Colonial America Research Paper
Fashion is an essential part of life and this is especially true for Colonial America. The reason fashion played an important role in colonial life is because it depicts status, connects the colonists to Europe, and helps them express themselves. Clothing also helps explain a great deal about the colonists in America. Colonial America’s fashion was influenced by Europe, but ultimately became American through creating clothing styles specifically for colonists’ daily needs (Loren, 4). Trade played an important role in Colonial America because it was responsible for importing the clothing styles and fabrics from Europe to the colonists who depended on the fashion of the English Courts to display their wealth and cultured selves. The colonies
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There were three basic garments depending on wealth and status, one option was the closed robe or gown made of an attached bodice and skirt. Another option was the complete opposite and was the open robe, which was a gown with a skirt that was open at the front and worn with a petticoat. The final alternative for garment choices was the bodice and skirt (Staples and Shaw, 257). Although these were the three basic choices of clothing, how one wore them depended on their status. John Fanning Watson on the subject of colonial women stated, “Ladies never wore the same dress at work and on visits; they sat at home, or went out in the morning, in chints; brocades, satins and mantuas were reserved for evening or dinner parties. Robes…were always worn in full dress…Worsted was then thought dress enough for common days” (qtd. in Staples and Shaw …show more content…
Each of these groups had different dressing traditions” (Loren, 2). However, just because the colonists had different ethnic heritage/backgrounds does not mean they lost the European view of status through clothing. Where one’s clothes depict a person’s station in life and how wealthy they are. This belief of status through clothing was important in the colonies and sumptuary laws were created that restricted some people from wearing new fashions in the ways they wished (Loren, 2-3). In
There were three basic garments depending on wealth and status, one option was the closed robe or gown made of an attached bodice and skirt. Another option was the complete opposite and was the open robe, which was a gown with a skirt that was open at the front and worn with a petticoat. The final alternative for garment choices was the bodice and skirt (Staples and Shaw, 257). Although these were the three basic choices of clothing, how one wore them depended on their status. John Fanning Watson on the subject of colonial women stated, “Ladies never wore the same dress at work and on visits; they sat at home, or went out in the morning, in chints; brocades, satins and mantuas were reserved for evening or dinner parties. Robes…were always worn in full dress…Worsted was then thought dress enough for common days” (qtd. in Staples and Shaw …show more content…
Each of these groups had different dressing traditions” (Loren, 2). However, just because the colonists had different ethnic heritage/backgrounds does not mean they lost the European view of status through clothing. Where one’s clothes depict a person’s station in life and how wealthy they are. This belief of status through clothing was important in the colonies and sumptuary laws were created that restricted some people from wearing new fashions in the ways they wished (Loren, 2-3). In