Name: Olivia Propp Date: 12/9/16
Humanities
Grade and Notes for Colonial Paper
Dresses, Fabrics, Cultures and More, Much Beyond you will Find in a Store: Colonial Clothing and Millinery
Everyone in Colonial America needed clothing no matter what ranking they were in. From only a tunic to a fancy dress, clothing showed your social class. Just by looking at someone you could tell what class they were in. All three cultures in early America had a different way of making clothing: the English had a milliner and tailor, the Powhatans used animal skins, and the Africans made their own clothing out of wool, or wore their English masters’ worn out clothing. The English had a milliner and tailor to make clothing for them. Even if you weren’t that wealthy you would still buy some clothing from the milliner or tailor. Appearance was one of the most important possessions to have because it showed what position you were in. For
example, if you weren’t wearing a wig, you would be looked down on by the community. If you had worn out clothing, people would know that you weren’t from the gentry class. But if you had new clothes, a wig on, and a stylish hat people would know that you were wealthy. What you wore represented who you were in early America.
Second Page of Grades
In Colonial America a dress had many parts to it and there was a complicated process to putting one on. Wearing one required effort. Women had less freedom than men, and so did the conditions for clothing. It was uncomfortable, and tight, and it showed your ranking. For example: there were three parts to a dress: the skirt, the bum roll, and the stomacher. In addition, there were six different undergarments that women had to wear. “Being fashionable involved more than just wearing the latest clothing. Women had to be dressed properly underneath their gowns too! Colonial women wore several undergarments including a shift, stays, stockings, petticoats, pockets, and hoops,” (The Milliner, pg. 20). What you wore indicated your social class and you could be judged by what you wore. So if a woman wore a less decorative and fancy dress they may have been looked down on. Wealthier women used better fabrics than the lower class women. But most women wore undergarments. A lot of the undergarments were used to make the dress have volume like the hoops and the petticoats. Stays helped women keep a better posture and the shift soaked up all the sweat. The bum roll which was part of the dress also gave the dress volume. The process of getting dressed was to put the undergarments on, then put the pieces of the dress on. Putting a dress on was a very complicated process and took up a lot of time. If you weren’t wealthy and needed to work to earn money, the poor might have had to wear a more simple dress to save time. This would make people look down on you, but would save time. If you were rich and wore fancy dresses it would show that you would have the time to put on a dress, and you wouldn’t be looked down on. Clothing for English children, particularly those in the gentry class, were similarly complex.
The English had specific clothing for children, men, and women. Most milliners and tailors made clothing for children. For example: at the Milliner’s shop in Williamsburg there was a set of childrens clothing on the table. Parents were very protective of their children and this showed up a lot in the clothing. When children were younger they would have to have a leading strap on their shoulder so parents could help their child to walk. Parents also made their children wear pudding hats. These hats protected childrens heads if they fell, parents believed that if children didn’t wear pudding hats their heads would get “puddinghead.” A pudding head was described as a soft head, or like the consistency of pudding. That is why it is called pudding head. Some parents may not have been able to afford pudding hats for their children and may have been too much money for them. Children’s clothing was basically the same clothing that Men and Women would wear except it was in a smaller size. If a child wore clothing like their parents, and their parents wore fancy clothing it would show that your family was wealthy because they were able to afford nice clothes for their children. Your child’s clothing and personality represented you and your social class. For example If your child wore less fancy clothes it would represent their parents social class. Children’s clothing was very similar to their parents, but had a few different pieces of clothing for protection and guidance.
In Colonial Williamsburg there was a tailor, he was the person to make clothing for men. The tailor was the opposite of the milliner, but makes clothing for men and makes a few clothing for women. Most of the time the tailor is a man, like how the milliner was mostly a woman. In Colonial Williamsburg at the tailor’s shop there was a man sewing a piece of clothing together. The English had a clothing maker for women, men, and children. This shows that the English were more well off and were able to afford for someone to make clothing for them. The tailor made clothing for the people in the house of burgesses, the tradesmen, the farmers, and the field slaves. The tailor was a middle class job which meant he wasn’t the wealthiest, but he wasn’t poor. The tailor wouldn’t be looked down on because he was about average in wealth. The clothing that men wore were: breeches, which were pants. He also made cravates, which were like ties, a few undergarments, and vests. Mens clothing was a lot less sophisticated than women’s clothing because there weren’t as many undergarments and parts to the clothing. Men’s clothing must have been a lot more comfortable too because there wasn’t as many undergarments and layers of clothing. Men’s clothing sounded a lot more comfortable than woman’s clothing and also had less parts to the clothing.
Clothing was very important in Colonial America and the first part of clothing was the fabrics, the person who made these fabrics was the weaver. The weaver made fabrics for all different purposes, not just clothing. In Colonial Williamsburg the weaver said that she was making a blanket for the horses and was using thick strands of yarn. (10/20/16) The weaver could even make fabrics for animals to use for warmth. It must have been easier to make blankets and fabrics with thicker strands of yarn because there was less work. In order to make fabric for clothing the weaver would have to get super thin yarn, and it would take up a lot more time because when there are more strands of string and they are thin that means you will have to weave even more. This job is important because without the weaver there would be no fabric to make clothing for the English. This is a job that most English people rely on and was very important not just for clothing. The weaver was a lower/middle class job, but a very important job. The weaver would get paid by the amount of fabric she/he made, not the time. In a way this job was a good way to earn a lot of money because you didn’t get paid by the hour. By earning money by the amount of fabric you made meant you could earn a lot of money in one day if you stayed focused. It was also a fair job because you will earn what you make, not by the time. Fabric was very important because it was the root to all forms of clothing.
Wigs were a big part of fashion and appearance in Colonial America and showed what social ranking you were in. Wigs were only for the wealthy because they costed a lot of money, so if you wore a wig anyone could tell you were rich. Many people were obsessed with wigs and would show off if they had one. “Humans around the world have an obsession with hair. Although our ancestors lost their pelts about three million years ago, we kept the hair on our heads. There is some variation among people living in different parts of the world, but most people at least for part of their lives can grow long, thick locks. And nearly every culture has been interested in styling decorating, and preserving their hair,” (The Wigmaker, pg. 5). People have always loved looking fashionable and nice. Going around without a wig was compared to going outside without clothing on. As long as you are covering your hair or styling it, you wouldn’t have been looked down on. But the rich preferred to wear wigs and to show off that they were wealthy. Wigs can cost half an acre of land, so if you weren’t wealthy there wouldn’t be a point in buying a wig. A wig can also cost the amount of money that a wig maker would get in one month. Wig making was a good job to earn money, so many poor widows were encouraged to learn to make wigs. Men mostly made wigs, but if you were a woman and your father was a wigmaker, you may have been able to learn to make wigs. Wigs could be restyled, but people liked having many like Queen Elizabeth. She had 80 wigs. George Washington never wore wigs and he always got his hair styled by a stylist. George Washington’s hair was never grey, it was brown but he powdered his hair grey. It costs less money to have your hair styled, than to buy a wig because when you pay for a wig you are paying for hair being imported from places all around the world. Wigs can last generations if you wash it and treat it well. People would shave their head bald, so the wig could fit perfectly and the wig maker could get a perfect measurement of their head with any bumps included. People could wear a wig over their real hair, but it wouldn’t fit as well. The process of making a wig was you first pick the color of the wig, then pick the type of hair you want, pick the style of hair you want, then the wig maker will shave you bald. Wigs were a way to show off if you were wealthy, hats also covered and protected the hair or wig.
Hats were a way of protecting the hair and keeping the dust away, they were also stylish. Hats could be decorated and were made of all different types of material. Most of the time both English men and women don’t go outside without a hat on. “Hats were worn by both colonial men and women. A women rarely left the house with a bare head. She wore a cap or hat to keep dust and smoke out of her hair. A man always carried a hat, even if he did not wear it. People did not wear hats to dress events. Men wore wigs, and women had their hair styled and decorated with pearls, ribbons, and flowers. They often powdered their hair as well. Women tried to save their hairstyles for weeks.” (The Milliner, pg. 21) Hats were one of the main accessories that was almost a “must wear”. If you were wealthy the hats would protect your wigs, but if you weren’t so wealthy it would cover your head. If your hair wasn’t pulled back or if you didn’t wear a wig you would be looked down on so if you weren’t so wealthy it would cover your head so people wouldn’t know if you had your hair up or not. Milliners sold hats, and decorated them too. She decorated the hats with ribbons, fabric, and flowers and she could make the budget for the hat. The milliner was able to make the old hats look stylish again, which was good for the less wealthy people so they didn’t have to keep on buying more hats. And since the milliner could make a budget for the customers, she would be able to cater to a customer’s budget. The most common hats women would wear were straw hats. Men would also wear hats, and even if they didn’t actually wear one they would carry one with him. The most popular hat for men was the tricorne hat. Hats protected your head or wig, and made you look fashionable too.
The Powhatans were the people who lived in Virginia before the English came to settle there. Powhatans had a whole different style of clothing. For example they used animal skins for clothing instead of fabric. Powhatans also didn’t wear as much clothing as the English and they had a whole different process of turning the animal into clothing. In the Powhatan village at Colonial Williamsburg there was a lady who wore a dress made of animal skins, and it was a non-sleeved dress. The dress was also very loose fitted. The lady also wore fox fur as a scarf, and the tail and head were still attached to it, but the flesh and body got cleaned out. The process of killing an animal to getting it to be able to wear it was involved a few steps. First, the Powhatan would have to catch the animal, then he tears off the skin, flesh it, string it up, take the membrane off it, soak it in animal brains to tan it, and then smoke it. Animal brains had good oils for the Powhatan’s skins, and using the brains was the best way of tanning the hides. Powhatan’s would use sinew (deer tendon) for thread to sew a dress together. The needles were made of the leg bone of a deer. A deer had many purposes to the Powhatans, you could hunt them and eat them, they were a good size for many Powhatan’s to eat, you could use the bones for thread and needles, and you could use the fur for clothing. Since Powhatan’s used fur for clothing most animals had many purposes because you could eat it and use it for clothing. Powhatans used nature and animals as all their resources and they never wasted any part of the animal because every part of the animal had a purpose. There was never a waste of anything. But the English settlers would hunt just for the meat in the animal, but not for the furs or bones inside the animal. Besides the Powhatans there were also the Africans.
Africans weren’t treated as well as any of the cultures. Most Africans were slaves, which meant that they didn’t have the best clothing either. Slaves working on the field had worse clothes than the slaves working in the house. Slaves working in the house got to wear worn out clothing from their masters’, but slaves working on the fields wore not as nice clothing. “ House servants usually had better food and clothing than field hands had. They were given leftover food from meals and received old clothes from their masters’ families,” ( A slave family, pg.25).. Their clothing wasn’t fancy, but it was decent. All slaves mostly made their own clothing, the material was mostly made out of wool, but sometimes cotton. Slaves were treated as inferior and it could show in their clothing. This wasn’t fair to the Africans because they never did anything wrong, but they ended up getting treated like this. Their masters would get the slaves clothing that were cost-effective, and didn’t consider if the clothing was comfortable or uncomfortable. All of the three cultures had different styles, and were also treated differently.
In Colonial America what you wore showed who you were and what your class was. Everyone needed clothing. Africans didn’t have very good clothing and were treated as inferior. The Powhatan’s didn’t have much differences in class; everyone was even except for the Powhatan. And the English had a big difference in clothing depending on which class you were in. There were all different types of clothing for all different purposes and events. Without the formation of clothing from the Colonial period we may not have had as good quality types of clothing that we do now. And without the Powhatans we might not have known about furs and leather to use for clothing. Nowadays you aren’t judged as much on what type of clothing you wore or the type of hairstyles you had. Women are now able to wear whatever they want and so for men. A lot of the time people will say “I don’t like their style” or “What is that shirt?” They wouldn’t say “Oh, she doesn’t look wealthy because their shirt is dirty”. Fashion has taken over more than looking wealthy by what you wore. Would clothing have evolved as much if there weren’t the Colonists living in Virginia?
