Threads Through Time: Historical fashion
Editor, The Sun:
Boycotting is back in the news. The rift between the King of England and his subjects in the American colonies is an appropriate moment, of course, to celebrate the subsequent Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776.
We ought to remember also that the rift was not spontaneous. England was frantic to recover financially from a 7-year long war with France fought mostly in Canada (7-years war or Queen Anne’s War). Afterwards, England had no means to bring back English soldiers. The taxation was a feeble English attempt to recover from that war (1756-1763). (England almost lost that war. If it had we’d all be speaking French.)
Resentment of English rule over the colonies included the various forms of taxation without representation (1766-1767 Townshend Acts), followed by Boston Tea Party and the Boston Massacre. Then came the boycott of anything coming from England. Thwas an almost spontaneous reaction throughout the colonies when women showed their patriotism. Following the resurrection of the non-consumption agreements there was no more cloth available.
How did many colonists (Americans) show their patriotism before the War of Independence broke out?
Women played a large role in supporting the American call to wear homespun fabrics. Parlors and kitchens were places for spinning parties at politically charged social gatherings. The purpose of the gatherings in English colonies was deemed an acceptable avenue for the expression of political opinions by women who were fired up to provide women’s work for the cause.
According to Michael Zakim in Sartorial Ideologies: From Homespun to Ready-Made,”the elevation of homespun to a political ideology in America on the eve of independence was an especially striking expression of the wider social implications of dress.
“The homespun, or domestic manufactures, embodied a republican frugality. It was a conscious opposition to English luxury and corruption.” It did not happen overnight.
Note: This is the first of several articles examining Threads Through Time, leading to an afternoon tea and fashion show on Sept. 12 at the Crawfordville Women’s Club.
PS: Interested in modeling period clothing? Visit www.wakullhistory.org for an applicaion.
Madeleine Carr