A Look at What People Wore During the Revolution

On any given occasion, a man or woman might be wearing silk from China, knitwear from Europe, and shoes from local production. Different places produced different articles of clothing; this was standard across social class, from the upper pillars of society to slaves.

Fine clothing made the statement that you could afford finery from around the world; the more items you possessed of high quality, the more affluent you and your family were…

Unless you were living in a very isolated community, or the frontier, most towns and villages had shops where imported items were sold. Even the smallest town had at least one shop that sold imports… Once a villager selected a fabric, the seamstress would craft the article of clothing to her customer’s instructions and taste.

Women wore corsets known as “stays” to wear the fitted clothes of the period. For a “lady of fashion”, tight stays were a sign of femininity and freedom from heavy chores. For the wives of colonial farmers or soldiers, however, clothing was looser and stays less severe to enable these ladies to work on the farm and in the home…

Men of power and influence chose fine cloth, such as silks, and finely woven woolens. Clothing of high quality suggested authority and clout to make important decisions. Many men chose their clothing based on climate, in addition to the need for power. For states like in the South, cotton was the fabric of choice.

Soldiers had frequent changes of uniform, with the objective being to instill fear in the hearts of the enemy; the idea was to look formidable and organized. Some militias were made of soldiers who were farmers and craftsmen, and there clothing tended to be less impressive.

Infants, including little boys, wore long shirts, much like dresses. The idea behind this was to limit movement as much as possible. As children got older, boys wore fitted trousers and coats, much like their fathers. Girls wore smaller versions of their mother’s clothing…

Clothes made the man and woman. Clothing was not only a way of marking your participation in a trade or a manifestation of power; clothing was a source of personal pride. Clothing took on different meanings to different people; men and women who worked on farms or fought in the war wore clothing to fit their lives. While position and climate were considerations, so was the idea of the “visible moment”, ie. Church on Sundays.

I have an interest in antique fashions, so I decided I wanted to find out more about colonial fashion during the Revolutionary War. I checked Wikipedia as an initial source, and went from there. I branched out to historical as well as military websites to find information. Once I narrowed down my topic to clothing, I focused my question on the kinds of clothing worn and the role fashion played during this time period.

Colonial Williamsburg page on fashion: g.cfm g.cfm Children during the Revolutionary War: Colonial Fashion