several of our guides insist on wearing them at the museum, and they insist that they are comfortable and also help them stand straight for hours while giving tours. This late-19th century description of them also shows the dangers:

" That our dress may be more healthful, it must first be made looser about the waist, as loose as a man’s." The Household 1874

No description of the lives of women in the late nineteenth century would be complete without a discussion of the constrictions of clothing and the influence of style. Once again, the expanding mass culture, expressed in popular magazines and women’s publications, promoted the latest fashion styles to women of all classes, whether those styles were practical for their lifestyles or not. Elaborate dresses, with bustles, and nipped waists and yards of heavy fabric and lace, illustrated the pages of these magazines. One account reported that the "well-dressed" woman of the late nineteenth century wore 37 pounds of clothing in the winter, 19 which hung from her corseted waist.

Probably the most disputed piece of clothing during this period was the corset. Both physicians and early feminists decried their use. One report stated that a fashionable women’s corset exerted, on average, 22 pounds of pressure on the internal organs. Long term results of wearing the undergarment included fractured ribs, collapsed lungs, displacement of the liver and uterine prolapses. Physicians rallied around the idea that corsets compressed the genitals, thus weakening the woman’s ability to bear children. Another theory, proposed by physician Orson Fowler, was based on the assumption that " compression of any part produced inflammation." Consequently, the compression due to wearing a corset would cause blood to flow to the woman’s head, thereby putting pressure on her nervous system, causing, in Fowler’s theory, a personality change.

Feminists attacked corseting because of its potential harm to internal organs and its restriction of movement. They advised physicians to counsel their female patients on the dangers of corseting. Even popular literature, where illustrations of the latest fashions prevailed, commented on corseting. One woman wrote to the Household in 1879, "I omitted corsets when speaking of underthings. They have been banished from my wardrobe so long I had almost forgotten there was such an article... One feels so perfectly free and easy."

I'm afraid that I would have been one of those "loose ladies" that went without her corset whenever possible (that's where the term came from). I would also have made sure to be wealthy enough that I could take to my chambers every hot afternoon, close the shades, remove layers of clothing, lower the mosquito netting, place a cool cloth on my brow, and emerge in time for supper!