1 00:00:06,400 --> 00:00:08,760 Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and you're listening to stuff I've 2 00:00:08,760 --> 00:00:21,120 Speaker 1: never told you. And today I am joined by not 3 00:00:21,200 --> 00:00:24,919 Speaker 1: one but to guest co host Cassidy Zachary and April Callahan. 4 00:00:25,040 --> 00:00:28,680 Speaker 1: Thank you so much for joining us. Yeah, thank you, 5 00:00:29,200 --> 00:00:33,440 Speaker 1: We're happy to be here. You host. The podcast addressed 6 00:00:33,640 --> 00:00:35,920 Speaker 1: the history of fashion, which is all about the history 7 00:00:35,920 --> 00:00:39,720 Speaker 1: and stories behind the clothes that we wear and listeners, 8 00:00:39,760 --> 00:00:43,120 Speaker 1: if you haven't checked it out, I highly recommended. But 9 00:00:43,720 --> 00:00:46,120 Speaker 1: this makes them the perfect folks to talk about our 10 00:00:46,159 --> 00:00:51,040 Speaker 1: topic today, bloomerism and uh of note it's Halloween the 11 00:00:51,080 --> 00:00:53,480 Speaker 1: day we record this, so it's appropriate for me because 12 00:00:53,520 --> 00:00:56,400 Speaker 1: one of the first costumes I ever wore involved bloomers 13 00:00:56,920 --> 00:00:59,520 Speaker 1: and I would like to say I had to do 14 00:00:59,760 --> 00:01:02,560 Speaker 1: with bloomerism and that I was a feminist from a 15 00:01:02,680 --> 00:01:05,200 Speaker 1: very young age, but that would be a lie. I 16 00:01:05,200 --> 00:01:08,640 Speaker 1: think it was mini mouse related costume. Well we've come 17 00:01:08,720 --> 00:01:13,600 Speaker 1: full circle, yes, so let's let's dive right in. What 18 00:01:14,120 --> 00:01:19,040 Speaker 1: is bloomerism um? Casts I'll go ahead and start if 19 00:01:19,040 --> 00:01:22,679 Speaker 1: I may. Um. Bloomerism Um It was a dress reform 20 00:01:22,720 --> 00:01:25,760 Speaker 1: movement that began in the middle of the nineteenth century, 21 00:01:26,080 --> 00:01:30,280 Speaker 1: which really centered around rethinking women's dress UM for both 22 00:01:30,319 --> 00:01:34,520 Speaker 1: reasons of health and also comfort, and specifically it focused 23 00:01:34,520 --> 00:01:37,960 Speaker 1: on the adoption of pantal loons UM. And these pantaloons 24 00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:41,160 Speaker 1: were given the moniker of Bloomers because they were named 25 00:01:41,200 --> 00:01:43,840 Speaker 1: after one of their main proponents, who was a million 26 00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:47,560 Speaker 1: Jenks Bloomer, and she was the editor and publisher of 27 00:01:47,560 --> 00:01:51,840 Speaker 1: a really really early feminist newspaper called The Lily UM. 28 00:01:51,880 --> 00:01:54,600 Speaker 1: And what I think is so fascinating about Bloomerism is 29 00:01:54,640 --> 00:01:58,840 Speaker 1: that it's this intersection of how the first wave of 30 00:01:58,880 --> 00:02:03,480 Speaker 1: American feminists dealt with the topic of fashion dress starting 31 00:02:03,520 --> 00:02:08,760 Speaker 1: around eighteen fifty eighteen fifty one. Yeah, when I was 32 00:02:09,040 --> 00:02:11,840 Speaker 1: researching into this and I typed in Bloomerism and google 33 00:02:12,080 --> 00:02:15,680 Speaker 1: um it some places I saw to find it as 34 00:02:15,960 --> 00:02:19,600 Speaker 1: feminism as a type of feminism, which was pretty cool. 35 00:02:20,120 --> 00:02:23,040 Speaker 1: And if we if we look at the players here, 36 00:02:23,160 --> 00:02:25,280 Speaker 1: some of the key people involved in this story, they 37 00:02:25,320 --> 00:02:31,000 Speaker 1: are big ones in the history of feminism, right, yeah, absolutely, yeah, 38 00:02:31,040 --> 00:02:34,440 Speaker 1: And so you have Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, 39 00:02:34,560 --> 00:02:38,799 Speaker 1: and of course Amelia Bloomer who all adopted this style. UM. 40 00:02:38,800 --> 00:02:41,640 Speaker 1: But before we really talk about Bloomers, and it's significance 41 00:02:41,880 --> 00:02:44,560 Speaker 1: within the women's right movement, I really think we probably 42 00:02:44,680 --> 00:02:48,519 Speaker 1: should talk about the movement itself. So in eighteen forty eight, 43 00:02:48,520 --> 00:02:50,880 Speaker 1: a woman by the name of Lucretia Mott, her sister 44 00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:54,959 Speaker 1: Martha Coffin right, and Elizabeth Caddy stand all organized what 45 00:02:55,040 --> 00:02:59,040 Speaker 1: was the first Women's Right Convention in Seneca Falls, New York. UM. 46 00:02:59,080 --> 00:03:01,639 Speaker 1: But actually the sea for their feminism was late or 47 00:03:01,720 --> 00:03:06,080 Speaker 1: later years earlier in their personal experiences. So just to 48 00:03:06,120 --> 00:03:08,280 Speaker 1: give our listeners an idea of what life was like 49 00:03:08,440 --> 00:03:12,079 Speaker 1: for women at this time. For Lucretia Mott, for instance, 50 00:03:12,120 --> 00:03:14,320 Speaker 1: as a young woman, prior to her marriage, she was 51 00:03:14,360 --> 00:03:17,000 Speaker 1: a teacher and this was a position she was quite 52 00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:19,880 Speaker 1: proud of until she found out that her male counterparts 53 00:03:19,880 --> 00:03:28,800 Speaker 1: were making exponentially more money than her. Still sounds familiar, um, 54 00:03:28,880 --> 00:03:32,639 Speaker 1: And so that kind of sparked her interests in women's equality, 55 00:03:32,680 --> 00:03:34,720 Speaker 1: in women's rights. And I think April, you can speak 56 00:03:34,720 --> 00:03:37,880 Speaker 1: to Elizabeth's experience as a young woman as yeah. Yeah, 57 00:03:37,960 --> 00:03:40,120 Speaker 1: So you know, I feel like all these women have 58 00:03:40,520 --> 00:03:44,240 Speaker 1: very distinct and separate origin stories, you know, like how 59 00:03:44,280 --> 00:03:47,440 Speaker 1: they came to the cause of women's rights. And Elizabeth 60 00:03:47,480 --> 00:03:51,560 Speaker 1: Caddy standing story was particularly interesting to me, um, because 61 00:03:51,600 --> 00:03:54,520 Speaker 1: it all started when she was a teenager and she 62 00:03:54,640 --> 00:03:57,800 Speaker 1: was presidents of a local girls club or young women's club, 63 00:03:58,280 --> 00:04:01,280 Speaker 1: and this group of young women or girls they decided 64 00:04:01,320 --> 00:04:03,920 Speaker 1: that they wanted to raise funds to help pay for 65 00:04:03,960 --> 00:04:07,320 Speaker 1: the tuition of a promising young man who wanted to 66 00:04:07,400 --> 00:04:10,720 Speaker 1: attend seminary school that lived in their town. So they 67 00:04:10,720 --> 00:04:13,440 Speaker 1: did all sorts of things. They helped bake sales, they 68 00:04:13,440 --> 00:04:16,960 Speaker 1: made and sold jam, they organized concerts, you know, and 69 00:04:17,000 --> 00:04:22,440 Speaker 1: they basically, you know, contributed significantly to paying for his tuition. 70 00:04:22,880 --> 00:04:25,200 Speaker 1: And then when he finally graduated, they made him a 71 00:04:25,200 --> 00:04:27,760 Speaker 1: brand new suit, and they invited him to come to 72 00:04:27,880 --> 00:04:31,720 Speaker 1: their congregation and address the church. UM. But you know, 73 00:04:32,200 --> 00:04:35,200 Speaker 1: instead of acknowledging their efforts in any way, shape or 74 00:04:35,240 --> 00:04:38,800 Speaker 1: form or thanking them, basically, he opened up with this 75 00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:42,479 Speaker 1: verse from the Bible chapter If Timothy that essentially says, 76 00:04:42,839 --> 00:04:45,880 Speaker 1: but I suffer not a woman to teach, nor usurp 77 00:04:45,960 --> 00:04:50,839 Speaker 1: the authority over the man, but to be in silence. So, 78 00:04:52,520 --> 00:04:54,880 Speaker 1: I mean, this was a huge slab in the face 79 00:04:54,920 --> 00:04:59,400 Speaker 1: to these young women. UM. And understandably, Elizabeth was furious. 80 00:04:59,720 --> 00:05:02,039 Speaker 1: She got up, stormed out of the church, and the 81 00:05:02,080 --> 00:05:05,479 Speaker 1: rest of her friend followed, and she she really cites 82 00:05:05,560 --> 00:05:09,400 Speaker 1: this incident as as the moment that she became motivated 83 00:05:09,640 --> 00:05:13,160 Speaker 1: to really look into the lack of parity between men 84 00:05:13,200 --> 00:05:15,160 Speaker 1: and women, and and she goes on to become one 85 00:05:15,200 --> 00:05:19,120 Speaker 1: of the key figures in igniting the women's rights movement. Yeah, 86 00:05:19,160 --> 00:05:21,359 Speaker 1: and for Amelia Bloomer, who will learn more about in 87 00:05:21,360 --> 00:05:24,000 Speaker 1: a minute two, she remembers being a sixteen year old 88 00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:28,200 Speaker 1: girl and witnessing her elderly neighbor being evicted from her 89 00:05:28,240 --> 00:05:32,000 Speaker 1: home after her husband died because her entire estate, or 90 00:05:32,040 --> 00:05:34,599 Speaker 1: his entire state, was left to his only living heir, 91 00:05:34,960 --> 00:05:38,400 Speaker 1: who was a long distance male cousin who this woman 92 00:05:38,480 --> 00:05:41,160 Speaker 1: had never met. Um And because at this time, women 93 00:05:41,200 --> 00:05:43,840 Speaker 1: could not hold property, they could not vote, They were 94 00:05:43,880 --> 00:05:48,120 Speaker 1: basically second class citizens combined to these very defined roles 95 00:05:48,160 --> 00:05:53,120 Speaker 1: of wife and mother. And so Lucretia and Elizabeth, for instance, 96 00:05:53,120 --> 00:05:55,280 Speaker 1: they meet for the first time in eighteen forty at 97 00:05:55,279 --> 00:05:58,800 Speaker 1: the World Anti Slavery Convention in London. And just a 98 00:05:58,800 --> 00:06:02,720 Speaker 1: little about Lacresia mo because she's this incredible woman, she's 99 00:06:03,160 --> 00:06:06,960 Speaker 1: gifted and respected American Quaker preacher. And it should be 100 00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:09,160 Speaker 1: noted that in the Quaker religion, men and women are 101 00:06:09,200 --> 00:06:11,840 Speaker 1: regarded as equal, so they're really ahead of their time 102 00:06:11,880 --> 00:06:15,160 Speaker 1: at this point. Um. And Lucretia and her husband were 103 00:06:15,200 --> 00:06:18,120 Speaker 1: vocal and active abolitionists in America, and she was so 104 00:06:18,200 --> 00:06:20,800 Speaker 1: well respected in this community, in fact, that she was 105 00:06:20,839 --> 00:06:24,200 Speaker 1: sent to this national conference in London as one of 106 00:06:24,240 --> 00:06:26,920 Speaker 1: only six women. And it's here that she meets Elizabeth 107 00:06:26,960 --> 00:06:30,200 Speaker 1: Caddy Stand because she and her husband were also abolitionists. 108 00:06:30,600 --> 00:06:34,279 Speaker 1: There's a lot of crossover between the early feminist movements 109 00:06:34,320 --> 00:06:37,920 Speaker 1: and the abolitionist movements and the temperance movements too. Yeah, 110 00:06:37,960 --> 00:06:42,480 Speaker 1: people who are really enlightened at this point. Um. So 111 00:06:43,240 --> 00:06:46,200 Speaker 1: these women are in London for this very important cause 112 00:06:46,200 --> 00:06:49,760 Speaker 1: in which they had worked and advocated for tirelessly, and 113 00:06:50,200 --> 00:06:55,400 Speaker 1: what happens well, the male delegate has been the entire day, 114 00:06:55,880 --> 00:06:58,320 Speaker 1: the first day debating about whether or not women should 115 00:06:58,360 --> 00:07:01,400 Speaker 1: even be allowed to attend the conference, much less speak 116 00:07:01,520 --> 00:07:04,760 Speaker 1: or vote in the proceedings. And the conclusion is to 117 00:07:04,839 --> 00:07:07,320 Speaker 1: keep these women. They can be there, but they have 118 00:07:07,400 --> 00:07:11,240 Speaker 1: to sit in silence behind a curtain. So, I mean, 119 00:07:11,280 --> 00:07:14,080 Speaker 1: this is women's place, right in the shadows of their husbands, 120 00:07:14,120 --> 00:07:17,000 Speaker 1: to live in silence and servitude to the role that 121 00:07:17,000 --> 00:07:21,280 Speaker 1: they're born in. So UM I mean this to say, 122 00:07:21,280 --> 00:07:24,120 Speaker 1: this experience really endeared Lucretia and Elizabeth to one another, 123 00:07:24,440 --> 00:07:28,239 Speaker 1: and it's further cemented their beliefs that women were being 124 00:07:28,280 --> 00:07:32,119 Speaker 1: denied their God given rights. And in the quote most 125 00:07:32,200 --> 00:07:35,600 Speaker 1: shocking and unnatural event ever recorded in the history of 126 00:07:35,640 --> 00:07:38,720 Speaker 1: womanity end quote. This is a contemporary quote. By the 127 00:07:38,760 --> 00:07:41,720 Speaker 1: way happened. And of course this is the first Women's 128 00:07:41,800 --> 00:07:45,400 Speaker 1: Right Convention held in Seneca Falls, New York. And uh 129 00:07:45,440 --> 00:07:48,000 Speaker 1: it's at this two day conference that the famous Declaration 130 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:51,000 Speaker 1: of Sentiments document was signed by sixty women and thirty 131 00:07:51,000 --> 00:07:53,640 Speaker 1: two men. And this is a document that was authored 132 00:07:53,680 --> 00:07:56,880 Speaker 1: by Elizabeth Stanton, and it was essentially a redrafting of 133 00:07:56,920 --> 00:08:01,080 Speaker 1: the Declaration of Independence, UM, which quote, we hold these 134 00:08:01,120 --> 00:08:04,320 Speaker 1: truths to be self evident that all men and women 135 00:08:04,360 --> 00:08:08,160 Speaker 1: are created equal. And it basically advocated for women's equality 136 00:08:08,240 --> 00:08:11,600 Speaker 1: and more specifically to their right to own property and 137 00:08:11,680 --> 00:08:15,080 Speaker 1: most controversially, to their right to vote. And of the 138 00:08:15,120 --> 00:08:21,000 Speaker 1: three people in attendance was Amelia Bloomer. Uh. And out 139 00:08:21,000 --> 00:08:23,520 Speaker 1: of all of this kind of comes a lot of 140 00:08:23,560 --> 00:08:27,560 Speaker 1: different things. UM. Amelia had already been involved in the 141 00:08:27,560 --> 00:08:30,800 Speaker 1: Women's Temperance Movement or the Temperance movement in New York 142 00:08:31,080 --> 00:08:33,720 Speaker 1: for anybody who doesn't know what temperance was. Basically, it 143 00:08:33,760 --> 00:08:38,000 Speaker 1: was a movement um advocating for the abstinence from alcohol 144 00:08:38,400 --> 00:08:42,680 Speaker 1: because drunkenness was considered a problem in the domestic home. 145 00:08:42,760 --> 00:08:45,560 Speaker 1: And this was a pretty big movement at the time. UM. 146 00:08:45,640 --> 00:08:49,000 Speaker 1: And so when Amelia decides to form in New York 147 00:08:49,120 --> 00:08:53,120 Speaker 1: State Women's Temperance Society, that goes hand in hand. They 148 00:08:53,120 --> 00:08:55,800 Speaker 1: felt like they needed a platform for their voice, so 149 00:08:55,840 --> 00:08:59,320 Speaker 1: they found this publication called The Lily, which was a 150 00:08:59,400 --> 00:09:03,679 Speaker 1: really really early feminist newspaper and cast, do you want 151 00:09:03,679 --> 00:09:05,199 Speaker 1: to talk a little bit more about that, because I 152 00:09:05,240 --> 00:09:08,280 Speaker 1: think I think you have some research on that. Yeah. 153 00:09:08,360 --> 00:09:12,200 Speaker 1: So on January one, eighty nine, The Lily was published 154 00:09:12,200 --> 00:09:14,439 Speaker 1: for the first time. And this is one of the first, 155 00:09:14,480 --> 00:09:18,160 Speaker 1: if not the first newspapers in America for women and 156 00:09:18,400 --> 00:09:22,240 Speaker 1: made by women, and Amelia was its editor um from 157 00:09:22,240 --> 00:09:25,559 Speaker 1: the beginning. But according to her, even before this first 158 00:09:25,600 --> 00:09:28,199 Speaker 1: issue came out, the society had gave up the enterprise 159 00:09:28,200 --> 00:09:31,240 Speaker 1: altogether because they weren't really prepared for what it entailed. 160 00:09:31,440 --> 00:09:34,720 Speaker 1: They're kind of disillusioned by the time it's first printing happened, 161 00:09:34,720 --> 00:09:38,000 Speaker 1: so Amelia was unabated, and she writes, as the editor 162 00:09:38,000 --> 00:09:40,320 Speaker 1: of the paper, I threw myself into the work. I 163 00:09:40,360 --> 00:09:45,280 Speaker 1: assumed the entire responsibility, took the entire charge editorially and financially, 164 00:09:45,280 --> 00:09:49,760 Speaker 1: and carried it successfully through so Um. In the first issue, 165 00:09:49,840 --> 00:09:52,839 Speaker 1: she writes, it is women that speaks through the Lily, 166 00:09:52,960 --> 00:09:55,719 Speaker 1: and temperance is a great foe to her peace and happiness. 167 00:09:55,840 --> 00:09:57,600 Speaker 1: It is that, above all that has made her home 168 00:09:57,640 --> 00:10:01,040 Speaker 1: desolate and biggered her offspring. Surely she has a right 169 00:10:01,080 --> 00:10:03,960 Speaker 1: to wield her pen for its suppression. Surely she may, 170 00:10:04,080 --> 00:10:07,240 Speaker 1: without throwing aside the modest refinements which so much become 171 00:10:07,280 --> 00:10:10,440 Speaker 1: her sex, use her influence to lead her fellow mortals 172 00:10:10,480 --> 00:10:14,240 Speaker 1: from the destroyer's path. And it's really here where Amelia 173 00:10:14,679 --> 00:10:17,880 Speaker 1: begins publishing a few years later, her support for dress 174 00:10:17,920 --> 00:10:22,720 Speaker 1: reform in the form of this practical two piece garment. Right. 175 00:10:23,440 --> 00:10:26,200 Speaker 1: And this is a lot of the women we've been 176 00:10:26,280 --> 00:10:31,400 Speaker 1: talking about. They were involved in writing for the Lily, Right, Yeah, 177 00:10:31,760 --> 00:10:35,000 Speaker 1: Elizabeth Cady stanton Um was kind of one of the 178 00:10:35,000 --> 00:10:37,280 Speaker 1: first people to broach the subject of dress reform in 179 00:10:37,320 --> 00:10:39,600 Speaker 1: the pages of The Lily. Um she did right under 180 00:10:39,640 --> 00:10:44,160 Speaker 1: a pseudonym um Sunflower. Her father was a congressman and 181 00:10:44,360 --> 00:10:50,880 Speaker 1: wasn't necessarily particularly happy about his daughter's work in in 182 00:10:50,880 --> 00:10:54,480 Speaker 1: in the women's rights movement, but um so, she was 183 00:10:54,480 --> 00:10:56,400 Speaker 1: writing for the paper. She's kind of the first one 184 00:10:56,440 --> 00:11:01,719 Speaker 1: that starts addressing questions like why are our clothes so 185 00:11:01,800 --> 00:11:04,080 Speaker 1: hard to fasten? Like why do we have to have 186 00:11:04,120 --> 00:11:08,280 Speaker 1: someone help us dress whereas men don't. Um So, these 187 00:11:08,320 --> 00:11:11,200 Speaker 1: ideas were already kind of like burgeoning and on the 188 00:11:11,240 --> 00:11:16,000 Speaker 1: surface within the pages of The Lily, even before Elizabeth's cousin, 189 00:11:16,160 --> 00:11:19,920 Speaker 1: whose name was Libby Miller, came to visit in eighteen fifty. 190 00:11:20,080 --> 00:11:22,760 Speaker 1: And this is a really critical moment because when her 191 00:11:22,800 --> 00:11:26,880 Speaker 1: cousin Libby shows up, she's wearing Bloomer costume, or what 192 00:11:26,920 --> 00:11:31,200 Speaker 1: we now call bloomer costume. So she's wearing a traveling 193 00:11:31,200 --> 00:11:34,079 Speaker 1: outfit that was said to be a black satin um 194 00:11:34,120 --> 00:11:36,600 Speaker 1: and the skirt, which the typical skirts at the time 195 00:11:36,640 --> 00:11:38,880 Speaker 1: of course, swept the ground. The hem of the skirt 196 00:11:38,920 --> 00:11:42,440 Speaker 1: had been um shortened about one foot to about five 197 00:11:42,440 --> 00:11:45,480 Speaker 1: inches below the knee, and beneath that she had on 198 00:11:45,679 --> 00:11:48,600 Speaker 1: what we're kind of called Turkish trousers, so they were 199 00:11:48,679 --> 00:11:53,080 Speaker 1: kind of wide legged pantaloons that matched her dress. UM. 200 00:11:53,120 --> 00:11:56,400 Speaker 1: But it's this appearance of Libby that really kind of 201 00:11:56,640 --> 00:12:01,280 Speaker 1: changes things. UM. Elizabeth and Amilia are both thrilled. They 202 00:12:01,320 --> 00:12:04,880 Speaker 1: think this is brilliant UM, and they both adopt the 203 00:12:04,920 --> 00:12:11,079 Speaker 1: costume and UM. In one Amelia actually publishes a woodcut 204 00:12:11,600 --> 00:12:15,040 Speaker 1: of herself wearing the style and advocates for it in 205 00:12:15,080 --> 00:12:17,480 Speaker 1: the pages of The Lily. And this is the moment 206 00:12:17,480 --> 00:12:22,920 Speaker 1: where things blow up. Yeah, Bloomers caused quite the stir 207 00:12:23,360 --> 00:12:25,839 Speaker 1: when they when they started to take off, and we're 208 00:12:25,840 --> 00:12:27,599 Speaker 1: going to talk about that, but before we get into it, 209 00:12:27,600 --> 00:12:29,079 Speaker 1: we're going to pause for a quick break for word 210 00:12:29,120 --> 00:12:43,160 Speaker 1: from our sponsor, and we're back, Thank you, sponsor. So yeah, 211 00:12:43,280 --> 00:12:46,280 Speaker 1: let's let's talk a little bit about um, the reaction 212 00:12:46,280 --> 00:12:49,840 Speaker 1: to Bloomers, and also some of these other things going 213 00:12:49,880 --> 00:12:56,480 Speaker 1: on at the same time that influenced this Bloomerism movement. Yeah. So, 214 00:12:56,520 --> 00:12:58,760 Speaker 1: I think I think the first thing is that we 215 00:12:58,880 --> 00:13:03,520 Speaker 1: have to understand why dress reform was even considered an 216 00:13:03,600 --> 00:13:06,280 Speaker 1: issue of women's rights at this time. In order to 217 00:13:06,280 --> 00:13:08,320 Speaker 1: do that, you have to understand what women were wearing 218 00:13:08,480 --> 00:13:11,120 Speaker 1: in the eighteen fifties. Um. You know, the fashion people 219 00:13:11,120 --> 00:13:14,959 Speaker 1: silhouette was highly restrictive, um, you know, next to their skin. 220 00:13:15,080 --> 00:13:17,280 Speaker 1: The first layer, women would have been wearing a layer 221 00:13:17,280 --> 00:13:21,160 Speaker 1: of undergarments, either kind of a chemise slip or a 222 00:13:21,160 --> 00:13:23,400 Speaker 1: little what's called a chamizette or it's kind of like 223 00:13:23,440 --> 00:13:26,800 Speaker 1: a cammy and little knickers that came down to the knee, um. 224 00:13:26,840 --> 00:13:29,760 Speaker 1: And these were usually cotton or linen, and then over 225 00:13:29,800 --> 00:13:33,800 Speaker 1: that would be worn a tightly laced corset. But that's 226 00:13:33,840 --> 00:13:37,199 Speaker 1: when all the petticoats start to get piled on, and 227 00:13:37,280 --> 00:13:41,120 Speaker 1: I mean layers and layers of petticoats, like six seven, 228 00:13:41,360 --> 00:13:43,920 Speaker 1: eight layers, um. And at least one of these was 229 00:13:43,960 --> 00:13:47,880 Speaker 1: probably stiffened by crane or horse hair and the yeah, 230 00:13:47,920 --> 00:13:52,600 Speaker 1: I know, itchy, right. But the reason that all of 231 00:13:52,600 --> 00:13:56,520 Speaker 1: these layers were worn was to create this volume, um, 232 00:13:56,600 --> 00:14:00,680 Speaker 1: in order to support these bell shaped silhouette skirts that 233 00:14:00,760 --> 00:14:04,400 Speaker 1: were super fashionable during this time period. And it's only 234 00:14:04,480 --> 00:14:06,920 Speaker 1: after piling on all these clothes that a woman would 235 00:14:06,960 --> 00:14:09,440 Speaker 1: then put on her dress over all of these layers 236 00:14:09,440 --> 00:14:12,360 Speaker 1: beneath um, you know. And this was really the dress 237 00:14:12,400 --> 00:14:15,360 Speaker 1: of all American women at this time, regardless of class. 238 00:14:15,400 --> 00:14:17,920 Speaker 1: Or social status. I mean that the fineness of the 239 00:14:17,960 --> 00:14:20,720 Speaker 1: costuness costliness of your clothes would would be a factor 240 00:14:20,720 --> 00:14:24,120 Speaker 1: and would change. But this silhouette was expected of all women, 241 00:14:24,280 --> 00:14:26,720 Speaker 1: you know. And and you can imagine this is neither 242 00:14:26,880 --> 00:14:30,560 Speaker 1: comfortable or practical. Um. And when you add to the 243 00:14:30,560 --> 00:14:33,520 Speaker 1: fact that the fashionable bodices and sleeves of the era 244 00:14:33,600 --> 00:14:36,920 Speaker 1: were extremely tight and fitted, you can really understand how 245 00:14:36,960 --> 00:14:40,680 Speaker 1: their range of physical movement was was very much inhibited. 246 00:14:41,000 --> 00:14:44,200 Speaker 1: You know, they're wearing like fifteen pounds of petticoats, a 247 00:14:44,280 --> 00:14:47,680 Speaker 1: tightly laced corset, you know. And and and the way 248 00:14:47,720 --> 00:14:50,160 Speaker 1: that the bodices were constructed a lot of times it 249 00:14:50,240 --> 00:14:52,600 Speaker 1: made it difficult for women to even raise their arms, 250 00:14:53,200 --> 00:14:56,920 Speaker 1: you know. And the reason that petticoats really become the 251 00:14:57,000 --> 00:15:00,920 Speaker 1: focus of bloomerism um is because that they did sweep 252 00:15:00,920 --> 00:15:03,400 Speaker 1: the ground um. And because of that, they were just 253 00:15:03,800 --> 00:15:07,000 Speaker 1: downright unhealthy. You know, they were dragging up dirt, they're 254 00:15:07,160 --> 00:15:09,920 Speaker 1: dragging out mud like whatever to try to us was 255 00:15:09,960 --> 00:15:12,560 Speaker 1: in the streets or the fields was living on the 256 00:15:12,600 --> 00:15:16,280 Speaker 1: inside of your skirt. Um. And you know, of course, 257 00:15:16,280 --> 00:15:19,040 Speaker 1: the nature of laundry is not as it is today. 258 00:15:19,080 --> 00:15:22,640 Speaker 1: Everything was washed by hand. Um. So, so women felt 259 00:15:22,680 --> 00:15:26,840 Speaker 1: truly hampered by the dress of the era that society 260 00:15:26,880 --> 00:15:30,640 Speaker 1: expected of them. But you know what, what was the 261 00:15:30,680 --> 00:15:34,240 Speaker 1: alternative at this time? Yeah, and so it's really easy 262 00:15:34,280 --> 00:15:36,200 Speaker 1: to see why women might want a little bit of 263 00:15:36,240 --> 00:15:39,840 Speaker 1: relief from these cumbersome undergarments, these cumbers some garments. And 264 00:15:39,920 --> 00:15:43,000 Speaker 1: Amelia at one point wrote, quote, common sense teaches us 265 00:15:43,040 --> 00:15:45,200 Speaker 1: that the dress which is the most convenient and best 266 00:15:45,240 --> 00:15:47,840 Speaker 1: adapted to our needs is the proper dress dress for 267 00:15:47,880 --> 00:15:51,200 Speaker 1: both men and women. So she also goes on to say, 268 00:15:51,240 --> 00:15:53,680 Speaker 1: we do not advocate the same style of dress altogether 269 00:15:53,760 --> 00:15:56,400 Speaker 1: for both sexes, and should be sorry to see women 270 00:15:56,520 --> 00:15:58,680 Speaker 1: dressed just like men. Yet we should like to see 271 00:15:58,720 --> 00:16:01,720 Speaker 1: a radical reform. And when's costume so that she might 272 00:16:01,760 --> 00:16:04,480 Speaker 1: be the free, healthy being God made her instead of 273 00:16:04,480 --> 00:16:07,840 Speaker 1: the corseted, crippled, dragged down creature her slavery to clothes 274 00:16:07,880 --> 00:16:10,520 Speaker 1: has made. So it was Amelia Bloomer who would become 275 00:16:10,560 --> 00:16:13,520 Speaker 1: most famously associated with the trousers. As April said, she 276 00:16:13,640 --> 00:16:17,000 Speaker 1: was um really a well known activist. She traveled and 277 00:16:17,120 --> 00:16:21,880 Speaker 1: lectured extensively wearing this costume. But um, as mentioned, she 278 00:16:22,240 --> 00:16:25,680 Speaker 1: began to wear the costume after um Elizabeth Cady Stanton 279 00:16:26,160 --> 00:16:29,960 Speaker 1: and had worn it influenced by her cousin Libby Miller, 280 00:16:30,240 --> 00:16:32,880 Speaker 1: but Libby Miller herself was not also the first woman 281 00:16:32,920 --> 00:16:35,800 Speaker 1: to wear it. Um. This style of pant was also 282 00:16:36,000 --> 00:16:39,160 Speaker 1: known as Turkish trousers because they were patterned after those 283 00:16:39,160 --> 00:16:41,920 Speaker 1: worn by women in the Middle East, and really this 284 00:16:42,040 --> 00:16:44,920 Speaker 1: fascination with the exotic East led to their adoption by 285 00:16:44,960 --> 00:16:47,600 Speaker 1: European and American women as fancy dress costume in the 286 00:16:47,600 --> 00:16:50,560 Speaker 1: eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, and by the early nineteenth 287 00:16:50,560 --> 00:16:54,320 Speaker 1: century women were wearing large baggy pants as sportswear and 288 00:16:54,360 --> 00:16:59,920 Speaker 1: European sanitariums, and in America in particular, these similar pants 289 00:17:00,240 --> 00:17:04,280 Speaker 1: ensembles were being worn by women at water care establishments. 290 00:17:04,280 --> 00:17:07,040 Speaker 1: So the water care movement was this interesting movement of 291 00:17:07,080 --> 00:17:11,640 Speaker 1: the nineteenth century that championed the Three physicians, water, exercise, 292 00:17:11,800 --> 00:17:14,720 Speaker 1: and diet. But this form of costume was also being 293 00:17:14,720 --> 00:17:18,480 Speaker 1: worn at these American religious and utopian communities, something I 294 00:17:18,520 --> 00:17:22,520 Speaker 1: found particularly interesting. So there's this community of equality and 295 00:17:22,600 --> 00:17:26,520 Speaker 1: New Harmony Indiana, but there's also the Oneida community, which 296 00:17:26,600 --> 00:17:30,360 Speaker 1: was founded by John Humphrey Noye's in New York, um 297 00:17:30,359 --> 00:17:33,920 Speaker 1: in eighteen forty eight, and he actually writes that women's 298 00:17:33,960 --> 00:17:36,800 Speaker 1: dress is a standing lie. It proclaims that she is 299 00:17:36,800 --> 00:17:39,600 Speaker 1: not a two legged animal, but something like a churn 300 00:17:39,800 --> 00:17:42,919 Speaker 1: standing on castors. When the distinction of the sexes is 301 00:17:42,960 --> 00:17:45,520 Speaker 1: reduced to the bounds of nature and decency, a dress 302 00:17:45,560 --> 00:17:48,080 Speaker 1: will be adopted that will be the same or nearly 303 00:17:48,160 --> 00:17:51,840 Speaker 1: the same for both sexes. So women in that community 304 00:17:51,920 --> 00:17:55,800 Speaker 1: had adopted this um dress and pant ensemble, and a 305 00:17:55,840 --> 00:17:59,399 Speaker 1: couple of sources have suggested that Libby Miller perhaps had 306 00:17:59,440 --> 00:18:02,240 Speaker 1: seen these women wearing this ensemble and then that that 307 00:18:02,320 --> 00:18:05,920 Speaker 1: was why she decided to adopt it herself. Yeah, it's 308 00:18:05,960 --> 00:18:08,719 Speaker 1: this really interesting moment where everything is kind of converging 309 00:18:08,880 --> 00:18:11,800 Speaker 1: all at the same time, within this period m of 310 00:18:11,800 --> 00:18:16,800 Speaker 1: of a couple of years. Really, it's in the zeitgeist. Yeah, 311 00:18:18,080 --> 00:18:21,359 Speaker 1: I never thought about the way um John Humphrey Noise 312 00:18:21,480 --> 00:18:24,439 Speaker 1: describes the dresses like a woman is like a churn. 313 00:18:25,200 --> 00:18:27,439 Speaker 1: I've never really thought of it in that way, but 314 00:18:27,560 --> 00:18:29,960 Speaker 1: now I can't stop thinking of it in that way. 315 00:18:30,640 --> 00:18:36,480 Speaker 1: It was a pretty effective quote. So you know, in 316 00:18:36,520 --> 00:18:39,400 Speaker 1: my opinion, the early adopters of the bloomer costume really 317 00:18:39,440 --> 00:18:42,840 Speaker 1: kind of did so for reasons of practicality. Um. The 318 00:18:42,920 --> 00:18:46,400 Speaker 1: costume itself, as we said, was the shortened skirt. Um 319 00:18:46,440 --> 00:18:49,520 Speaker 1: and then below them were worn the Turkish trousers. Um. 320 00:18:49,560 --> 00:18:52,240 Speaker 1: Slippers were worn with him in the summer, delicate little 321 00:18:52,280 --> 00:18:55,639 Speaker 1: boots in the winter. Um And And you know, women 322 00:18:55,640 --> 00:19:00,560 Speaker 1: were still wearing dresses and petticoats were still all supporting 323 00:19:00,640 --> 00:19:03,920 Speaker 1: the skirt, you know, the silhouette and the volume was there. 324 00:19:04,440 --> 00:19:07,359 Speaker 1: It's just that they now had this freedom to move 325 00:19:07,440 --> 00:19:10,560 Speaker 1: their trouser legs a little more freely in the shortened skirt. 326 00:19:10,960 --> 00:19:12,680 Speaker 1: And you know, it has to be pointed out that 327 00:19:13,359 --> 00:19:17,000 Speaker 1: the overall effect is not markedly different from fashionable dress 328 00:19:17,119 --> 00:19:19,600 Speaker 1: of the era. It's just that for the first time 329 00:19:19,640 --> 00:19:23,480 Speaker 1: in centuries of Western dress that women's calves and feet 330 00:19:23,920 --> 00:19:27,080 Speaker 1: were revealed. Oh my god, this is so shocky. Right. 331 00:19:28,800 --> 00:19:30,240 Speaker 1: But but the point that I want to make sure 332 00:19:30,240 --> 00:19:32,280 Speaker 1: that I think is like the big takeaway from this 333 00:19:32,440 --> 00:19:35,560 Speaker 1: is that you know, these women were dressing for themselves 334 00:19:36,200 --> 00:19:39,040 Speaker 1: to make their lives easier. You know, they were dressing 335 00:19:39,080 --> 00:19:43,320 Speaker 1: for comfort rather than the male gaze. Um and And 336 00:19:43,320 --> 00:19:46,080 Speaker 1: and it's that fact that they had the audacity to 337 00:19:46,160 --> 00:19:50,800 Speaker 1: do so. That's what was really deemed radical, you know, 338 00:19:50,920 --> 00:19:53,239 Speaker 1: I mean as in the case many times that you know, 339 00:19:53,320 --> 00:19:56,840 Speaker 1: the meaning that we assigned to the garments themselves is arbitrary, 340 00:19:57,320 --> 00:20:00,600 Speaker 1: you know, like cass said, women had been wearing you know, 341 00:20:00,680 --> 00:20:03,160 Speaker 1: these types of baggy trousers and not only the Middle 342 00:20:03,200 --> 00:20:06,600 Speaker 1: East but also in Asia for centuries. Um, you know, 343 00:20:06,640 --> 00:20:10,439 Speaker 1: So it wasn't really the pantaloons themselves that were the 344 00:20:10,480 --> 00:20:14,800 Speaker 1: feminist statement. It was the women's boldness to defy convention 345 00:20:15,000 --> 00:20:17,080 Speaker 1: kind of that made it so so, you know, in 346 00:20:17,119 --> 00:20:20,040 Speaker 1: many ways it was the reaction of others to the 347 00:20:20,040 --> 00:20:24,960 Speaker 1: bloomer costume that made it so controversial. Yeah, and if 348 00:20:25,000 --> 00:20:27,360 Speaker 1: we if we go back a little bit and just 349 00:20:27,560 --> 00:20:30,080 Speaker 1: look at the context of other things that's that are 350 00:20:30,119 --> 00:20:34,040 Speaker 1: happening at this time, We've we talked about how, um, 351 00:20:34,200 --> 00:20:38,680 Speaker 1: women couldn't really own property, couldn't vote, things like that. 352 00:20:38,680 --> 00:20:41,480 Speaker 1: That they were a lot of things, a lot of 353 00:20:41,600 --> 00:20:43,399 Speaker 1: rights that women did not have that I think we 354 00:20:43,520 --> 00:20:46,600 Speaker 1: take for granted today. And the one thing I wanted 355 00:20:46,640 --> 00:20:49,200 Speaker 1: to bring up that you guys you uncovered in your 356 00:20:49,240 --> 00:20:57,000 Speaker 1: research was this um Tennessee legislator debate. Could you could 357 00:20:57,040 --> 00:20:59,560 Speaker 1: you speak to that as one of my favorite quotes ever, 358 00:20:59,640 --> 00:21:06,159 Speaker 1: I think cass for that um and the lily. In 359 00:21:06,280 --> 00:21:10,959 Speaker 1: March of eighteen fifty, Amelia addressed recent legislature that had 360 00:21:11,000 --> 00:21:15,040 Speaker 1: happened in Tennessee. Um, just quite shocking. But I'll let 361 00:21:15,040 --> 00:21:17,280 Speaker 1: her speak for herself, and I love her by the way. 362 00:21:17,320 --> 00:21:21,720 Speaker 1: She is so outspoken and um sarcastic in her responses 363 00:21:22,160 --> 00:21:25,200 Speaker 1: and so quote. The legislature of Tennessee have in their 364 00:21:25,200 --> 00:21:28,800 Speaker 1: wisdom decidedly after gravely discussing the question that women have 365 00:21:28,960 --> 00:21:32,600 Speaker 1: no souls and no right to hold property? Why is 366 00:21:32,680 --> 00:21:35,000 Speaker 1: men these and worthy to be honored with seats in 367 00:21:35,040 --> 00:21:38,680 Speaker 1: the halls of legislation? Women no souls, then of course 368 00:21:38,800 --> 00:21:41,600 Speaker 1: we're not accountable beings. And if not accountable to our maker, 369 00:21:41,720 --> 00:21:45,840 Speaker 1: then surely not to man. Man represents us, legislates for us, 370 00:21:46,040 --> 00:21:49,720 Speaker 1: and now holds himself accountable for us. How kind and him? 371 00:21:49,760 --> 00:21:54,240 Speaker 1: And what a weight is lifted from us? It's beautiful 372 00:21:56,280 --> 00:22:01,760 Speaker 1: fifty shade throwing, Yeah, it is indeed. So you know, basically, 373 00:22:02,280 --> 00:22:05,679 Speaker 1: men were going to these extremes to um, you know, 374 00:22:05,800 --> 00:22:09,040 Speaker 1: devalue women's place in society, even going as far as 375 00:22:09,040 --> 00:22:11,919 Speaker 1: to suggest that they had no souls as a reason 376 00:22:11,960 --> 00:22:15,439 Speaker 1: to why they couldn't be active participants. So it's really 377 00:22:15,520 --> 00:22:21,439 Speaker 1: quite remarkable actually and interesting how threatening this idea of 378 00:22:21,480 --> 00:22:26,399 Speaker 1: women and women's rights was to men and society at 379 00:22:26,440 --> 00:22:29,119 Speaker 1: this time. And the bloomer costume was just only a 380 00:22:29,160 --> 00:22:31,959 Speaker 1: signifier of that, Yeah, an extension to that. And it 381 00:22:32,040 --> 00:22:36,160 Speaker 1: was terrifying to people that women would adopt this essentially 382 00:22:36,200 --> 00:22:39,840 Speaker 1: male garment because it represented so much more, really, this 383 00:22:39,880 --> 00:22:44,520 Speaker 1: transgression um from their ascribed gender roles. So it was 384 00:22:45,440 --> 00:22:51,280 Speaker 1: very exciting and also um terrifying time for many people. Yeah, 385 00:22:52,200 --> 00:22:54,400 Speaker 1: I love how you put that. I just don't want 386 00:22:54,400 --> 00:22:58,919 Speaker 1: to lose track of, um, how big a deal this was, 387 00:22:59,320 --> 00:23:01,639 Speaker 1: because I think for us now we can sort of 388 00:23:01,640 --> 00:23:06,520 Speaker 1: take for granted um pants or our bloomers, but it was. 389 00:23:06,680 --> 00:23:09,280 Speaker 1: It was a big deal, and it did cause some 390 00:23:09,640 --> 00:23:12,679 Speaker 1: terrified reactions from some people. And we'll get into that 391 00:23:12,760 --> 00:23:14,800 Speaker 1: after one more quick break for word from our sponsor, 392 00:23:24,000 --> 00:23:29,280 Speaker 1: and we're back, thank you sponsored. So, yes, um Bloomers 393 00:23:29,480 --> 00:23:32,439 Speaker 1: caused quite quite a stir. There were a lot of 394 00:23:32,480 --> 00:23:35,159 Speaker 1: reactions to it, and a lot of varying reactions, especially 395 00:23:35,200 --> 00:23:38,520 Speaker 1: at first. Um, do you guys want to get into that? Yeah, So, 396 00:23:38,600 --> 00:23:41,280 Speaker 1: in its initial phases, it was really perceived as this 397 00:23:41,440 --> 00:23:45,199 Speaker 1: novelty and almost as a curiosity. Amilia writes, quote, as 398 00:23:45,200 --> 00:23:47,080 Speaker 1: soon as it became known that I was wearing the dress, 399 00:23:47,200 --> 00:23:50,240 Speaker 1: this new dress, letters came pouring in upon me by hundreds, 400 00:23:51,040 --> 00:23:53,840 Speaker 1: from women all over the country making inquiries about the 401 00:23:53,920 --> 00:23:57,200 Speaker 1: dress and asking for patterns. It really showed how ready 402 00:23:57,240 --> 00:23:59,880 Speaker 1: and anxious women were to throw off the burden of long, 403 00:24:00,000 --> 00:24:03,359 Speaker 1: heavy skirts. And actually the circulation of the lily, which 404 00:24:03,480 --> 00:24:06,560 Speaker 1: was around five hundred a month, rose to four thousands. 405 00:24:06,560 --> 00:24:09,040 Speaker 1: So people were really curious about this new style of 406 00:24:09,160 --> 00:24:12,199 Speaker 1: dress and probably really excited. I'm sure there were a 407 00:24:12,200 --> 00:24:14,760 Speaker 1: lot of women who wanted to embrace this as well. 408 00:24:15,200 --> 00:24:17,640 Speaker 1: And um, it was actually adopted by women as far 409 00:24:17,720 --> 00:24:21,439 Speaker 1: west as California and in Florida and Abril. I think 410 00:24:21,480 --> 00:24:23,640 Speaker 1: you actually have a wonderful quote that speaks to this. 411 00:24:24,040 --> 00:24:28,080 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, So there's a lot of primary source press 412 00:24:28,160 --> 00:24:32,240 Speaker 1: coverage from the era of when people saw women in 413 00:24:32,240 --> 00:24:35,240 Speaker 1: bloomer costume for the very, very first time, and some 414 00:24:35,320 --> 00:24:38,040 Speaker 1: of the descriptions are really really wonderful. Um, there was 415 00:24:38,040 --> 00:24:42,760 Speaker 1: this one newspaper from Florida that talks about three um 416 00:24:42,920 --> 00:24:45,679 Speaker 1: local women that had adopted bloomer dress, and they were 417 00:24:45,720 --> 00:24:48,600 Speaker 1: dressed in pink and purple satin. You know, some of 418 00:24:48,640 --> 00:24:52,040 Speaker 1: them had on a scarlet bodice paired with blue trousers. 419 00:24:52,359 --> 00:24:56,440 Speaker 1: You know, these are these were costly ensembles sometimes And 420 00:24:56,520 --> 00:24:59,119 Speaker 1: and I love this quote, this, this whole description, this 421 00:24:59,200 --> 00:25:03,640 Speaker 1: whole report of how fascinating these creatures. Where it ends 422 00:25:03,640 --> 00:25:06,240 Speaker 1: with this quote. They said they all wore beautiful little 423 00:25:06,280 --> 00:25:10,040 Speaker 1: gypsy hats decorated with fresh rosebuds of every human color. 424 00:25:10,320 --> 00:25:13,679 Speaker 1: And we almost imagined we had first beheld them, that 425 00:25:13,760 --> 00:25:17,760 Speaker 1: we were visited by a flock of fairy queens. God. 426 00:25:19,240 --> 00:25:21,800 Speaker 1: You know, so some people, some people were really truly 427 00:25:22,119 --> 00:25:26,680 Speaker 1: um enamored um with the style. But um, the style, 428 00:25:26,760 --> 00:25:29,159 Speaker 1: as castaid, you know, it spread rather quickly from New 429 00:25:29,200 --> 00:25:33,120 Speaker 1: York to Ohio, to Michigan to California, and it even 430 00:25:33,160 --> 00:25:37,400 Speaker 1: spread as far as Europe, particularly in London. Um. And 431 00:25:37,440 --> 00:25:40,399 Speaker 1: what happens next, Um, it's kind of like early phase 432 00:25:40,440 --> 00:25:43,159 Speaker 1: if we start to begin to see this proliferation of 433 00:25:43,200 --> 00:25:47,240 Speaker 1: events that were planned centered around the wearing of bloomer costume, 434 00:25:47,520 --> 00:25:54,440 Speaker 1: particularly bloomer balls. Um. Yeah, and these these are so fabulous, right, 435 00:25:54,480 --> 00:25:57,600 Speaker 1: I mean, they were dances specifically put on for the 436 00:25:57,680 --> 00:26:01,919 Speaker 1: purpose of women being able to where this Bloomer style. 437 00:26:02,600 --> 00:26:05,000 Speaker 1: You know, some of the women that participated in the 438 00:26:05,040 --> 00:26:07,639 Speaker 1: Bloomer Balls had already adopted it as part of their 439 00:26:07,720 --> 00:26:11,080 Speaker 1: daily dress. Um. But there was also another like healthy 440 00:26:11,280 --> 00:26:15,320 Speaker 1: segment um that that considered themselves really only daring enough 441 00:26:15,440 --> 00:26:18,160 Speaker 1: to to put it on for one night only. But 442 00:26:18,240 --> 00:26:20,240 Speaker 1: you know, the thing that I can say is that 443 00:26:20,320 --> 00:26:22,720 Speaker 1: I think that early on a lot of the press 444 00:26:22,800 --> 00:26:25,879 Speaker 1: was a little bit more positive, um than it was 445 00:26:26,119 --> 00:26:30,720 Speaker 1: as time passed. Yeah, it took a took a bit 446 00:26:30,760 --> 00:26:34,480 Speaker 1: of a turn. Yeah. Um. You know, really the positive 447 00:26:34,520 --> 00:26:38,040 Speaker 1: press was kind of quickly outpaced by the negative um. 448 00:26:38,080 --> 00:26:41,479 Speaker 1: And and the style. The style was highly controversial, you know, 449 00:26:41,600 --> 00:26:46,560 Speaker 1: simply because within Western dress bifurcated garments or pants. You know, 450 00:26:46,600 --> 00:26:50,320 Speaker 1: they've been gendered mail for centuries um. And also within 451 00:26:50,400 --> 00:26:53,199 Speaker 1: Western culture they still remain to be seen as a 452 00:26:53,240 --> 00:26:57,200 Speaker 1: signifier of power, you know. So the adoption of them 453 00:26:57,200 --> 00:27:01,520 Speaker 1: by these women for weather, for reasons of practicality or politics, um, 454 00:27:01,600 --> 00:27:04,840 Speaker 1: you know, this was perceived as a threat to the 455 00:27:04,920 --> 00:27:08,600 Speaker 1: natural order of things, you know. And and if the Bloomers, 456 00:27:08,680 --> 00:27:12,399 Speaker 1: most of whom were affiliated with the women's rights movement. Um. 457 00:27:12,440 --> 00:27:15,840 Speaker 1: Not all people involved on the women's rights movement war 458 00:27:16,119 --> 00:27:20,280 Speaker 1: bloomer costume, but most bloomer costume adopters were part of 459 00:27:20,280 --> 00:27:23,120 Speaker 1: the women's rights movements. You know, it was basically thought 460 00:27:23,160 --> 00:27:26,719 Speaker 1: that if they gained the equal rights of men, suddenly 461 00:27:26,760 --> 00:27:30,640 Speaker 1: they would be no longer interested in marriage or maternity. 462 00:27:31,160 --> 00:27:33,399 Speaker 1: I mean, I've seen statements in the press women period 463 00:27:33,400 --> 00:27:36,240 Speaker 1: that were basically like, you know, if women are allowed 464 00:27:36,320 --> 00:27:40,000 Speaker 1: to wear pants, the depopulation of the world is eminent. 465 00:27:40,560 --> 00:27:44,639 Speaker 1: My goodness, I know, it's crazy. It's like from zero 466 00:27:44,720 --> 00:27:47,520 Speaker 1: to sixty and and it's and you know, these women 467 00:27:47,520 --> 00:27:51,720 Speaker 1: were really kind of usurping quote unquote male privilege and 468 00:27:51,760 --> 00:27:53,640 Speaker 1: the fact that they were asking for the right to vote, 469 00:27:53,640 --> 00:27:56,080 Speaker 1: they were asking for representation and government. They were asking 470 00:27:56,080 --> 00:27:58,480 Speaker 1: for equal pay, and they were asking for their right 471 00:27:58,520 --> 00:28:02,040 Speaker 1: to dress as they off fit. UM. And one of 472 00:28:02,080 --> 00:28:05,520 Speaker 1: the most um stunning examples, UM that I saw in 473 00:28:05,600 --> 00:28:08,359 Speaker 1: the press came from eighteen fifty two when a group 474 00:28:08,359 --> 00:28:10,880 Speaker 1: of women wrote into the New York Times and basically 475 00:28:10,880 --> 00:28:13,480 Speaker 1: they were like pleading to be left alone to wear 476 00:28:13,520 --> 00:28:17,000 Speaker 1: their bloomer costumes on the street. Um. And they said, 477 00:28:17,320 --> 00:28:21,560 Speaker 1: as an exercise of our unalienable rights. And of course 478 00:28:21,920 --> 00:28:26,680 Speaker 1: the journalist who's reporting on this incident, um it basically says, 479 00:28:26,720 --> 00:28:29,000 Speaker 1: you know, oh, if you want to exercise your rights, 480 00:28:29,200 --> 00:28:31,359 Speaker 1: then we as men have the right to mock and 481 00:28:31,480 --> 00:28:34,439 Speaker 1: riddle cule you in the street. Get over it, ladies. 482 00:28:37,800 --> 00:28:40,280 Speaker 1: Oh oh you think that's bad, that's not even the worst. 483 00:28:43,240 --> 00:28:46,080 Speaker 1: You know that this wasn't exactly in the press per se. 484 00:28:46,160 --> 00:28:48,920 Speaker 1: But but I do think it's worth, um going through 485 00:28:48,960 --> 00:28:51,760 Speaker 1: this to really kind of understand the victual that that 486 00:28:51,880 --> 00:28:55,360 Speaker 1: these women were subjected to. UM. In eighteen fifty two, 487 00:28:55,760 --> 00:28:59,640 Speaker 1: the Men's State Temperance Society meeting in New York, UM 488 00:28:59,720 --> 00:29:03,440 Speaker 1: some the women members um of the association that Amelia 489 00:29:03,440 --> 00:29:07,440 Speaker 1: had started, the Women State Temperance Society attended, and there 490 00:29:07,560 --> 00:29:10,920 Speaker 1: was a doctor there, um Dr Vanderville, who was so 491 00:29:11,080 --> 00:29:16,160 Speaker 1: offended just by the presence of fellow temperance activists that 492 00:29:16,240 --> 00:29:19,040 Speaker 1: happened to be women. He said at the meeting, he 493 00:29:19,080 --> 00:29:23,520 Speaker 1: said that these women were quote hybrid creature, half man, 494 00:29:23,720 --> 00:29:27,800 Speaker 1: half woman, belonging to neither sex. This society and the 495 00:29:27,840 --> 00:29:32,200 Speaker 1: women's rights movement must be cut down, cut up, root 496 00:29:32,280 --> 00:29:37,280 Speaker 1: and branch. I mean, these are the activists on on 497 00:29:37,640 --> 00:29:41,800 Speaker 1: you know, on working on the same issue. It's just 498 00:29:41,880 --> 00:29:44,920 Speaker 1: that the men did not want the women. They're regardless 499 00:29:44,960 --> 00:29:47,120 Speaker 1: of the dress. But it's all of this. This is 500 00:29:47,160 --> 00:29:50,000 Speaker 1: like the culture of of of what was happening at 501 00:29:50,040 --> 00:29:53,680 Speaker 1: the time. Yeah, and and something that went a long 502 00:29:53,760 --> 00:29:56,840 Speaker 1: way and sort of setting this negative tone associated with 503 00:29:56,880 --> 00:30:05,120 Speaker 1: the style and specifically anti bloomer ridicule were cartoons. Um. Yes, satire. 504 00:30:05,520 --> 00:30:08,000 Speaker 1: I mean people have loved to make fun of fashion 505 00:30:08,160 --> 00:30:12,280 Speaker 1: for time eternal basically. Um. But there's this one cartoonist, 506 00:30:12,360 --> 00:30:15,960 Speaker 1: John Leach in London who illustrates for this magazine called 507 00:30:16,000 --> 00:30:20,080 Speaker 1: Punch Um, and he basically made Bloomerism the subject of 508 00:30:20,160 --> 00:30:22,920 Speaker 1: his jokes repeatedly. I think, Um, in eighteen fifty one 509 00:30:22,920 --> 00:30:28,280 Speaker 1: there was over twenty or something cartoons specifically against Bloomerism. April, 510 00:30:28,320 --> 00:30:31,400 Speaker 1: I think you have a particular one that you There's 511 00:30:31,440 --> 00:30:35,480 Speaker 1: so many favorites. Um. My favorite, though, is one where 512 00:30:35,600 --> 00:30:38,920 Speaker 1: there's a woman in bloomer costumed out on Wendy proposing 513 00:30:38,960 --> 00:30:43,440 Speaker 1: to a man, apparently very shocking for the era. And 514 00:30:45,000 --> 00:30:47,840 Speaker 1: then all these women, you know, hanging around with each 515 00:30:47,880 --> 00:30:51,120 Speaker 1: other smoking cigars and their shortened skirts and pants. I mean, 516 00:30:51,600 --> 00:30:54,760 Speaker 1: they're quite amusing now because you know, we really relate 517 00:30:55,120 --> 00:30:59,760 Speaker 1: to these women. Um, But back then this was this was, um, 518 00:31:00,560 --> 00:31:04,480 Speaker 1: you know, an attack essentially on these women as being 519 00:31:04,600 --> 00:31:09,240 Speaker 1: anti feminine. And actually the irony of all this negative 520 00:31:09,280 --> 00:31:12,760 Speaker 1: press is that women's fashion, like I said, was commonly 521 00:31:12,880 --> 00:31:16,760 Speaker 1: the source of criticism and derision. Um. Women repeatedly were 522 00:31:16,760 --> 00:31:20,560 Speaker 1: criticized throughout history for their perceived vanity, their fickleness, and 523 00:31:20,560 --> 00:31:23,280 Speaker 1: their attention to clothing. And yet, as the U. S 524 00:31:23,320 --> 00:31:26,080 Speaker 1: Magazine points out in eighteen fifties six quote, when an 525 00:31:26,080 --> 00:31:28,880 Speaker 1: effort is made to substitute a costume which admits of 526 00:31:28,920 --> 00:31:32,720 Speaker 1: health and energy and grace, every newspaper in the land 527 00:31:33,000 --> 00:31:35,720 Speaker 1: rises to cry loud and spare not lest women are 528 00:31:35,720 --> 00:31:39,840 Speaker 1: stepping out of their sere and assuming man's attire. I mean, 529 00:31:39,840 --> 00:31:46,520 Speaker 1: you can't win, Yeah, another tight rope can't win. Yeah. 530 00:31:46,600 --> 00:31:49,440 Speaker 1: And as April said, people are really really threatened by 531 00:31:49,480 --> 00:31:53,680 Speaker 1: this transgression because women are moving outside of these prescribed roles, 532 00:31:53,720 --> 00:31:59,440 Speaker 1: these clearly delineated roles, to become equals in society. Um. 533 00:31:59,520 --> 00:32:02,360 Speaker 1: And there's these underlying fears of gender role reversal that 534 00:32:02,680 --> 00:32:07,120 Speaker 1: really becomes bloomerism, really becomes this visual manifestation of all 535 00:32:07,160 --> 00:32:13,920 Speaker 1: of these fears. Yeah. Yeah, But Amelia didn't take this, 536 00:32:13,920 --> 00:32:16,840 Speaker 1: this lying down, all of this criticism. She she rushed 537 00:32:16,840 --> 00:32:21,080 Speaker 1: in to the defense of the Bloomer costume. Correct. Yeah, 538 00:32:21,080 --> 00:32:22,880 Speaker 1: I mean, she says, when I saw what a fear 539 00:32:23,000 --> 00:32:24,920 Speaker 1: I had raised, I determined that I would not be 540 00:32:24,960 --> 00:32:27,240 Speaker 1: frightened from my position, but I would stand my ground 541 00:32:27,520 --> 00:32:30,520 Speaker 1: and where the dress when and where I please. So 542 00:32:30,600 --> 00:32:33,640 Speaker 1: she wore it on all occasions, she says, at home 543 00:32:33,720 --> 00:32:36,360 Speaker 1: and abroad, at church and on the lecture platform, at 544 00:32:36,400 --> 00:32:39,719 Speaker 1: fashionable parties and in my business office. I found the 545 00:32:39,840 --> 00:32:42,880 Speaker 1: dress light, easy and convenient and well adapted to the 546 00:32:42,880 --> 00:32:47,040 Speaker 1: needs of my busy life. And Amelia saw the costume 547 00:32:47,120 --> 00:32:50,280 Speaker 1: as a tool. Really, she saw how much attention the 548 00:32:50,320 --> 00:32:54,000 Speaker 1: costume itself was getting. And you know, just to paraphrase her, 549 00:32:54,120 --> 00:32:57,000 Speaker 1: she said that, you know, if if we're, if our message, 550 00:32:57,120 --> 00:33:00,600 Speaker 1: if our cause is getting all of this attention simply 551 00:33:00,760 --> 00:33:03,320 Speaker 1: from these costumes that we're wearing, or the style of 552 00:33:03,400 --> 00:33:05,720 Speaker 1: dress that we're wearing, which is deemed radical, if people 553 00:33:05,760 --> 00:33:08,680 Speaker 1: are coming to hear me because of that, I'm fine 554 00:33:08,720 --> 00:33:12,480 Speaker 1: with that, you know, until I stop getting publicity for 555 00:33:12,520 --> 00:33:15,160 Speaker 1: this and and bringing people in the doors to hear 556 00:33:15,200 --> 00:33:18,560 Speaker 1: our message, I'm not going to wear anything else. UM. 557 00:33:18,560 --> 00:33:22,040 Speaker 1: But she did UM kind of cease wearing it daily 558 00:33:22,120 --> 00:33:25,920 Speaker 1: around eighteen fifty five or eighteen fifty six, UM, she 559 00:33:26,160 --> 00:33:29,160 Speaker 1: moved to Iowa to the planes, and is this a 560 00:33:29,160 --> 00:33:33,120 Speaker 1: really funny story. Apparently she says that the wind there 561 00:33:33,480 --> 00:33:38,120 Speaker 1: was a real struggle for her because she was unaccustomed 562 00:33:38,160 --> 00:33:41,200 Speaker 1: to these high winds like on the planes, and it 563 00:33:41,200 --> 00:33:44,240 Speaker 1: would blow her shortened skirt up over her head in 564 00:33:44,280 --> 00:33:48,920 Speaker 1: the street. So that was one of the reasons why 565 00:33:49,040 --> 00:33:51,840 Speaker 1: she gave it up. UM. But also around the same time, 566 00:33:51,880 --> 00:33:54,840 Speaker 1: this is the exact precise moment when the hoop skirt 567 00:33:55,040 --> 00:34:00,960 Speaker 1: or cage coloneline hit the marketplace. UM and this eliminated 568 00:34:01,000 --> 00:34:03,960 Speaker 1: all the need for those layers and layers of petticoats 569 00:34:04,600 --> 00:34:07,560 Speaker 1: because the cage colonel and basically it was a series 570 00:34:07,600 --> 00:34:11,080 Speaker 1: of graduated, concentric hoops that held the skirt away from 571 00:34:11,120 --> 00:34:13,600 Speaker 1: the body, and you didn't need all those layers of 572 00:34:13,640 --> 00:34:18,040 Speaker 1: petticoats anymore. So Amelia felt that this was a suitable 573 00:34:18,040 --> 00:34:23,400 Speaker 1: substitute UM for the much shortened bloomer costume. UM and 574 00:34:23,400 --> 00:34:25,680 Speaker 1: and many of the other women's rice leaders around the 575 00:34:25,719 --> 00:34:29,360 Speaker 1: same time, Um, they felt they began to feel like 576 00:34:29,680 --> 00:34:33,520 Speaker 1: this cause of dress reform was taking second stage to 577 00:34:33,680 --> 00:34:37,480 Speaker 1: their message of suffrage for equal pay, for representation and government, 578 00:34:38,080 --> 00:34:40,200 Speaker 1: the right to own property. And they were like, whoa, 579 00:34:40,920 --> 00:34:44,000 Speaker 1: maybe maybe we need to put dress reform on the 580 00:34:44,040 --> 00:34:47,799 Speaker 1: back burner and address, you know, some of these other 581 00:34:47,960 --> 00:34:54,040 Speaker 1: issues first, right, because it was sort of becoming a distraction. 582 00:34:54,120 --> 00:34:56,799 Speaker 1: It was, it was getting a lot more attention than 583 00:34:56,880 --> 00:35:00,399 Speaker 1: perhaps they had hoped, and it was some at least 584 00:35:00,560 --> 00:35:03,200 Speaker 1: in the view of some people, it was taking away 585 00:35:03,280 --> 00:35:08,239 Speaker 1: from these other issues that they really wanted to focus on. Yeah. Absolutely, 586 00:35:08,360 --> 00:35:10,759 Speaker 1: And Susan B. Anthony actually reflected on it years later. 587 00:35:10,800 --> 00:35:13,680 Speaker 1: She said that I learned the lesson than that to 588 00:35:13,719 --> 00:35:17,279 Speaker 1: be successful, a person must attempt but one reform. I 589 00:35:17,360 --> 00:35:20,560 Speaker 1: must not present the temperance, the religious, the dress, or 590 00:35:20,600 --> 00:35:24,520 Speaker 1: any other besides, but must confine myself to suffrage. So 591 00:35:24,600 --> 00:35:29,120 Speaker 1: basically they needed to focus on one issue at a time. Yeah. 592 00:35:29,280 --> 00:35:32,600 Speaker 1: But that being said, I mean it didn't disappear entirely. Um. 593 00:35:32,640 --> 00:35:35,239 Speaker 1: There was another feminist newspaper that was founded a little 594 00:35:35,239 --> 00:35:38,640 Speaker 1: bit later, called The sibyl Um. In an eight they 595 00:35:38,680 --> 00:35:42,360 Speaker 1: actually reported back that UM four hundred and three, women 596 00:35:42,360 --> 00:35:46,200 Speaker 1: in the United States continue to wear Um reform dress, 597 00:35:46,200 --> 00:35:49,120 Speaker 1: whether it be exactly the Bloomer costume or or some 598 00:35:49,480 --> 00:35:54,040 Speaker 1: derivation of other associations around this same time begin to 599 00:35:54,120 --> 00:35:57,839 Speaker 1: pop up championing the cause of dress reform, and this 600 00:35:57,880 --> 00:36:01,239 Speaker 1: will continue all the way into the teen eighties. So 601 00:36:01,400 --> 00:36:03,479 Speaker 1: while a lot of the leaders of the women's rights 602 00:36:03,480 --> 00:36:08,440 Speaker 1: movement gave up um Bloomer costume, um that that seed 603 00:36:08,480 --> 00:36:10,640 Speaker 1: had already been planted, and there are other people that 604 00:36:10,680 --> 00:36:12,480 Speaker 1: would pick it up. And one of the things that 605 00:36:12,520 --> 00:36:14,719 Speaker 1: I thought was really interesting, as the dress froom for 606 00:36:14,920 --> 00:36:18,719 Speaker 1: movements happen in later in the nineteenth century, in the 607 00:36:18,719 --> 00:36:23,719 Speaker 1: eighteen eighties, their focus actually shifts away from being about 608 00:36:24,280 --> 00:36:27,720 Speaker 1: the skirt length and petticoats and it shifts to become 609 00:36:27,840 --> 00:36:31,600 Speaker 1: the corset as being the main issue. Yeah, and something 610 00:36:31,640 --> 00:36:33,319 Speaker 1: I actually want to go back a second, because I 611 00:36:33,320 --> 00:36:36,359 Speaker 1: actually find it kind of amusing that the sibyl Um, 612 00:36:36,360 --> 00:36:39,080 Speaker 1: the women who supported the Dress Reform Association, which was 613 00:36:39,120 --> 00:36:42,840 Speaker 1: formed in eighteen fifty six, kind of directly after the 614 00:36:42,880 --> 00:36:46,640 Speaker 1: women's rights activists had kind of left off Um wearing 615 00:36:46,640 --> 00:36:50,960 Speaker 1: the Bloomer costume. They really kind of openly criticized these women, 616 00:36:51,000 --> 00:36:54,640 Speaker 1: and there was a debate about um dress reform and 617 00:36:54,680 --> 00:36:57,880 Speaker 1: when women should wear this reform dress, and the women's 618 00:36:57,960 --> 00:37:01,200 Speaker 1: rights activists believed that dress reform would come after women 619 00:37:01,239 --> 00:37:04,160 Speaker 1: were given their do rights in society, and these dress 620 00:37:04,239 --> 00:37:07,640 Speaker 1: reformers actually believed that social change would only occur as 621 00:37:07,680 --> 00:37:11,839 Speaker 1: a result of wearing um this style of dress and 622 00:37:11,920 --> 00:37:16,799 Speaker 1: presenting it in a moral and exemplary way. Right, So 623 00:37:16,840 --> 00:37:19,920 Speaker 1: basically they were they were politicized. There were two There 624 00:37:19,960 --> 00:37:22,959 Speaker 1: were two camps. There are some people. Some people wanted 625 00:37:23,000 --> 00:37:26,600 Speaker 1: to politicize the dress um and in order to gain reform, 626 00:37:26,680 --> 00:37:30,680 Speaker 1: and other people wanted to de politicize dress and deal 627 00:37:30,719 --> 00:37:33,400 Speaker 1: with all the other business first. Yeah, and so like. 628 00:37:33,440 --> 00:37:35,839 Speaker 1: As April says, it never really went away, but as 629 00:37:36,000 --> 00:37:38,399 Speaker 1: as a fashion as that and as an accepted form 630 00:37:38,400 --> 00:37:41,840 Speaker 1: address this would not come for many many years. Around 631 00:37:42,000 --> 00:37:46,799 Speaker 1: n nineteen eleven, the controversial present terier Paul pay He 632 00:37:46,920 --> 00:37:50,040 Speaker 1: put forth a version of quote unquote hair and pants 633 00:37:50,080 --> 00:37:52,760 Speaker 1: for women, and these were known as juke colots literally 634 00:37:52,800 --> 00:37:56,200 Speaker 1: pant skirt um. Although he always maintained that his versions 635 00:37:56,239 --> 00:37:58,239 Speaker 1: were meant to be worn in the privacy of one's home, 636 00:37:58,360 --> 00:38:03,200 Speaker 1: his contemporaries such as Bischoff davide Um proved more bold 637 00:38:03,239 --> 00:38:05,359 Speaker 1: and they sent their models into the streets to model 638 00:38:05,400 --> 00:38:09,600 Speaker 1: these designs. And again this was incredibly controversial. UM. It 639 00:38:09,719 --> 00:38:13,399 Speaker 1: was a very short lived movement, and it really wasn't 640 00:38:13,520 --> 00:38:19,320 Speaker 1: until the eighteen sixties, so hundred years after Amelie Bloomer UM, 641 00:38:19,680 --> 00:38:22,520 Speaker 1: when conformity was thrown to the wind in a whirl 642 00:38:22,560 --> 00:38:25,840 Speaker 1: of mini skirts and hippie counterculture. UM. And it was 643 00:38:25,920 --> 00:38:28,840 Speaker 1: during this period that women and pants finally found a 644 00:38:28,880 --> 00:38:32,000 Speaker 1: footing UM. And it's something that has of course continued 645 00:38:32,040 --> 00:38:34,640 Speaker 1: into this day where pants are now part of this 646 00:38:34,840 --> 00:38:38,400 Speaker 1: kind of ubiquitous uniform worn by both men and women. 647 00:38:39,920 --> 00:38:46,719 Speaker 1: That seems so recent, it is, And one of the 648 00:38:46,800 --> 00:38:48,879 Speaker 1: things that struck me, like to to your point, Annie, 649 00:38:48,920 --> 00:38:51,040 Speaker 1: you said, it seems to feel so recent. One of 650 00:38:51,080 --> 00:38:53,000 Speaker 1: the things that really struck me when I was reading 651 00:38:53,000 --> 00:38:56,760 Speaker 1: all the press from UM surrounding the women's rights movements 652 00:38:57,160 --> 00:39:01,440 Speaker 1: is that a lot of these issues for almost five 653 00:39:01,480 --> 00:39:04,319 Speaker 1: years ago are still the exact same things that we're 654 00:39:04,320 --> 00:39:08,799 Speaker 1: talking about today. And at one point I was reading 655 00:39:08,840 --> 00:39:11,440 Speaker 1: an article and I cried a little. I was like, really, 656 00:39:11,600 --> 00:39:16,960 Speaker 1: we're still having this conversation like come on, good old 657 00:39:17,000 --> 00:39:21,680 Speaker 1: tradition of policing women's bodies as alive, and well, yeah, 658 00:39:21,800 --> 00:39:25,839 Speaker 1: I I kept thinking about how in politics women are 659 00:39:25,920 --> 00:39:28,279 Speaker 1: judged so much more harshly on what they wear. We've 660 00:39:28,320 --> 00:39:30,680 Speaker 1: talked about that on the show before, and that's where 661 00:39:30,680 --> 00:39:33,879 Speaker 1: a lot of the news coverage focuses on on what 662 00:39:34,000 --> 00:39:37,880 Speaker 1: women female candidates are wearing, like sneaker gate or something, 663 00:39:38,560 --> 00:39:42,520 Speaker 1: and it is still such a topic of conversation, um 664 00:39:42,560 --> 00:39:44,799 Speaker 1: like in the dress code or that we have no 665 00:39:44,920 --> 00:39:47,960 Speaker 1: functional pockets and a lot of our clothes, which is 666 00:39:48,000 --> 00:39:50,160 Speaker 1: one of our most popular episodes we've ever done, because 667 00:39:50,200 --> 00:39:52,600 Speaker 1: a lot of us are frustrated by it, right, and 668 00:39:52,760 --> 00:39:56,160 Speaker 1: it it reminds me of that segment on Fox News 669 00:39:56,160 --> 00:39:58,200 Speaker 1: that went viral a few years back when those dudes 670 00:39:58,239 --> 00:40:01,480 Speaker 1: from Duck Dynasty were saying that eggings were too distracting 671 00:40:02,000 --> 00:40:05,359 Speaker 1: for public attire. I had never seen that, by the way, 672 00:40:05,440 --> 00:40:09,040 Speaker 1: until you pointed it out, and yeah, it's pretty disturbing. Actually, 673 00:40:09,040 --> 00:40:11,520 Speaker 1: these women come out parading in front of this panel 674 00:40:11,560 --> 00:40:15,840 Speaker 1: of men who are judging them on what they wear. Yeah, 675 00:40:15,880 --> 00:40:20,359 Speaker 1: and it reminded me of the whole point of this blueism, 676 00:40:21,000 --> 00:40:25,279 Speaker 1: of what Amelia Bloomer was trying to communicate was that 677 00:40:25,360 --> 00:40:28,600 Speaker 1: sometimes women are dressing for themselves and for comfort and 678 00:40:28,600 --> 00:40:33,960 Speaker 1: for functionality and not for you, not for maw gaze exactly. 679 00:40:34,360 --> 00:40:37,920 Speaker 1: So yeah, a lot of this is still still ongoing. 680 00:40:38,680 --> 00:40:40,520 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I'm April, and I talked about it in 681 00:40:40,920 --> 00:40:44,560 Speaker 1: one of our episodes on this modernist dancer and performer 682 00:40:44,560 --> 00:40:48,440 Speaker 1: Gabby de Lee, whose body was similarly policed or tried. 683 00:40:48,560 --> 00:40:51,279 Speaker 1: People tried to police her in the nineteen tens. But 684 00:40:52,040 --> 00:40:55,120 Speaker 1: it really reminded us about a last year, the United 685 00:40:55,160 --> 00:40:58,720 Speaker 1: States Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan Um finally agreed 686 00:40:58,760 --> 00:41:03,160 Speaker 1: to modernize the dress code for the House of Representatives. UM. Basically, 687 00:41:04,160 --> 00:41:07,880 Speaker 1: women could not wear sleeveless business attire until that point 688 00:41:08,280 --> 00:41:12,120 Speaker 1: and um. And so it's like, this is two thousand 689 00:41:12,160 --> 00:41:15,839 Speaker 1: seventeen and women are still not allowed to wear, um 690 00:41:15,880 --> 00:41:19,600 Speaker 1: what they see fit right. And I mean, the whole 691 00:41:19,640 --> 00:41:25,920 Speaker 1: conversation around wearing pants suits, Hillary Clinton wearing pants suits, 692 00:41:25,960 --> 00:41:30,840 Speaker 1: it's just again you can't, oh my gosh, when that 693 00:41:30,920 --> 00:41:33,520 Speaker 1: all happened. Do you know how many press inquiries I 694 00:41:33,560 --> 00:41:38,360 Speaker 1: got wanting people people wanting me to comment on pant suits. 695 00:41:38,880 --> 00:41:42,080 Speaker 1: It was crazy and I'm like, why are we talking 696 00:41:42,080 --> 00:41:45,839 Speaker 1: about this? Seems very like not the point of what 697 00:41:46,360 --> 00:41:49,480 Speaker 1: we should be focusing on exactly. And I actually I 698 00:41:49,560 --> 00:41:51,640 Speaker 1: declined them all because I was like, I'm not going 699 00:41:51,640 --> 00:41:57,480 Speaker 1: to fuel this discussion any further, Like, Yeah, let's let's 700 00:41:57,520 --> 00:42:01,120 Speaker 1: try to shift to something more more important like what 701 00:42:01,239 --> 00:42:04,759 Speaker 1: she's saying. But you have a little bit of a 702 00:42:04,840 --> 00:42:09,040 Speaker 1: quote from Lady Gaga on this whole thing, right, Oh yeah, 703 00:42:09,080 --> 00:42:11,840 Speaker 1: Well Lady Gaga, I mean April kind of spoke to 704 00:42:11,880 --> 00:42:14,640 Speaker 1: it earlier. How the pant has become, you know, a 705 00:42:14,680 --> 00:42:17,279 Speaker 1: co opted garment by both sexes, but it still does 706 00:42:17,400 --> 00:42:21,319 Speaker 1: today remain um slightly gendered in that it represents this 707 00:42:21,840 --> 00:42:26,240 Speaker 1: um idea of power. And so recently Adam L's annual 708 00:42:26,239 --> 00:42:30,759 Speaker 1: Woman in Hollywood celebration, Lady Gaga opted to wear not 709 00:42:30,960 --> 00:42:34,680 Speaker 1: a beautiful, um extravagant evening gown, um, but rather an 710 00:42:34,680 --> 00:42:38,640 Speaker 1: oversized Mark Jacob suit, and um, it was a suit 711 00:42:38,719 --> 00:42:41,919 Speaker 1: that was made for women, but it's still um represents 712 00:42:42,000 --> 00:42:47,000 Speaker 1: this masculine garment and um, she really was empowered by 713 00:42:47,040 --> 00:42:49,640 Speaker 1: it and that and she said, I had a revelation 714 00:42:49,680 --> 00:42:51,720 Speaker 1: that I had to be empowered to be myself today 715 00:42:51,800 --> 00:42:55,040 Speaker 1: more than ever to resist the standards of Hollywood, whatever 716 00:42:55,080 --> 00:42:58,360 Speaker 1: that means, to resist the standards of dressing to impress, 717 00:42:58,640 --> 00:43:01,960 Speaker 1: but to use what really matter, my voice. And as 718 00:43:01,960 --> 00:43:03,959 Speaker 1: a woman who was conditioned at a very young age 719 00:43:03,960 --> 00:43:06,239 Speaker 1: to listen to what men told me to do, I 720 00:43:06,280 --> 00:43:09,200 Speaker 1: decided today I wanted to take the power back. Today 721 00:43:09,400 --> 00:43:14,080 Speaker 1: I wear the pants. Yes, I love that I wear 722 00:43:14,120 --> 00:43:22,799 Speaker 1: the pants. Go Gaga. It's funny too, because, um, all 723 00:43:22,840 --> 00:43:26,920 Speaker 1: of this has made me appreciate pants even more, because 724 00:43:27,080 --> 00:43:28,719 Speaker 1: it's just something I think a lot of us take 725 00:43:28,760 --> 00:43:33,799 Speaker 1: for granted. And I guess that the the funny part 726 00:43:33,840 --> 00:43:36,120 Speaker 1: for me is now I can hardly convince myself to 727 00:43:36,160 --> 00:43:40,520 Speaker 1: wear pants. That's such a it's such a great day 728 00:43:40,560 --> 00:43:43,680 Speaker 1: when I do it. So I would encourage all of 729 00:43:43,760 --> 00:43:48,600 Speaker 1: us to to take a moment and just appreciate the history. 730 00:43:48,400 --> 00:43:51,680 Speaker 1: But I certainly have the right to choose now. You, 731 00:43:52,640 --> 00:43:55,160 Speaker 1: people like Amelia Bloomer have fought for you to be 732 00:43:55,200 --> 00:43:57,520 Speaker 1: able to make that decision whether or not you want 733 00:43:57,560 --> 00:43:59,839 Speaker 1: to wear pants or put whatever you want on your body. 734 00:43:59,880 --> 00:44:01,920 Speaker 1: The point is that you have the right to do that, 735 00:44:02,800 --> 00:44:06,759 Speaker 1: absolutely well said. So it's really thanks to them that 736 00:44:06,840 --> 00:44:11,759 Speaker 1: we have that choice today. Yes, so next time you're 737 00:44:11,800 --> 00:44:14,920 Speaker 1: struggling in the morning, you're you're trying to pull on 738 00:44:14,960 --> 00:44:20,359 Speaker 1: your pants, take a moment, take a breath, and appreciate 739 00:44:20,440 --> 00:44:25,319 Speaker 1: all of this history, and but also continue fighting for 740 00:44:25,360 --> 00:44:31,560 Speaker 1: better pockets, because I am all about those pockets. Thank 741 00:44:31,600 --> 00:44:36,439 Speaker 1: you both so much for coming on. This has been wonderful. Yeah, 742 00:44:36,440 --> 00:44:38,239 Speaker 1: thank you for having us. Thank you so much. This 743 00:44:38,360 --> 00:44:42,680 Speaker 1: is really fun. Where can our listeners find you. They 744 00:44:42,719 --> 00:44:45,560 Speaker 1: can find us on our show A Dressed the History 745 00:44:45,600 --> 00:44:48,600 Speaker 1: of Fashion podcast UM, which is on the house Stuff 746 00:44:48,600 --> 00:44:51,880 Speaker 1: Works network. You can find it on Google Play, Apple Podcasts, 747 00:44:51,920 --> 00:44:55,000 Speaker 1: or wherever else you get your podcasts, UM and cast. 748 00:44:55,040 --> 00:44:57,680 Speaker 1: Do you want to tell them about our social media? Yeah, 749 00:44:57,680 --> 00:45:01,520 Speaker 1: so we also have our website, ww Dressed podcast dot com. 750 00:45:01,560 --> 00:45:04,480 Speaker 1: But we have an Instagram in which we post images 751 00:45:04,560 --> 00:45:08,200 Speaker 1: daily to accompany each podcast, and that is at Dressed 752 00:45:08,280 --> 00:45:12,080 Speaker 1: Underscored Podcast, which is also our Twitter handle, and you 753 00:45:12,080 --> 00:45:14,560 Speaker 1: can find us on Facebook as well at Dressed Podcast 754 00:45:14,600 --> 00:45:18,360 Speaker 1: without the underscore. Thank you so much, Annie, Oh my gosh, 755 00:45:18,360 --> 00:45:20,879 Speaker 1: thank you so much. This has been wonderful. I when 756 00:45:20,880 --> 00:45:23,520 Speaker 1: I heard that they were Bloomer Balls, I can't tell 757 00:45:23,560 --> 00:45:29,799 Speaker 1: you how excited it was. Maybe I have I have 758 00:45:29,880 --> 00:45:32,840 Speaker 1: a fashion plate depicting one of the Bloomer balls. I 759 00:45:32,880 --> 00:45:35,560 Speaker 1: will send it to you and put it on the 760 00:45:35,600 --> 00:45:39,319 Speaker 1: Instagram for this episode. That would be amazing. That would 761 00:45:39,320 --> 00:45:42,800 Speaker 1: be amazing. Yes, thank you so much for coming on. Listeners. 762 00:45:42,880 --> 00:45:45,600 Speaker 1: Go check their show out. It's wonderful. I'm sure you'll 763 00:45:45,600 --> 00:45:49,439 Speaker 1: find something super fascinating for you. And if you would 764 00:45:49,440 --> 00:45:52,319 Speaker 1: like to email this show, you can our emails mom 765 00:45:52,400 --> 00:45:54,479 Speaker 1: Stuff at how stuff works dot com. You can also 766 00:45:54,560 --> 00:45:56,640 Speaker 1: find us on Instagram at Stuff I've Never Told You 767 00:45:56,719 --> 00:46:00,000 Speaker 1: and on Twitter at mom Stuff Podcast. Thanks, as always, 768 00:46:00,040 --> 00:46:03,120 Speaker 1: is to our producer Andrew Howard, and thanks to you 769 00:46:03,320 --> 00:46:09,759 Speaker 1: for listening. M H.