Women’s Wear from the 19th Century

since revealing part of your body is
usually considered provocative
concealing it is thought to be more
modest hi welcome to watchmojo.com I’m
your host Ashley and today Cynthia
Cooper is gonna take us through the 19th
century women’s where people often think
that the sorts of clothing that was worn
prior to the 20th century was rather
prudish because it covered women’s
bodies from their necks to the floor but
in fact this in its own time was
considered very sexually attractive for
the way it outlines the body and even
exaggerates the shape of the lower body
women were crinolines and bustles
underneath the skirts to give them that
exaggerated shape boundaries of modesty
are always being negotiated in fashion
it’s something that we see in the 19th
century if we look at boots and
stockings that women wore in that period
we see that they’re very decorated very
ornate so clearly they were intended to
attract attention and this idea carries
through to today we can see the same
sort of phenomenon happening with bra
straps and the tops of thong underwear
which are also designed to show and be
revealed in the 19th century women did
wear very revealing clothing there were
very low necklines for formal wear and
this type of garment was known as full
dress which is rather ironic because it
exposed quite a bit of their upper body
it can be very surprising to realize
that there were rules and regulations
enforcing this kind of garment in 1878 a
new Governor General the Marcus of
Lauren invited citizens to meet him and
published an ad in the paper saying that
women must wear low necklines if they
had a medical certificate they could
wear a square neckline that covered the
shoulders but still had to show some of
their cleavage and if they’re wore a
dress buttoned up to the neck they would
simply not be admitted