Hoopskirts, Union Blues, and Confederate Grays: Civil War Fashions from 1861 to 1865
- Upper-class women wore tight corsets, bustles, and wide hoop skirts to fancy balls. The layers weighed almost 30 pounds (14 kilograms)!
- For everyday, whether at home or nursing soldiers, women put on multiple layers of simple fabrics. Some daredevils sported women’s trousers—called Bloomers—to make a statement on women’s rights.
- Civil War soldiers wore flannel and wool uniforms—blue in the North and gray in the South.
- Men of fashion donned suits with velvet collars and silk lapels during the day and coats with fancy tails for parties.
- Underneath their everyday clothing—a shirt, tie, vest, coat, and trousers—men wore “drawers,” baggy long undergarments that buttoned in front and tied in back.
- Slaves wore whatever their owners gave them—usually only two sets of rough linen clothing, one for winter and one for summer.
- Girls had loose garments called pantalets and pinafores, while sailor suits were popular for boys.
Read more about wartime fashions of the 1860s—from ankle boots to parasols and tiaras http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/hoopskirts-union-blues-and-confederate-grays-kate-havelin/1110782821?ean=9780761358893
