I don't know; I think we need to think about how we talk about practicality re: historical women's clothing
because one of the most common criticisms leveled at almost any mainstream western style for women pre-1920s is "it was impractical!!!!"
and like. okay. impractical for what though?
sure you can't like. I don't know. wrangle an escaped farm animal back into its pen in full Natural Form. but most women weren't doing that, any more than most of us are now, and the ones who were....wore Work Clothing during livestock-wrangling hours
had someone tell me the other day that you couldn't work a 9-5 job in Second Bustle dresses
you could go to the office in this. you could send memos to Janice in accounting in this. you could work many types of non-food retail in this. you could do several different types of museum jobs in this. you could be a dressmaker, miliner, seamstress, or lady journalist in this, at the time. you could be a doctor in this, although nowadays we know you shouldn't.
what do you MEAN you can't work a 9-5 in this? there are so so so many jobs, modern and otherwise, that could be done in exactly this outfit
I make most of my own clothing from patterns that usually date to like 1869 or 1879-82. long skirts and corsets and the whole shebang (well, okay, I do corset sometimes and bra sometimes, but I digress). my average day is walking to the train, taking the train to work, either sitting at a desk or walking around a museum for several hours, running errands, taking the train back, and walking home
dressing like a Victorian vampire countess is no impediment to my daily life whatsoever. and I average 2 miles of walking per day, so I'm MORE active than most of my fellow USAmericans on a daily basis
on the flipside. can you do aforementioned livestock-wrangling in modern fashion jeans? in trendy oversized tops? is the Clean Girl Aesthetic 100% practical and possible to maintain in all situations that could possibly arise?
what's that? it doesn't matter because you don't have to do those things in your clothing and you'd wear different clothing if you did?
OH WOW. WHO WOULD HAVE EVER CONSIDERED. SUCH AN IDEA.
surely not our Dumb-Dumb Stupid Brainless Ancestors, But Only the Women, Who Were Complete Idiots With No Concept Of Situational Clothing Adaptations
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