Suffragettes, the Bloomer and the Nineteenth Amendment...

The Manhattan Delegation of the Woman Suffrage Party parade through New York.

I don't know about you, but when I was exercising my right to vote this past Tuesday, I was thinking about the women who came before me. This year we celebrated the 98th year that women could vote and on this past Tuesday, we elected 100 new women into the House of Representatives! Of course, me being me, my mind immediately went to the "Fashions of Protest!" I remember learning about Amelia Jenks Bloomer in design school. The Bloomer is basically a combination of the "Turkish pantaloons" worn by Persian women and a knee length skirt. They we're considered quite vulgar, but they gave women the freedom to move and participate in activities that were difficult under a full skirt with several layers of petticoats. As an enthusiatic cyclist myself, I was immediately distracted by all the the articles that talked about the correlation of the women's movement and cycling. I found some interesting articles on how the "bloomer backlash" caused the suffragists to distance themselves from it and adopted the white dress for purity. The other colors they chose in which to accent their white, were purple for loyalty & dignity and green for hope. See you next Fashion Friday and, as always, please fell free to comment below and share with friends.

denise

A photograph of Christabel Pankhurt, co-founder and leader of the

Women’s Social and Political Union, taken by Christina Broom (This looks like it was taken yesterday. She looks so contemporary to me...

independent of her colthing/costume of course.)

Suffragettes in white.

I can't make out the accent colors, but let's assume they are purple and green.

(They have a very classical "Grecian" appearance.)

Classic Bloomer Style circa 1855-1865.

Keep in mind, this was during the civil war, which increased the need of women to have more flexibility in their dress since they had to take on different roles during war times.