Can anyone give this costume a more specific date?
Posted by Carolyn B on January 27, 1998 at 19:11:51:
In response to Q: re. women's riding clothes, written by Carolyn B on January 26, 1998 at 18:46:50
Linked here is an image at the International Museum of the Horse on-line reference "The Legacy of the Horse"
It is in a section on the American Colonies titled "The 1700s...'No One Walked Save a Vagabond or a Fool" and that century is the only date given for the costume.
Text:
Special measures were taken to arrive fresh after traveling along muddy colonial roads. Men wore loose thigh-high leggings called "spatterdashes." Women looked quite unattractive as they rode astride with their skirts stuffed into "stirrup stockings." These were two yards wide at the top to accommodate big petticoats. Skirts wrinkled less while riding pillion. The woman rode with both legs on one side ot he horse, and pulled an overskirt called a "safe-guard" over her clothers. Spatterdashes, stirrup stockings, or safe-guards were removed and tied to the saddle while the riders shopped or went to church.
I assume the drawing is a twentieth-century rendering of the costume, and the woman's hat looks more 1600s or at the latest very early 1700s to me, but what little costume expertise I have is post-US Civil War. From what you have said below, can I assume that by the early 1800s, the women (American or English) who could afford it would have specialized riding habit?
Posting followups to old messages is disabled; instead go to the main index and post a new message which mentions this one.
