Fashion and Etiquette
Etiquette manuals provided upper class women with specific guidance about how to dress and behave when entertaining guests and attending parties. For an unmarried woman, dressing appropriately was a means of projecting her breeding and status, thus displaying her suitability for marriage and motherhood. For a married woman, dressing appropriately was a way to demonstrate her taste and her husband’s status.
The Gilded Ideal
Etiquette manuals helped women learn to conduct themselves at public events, dress according to fashion standards, and perfect the art of conversation. These skills were necessary for a woman to attract a husband and fulfill her wifely duties. In a heavily judgmental society, a woman’s clothing became a means of navigating restrictive social norms.
The Tarnished Reality
Although women were expected to follow the rules of etiquette, many could not. Some pursued professional careers or engaged in activism in addition to or instead of marriage and motherhood. Many of these women challenged restrictive clothing norms and instead wore “bloomer suits” as a way to express their desire for change. Women who resisted the rules of etiquette still faced judgment from society.
