How Bicycles Influenced 1890s Fashions by Zina Abbott

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The 1890’s were known as the “Gay Nineties” for more than one reason. One was the direction taken in women’s fashions that allowed them greater freedom of movement. As the new decade approached, the stiffness and fussiness typical of the Victorian Era eased. Much of this was due to the technologies that developed, as well as women’s involvement in those technologies.

1895 Women on bicycles- Victoria and Albert Museum, the Ashton Collection

Perhaps the innovation that had the greatest influence on the change in women’s fashions was the drop-frame safety bicycle. The 1890s became an era of great dress reforms which allowed women the opportunity to ride bicycles more comfortably, and therefore, created the need for appropriate clothing.

 

Keep in mind, in the late 1860s, after the end of the Civil War, fabric was in shorter supply, so the hoop skirts wider than the Mississippi River became narrower, with a slight protrusion in back. That protrusion developed into the bustle, which, by the mid-1880s, often stuck out on a woman's rear like a small mountain. All during this, the ladies were contained in a stiff corset that squeezed their inner organs and often prevented breathing easily. It definitely restricted movement.

Big-wheeler bicycles 1887

Although horses and horse-driven conveyances still dominated in the more rustic West, toward the end of the 1880s, bicycles and—for the ladies with their more restrictive clothing—tricycles became available. 

 

These were probably seen more in the East and possibly the around the larger cities (read: roads that weren’t a dust bowl in the summer and a muddy swamp in the rainy season) in the West.

Photographer unknown. Staff of the Mechanics Institute Reference Library, 1895. Photograph. Toronto: Toronto Public Library

However, Western society in Europe and North America began to move away from the stiff, moralistic, Victorian Era. Women were enjoying new levels of independence as opposed to the Victorian Era (and back through time) belief that they should restrict their interests and activities to those involved in being a homemaker. During the decade, the number of women employed outside of the home almost doubled. The “New Woman” was an intellectual, young female. 

 

1898 Women in bathing costumes--ooh! Look at those bare legs!

As more and more began working outside the home, they began to pursue interests in cycling and participating in sports (as opposed to always being the admiring audience to the wonderfulness of men’s sporting activities).

1895-1900 students Atlanta Univ. George

In order to do this effectively, women needed clothing that was less restrictive. The introduction of electricity in clothing manufacturing produced a boon in the ready-to-wear market.

 

Less restrictive it did become, as heavily boned corsets so stiff and tightly laced they were strapless gave way to straight front corsets, also known as health corsets, athletic corsets, hygienic corsets, and sanitary corsets. They did not have the heavy boning, but were buttoned in the front and held in place with shoulder straps.

1896 Charvet Avertisement

 

Dresses focused more on mobility, with free-flowing skirts and leg-o-mutton sleeves. The “mutton sleeve”—the vertical puff at the shoulders—developed to allow greater freedom of movement in the arms. This style reached its peak in 1895. By the end of the century, it gradually diminished.

Skirts were bell-shaped, gored to fit smoothly over the hips. Gone were the multitude of heavy petticoats. This allowed for more self-expression and a more natural silhouette for women’s bodies.

These skirts also allowed for greater mobility. They made it possible for women to ride the drop-frame safety bicycle instead of being restricted to the tricycle of the previous decade.

Along with the floor-length that used for everyday wear, to appeal to the athletic woman, a “walking skirt”—a skirt that fell to just above the ankles—also came into style. For younger girls, the walking skirt fell to just below the knees.

On occasion, such as bicycle riding, women set their skirts aside and wore what were formerly referred to as bloomers. This was a bold move, and it was not universally approved due to the controversy surrounding women wearing pants.

1895 Bicycle Suit

Text on image:

Gertrude. "My dear Jessie, what on earth is that bicycle suit for!"

Jessie. "Why, to wear, of course."

Gertrude. "But you haven't got a bicycle!"

Jessie. "No, but I've got a sewing machine!"
 

In this era, they were also known as "rationals" or "knickerbockers." The entire outfit, including the jacket, was known as a “bicycle suit.”

 

So, hail, hail to the 1890s new woman with her greater freedom of movement, her greater selection of choices, and her greater health—all largely made possible by the adaptions made in clothing styles so she could more comfortably ride the humble drop-frame safety bicycle.

~o0o~

One of my two 2022 romances set in the 1890s was Joshua's Bride, set during the 1893 Cherokee Land Run. Although neither Rose Calloway nor her sister, Marigold, wore bicycle suits or rode bicycles during the land run, there were those who did. The sisters, who rode the train to where they wished to claim land, wore walking skirts.

To find the book description and purchase options for Joshua's Bride, 

please CLICK HERE.

Marigold Calloway has her romance in 1894 after she is already on the two city residential lots she claimed during the land run. Having spent her life as a schoolteacher, she definitely fits the description of the modern woman who works outside the home. The streamline skirts and looser clothing of the era suit her just fine.

To find the book description and purchase options for Marigold, 

please  CLICK HERE.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sources:

https://www.familysearch.org/en/blog/1890s-fashion-changes

https://fashionhistory.fitnyc.edu/1890-1899/

https://recollections.biz/blog/achieving-the-gibson-girl-s-silhouette/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1890s_in_Western_fashion

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aestheticism

Wikimedia Commons

Look what our authors published in June to July 1st

 

Our authors have been busy writing and publishing books this past month. Here is what we published in June

(and, because we're already in July, we've included July 1st):

Joshua's Bride: Land Run Mail Order Brides Book 1

By Zina Abbott

As arable farmland grows scarce, the United States opens up former sections of Indian Territory for homesteading. Those who want to claim land must make a run for it.

Should she claim her own land when he has a claim on her heart?

            Rose Calloway feels guilty about living off her sister, Marigold’s, meager schoolmarm’s wages. In spite of taking in sewing, it is not enough to support herself. She sees little future for marriage in a town where people are still struggling from the latest economic depression. She responded to a matrimonial advertisement, and after corresponding for several months, sees great promise for her future with Joshua Kent.

            Joshua Kent, landless and working as a farrier, sees promise in the land run planned for the Cherokee Outlet in Oklahoma Territory. Knowing once he claims his land, he will need a wife, he places a matrimonial advertisement. He soon decides Rose Calloway is the woman he wishes to marry. However, once he realizes there might be more applicants than there is available land, he writes and warns Rose he can only marry if he is successful claiming his own homestead.

            Marigold, realizing the land run will bring new families, sees there will be a need for teachers and a chance to achieve her dream. She decides to make her own land claim and insists Rose is welcome to join her.

            Rose is homeless unless she marries or goes with her sister. She holds a certificate for the latest Oklahoma land run in one hand and the final letter from Joshua Kent in the other. Her dream is to marry Joshua, not own land. What will she do now?

Releases June 3, 2022

http://mybook.to/JoshuaBr

 

Bolton's Bride: Land Run Mail Order Brides Book 2 Kindle Edition

By Kimberly Grist

Orphaned as a young girl, Ellie longs for a life she’s only read about in books. To escape a desperate situation, she heads west as a mail-order bride, narrowing her choice of spouse to three brothers, a millwright, a businessman, and a horse trainer, all searching for a marriage of convenience which will provide the inheritance that will finance the family’s business venture in Oklahoma.
Newspapers claim the unchartered territory is a land where streams flow with milk and the heavens rain down a supply of honey. Will her road lead to the Promised Land?

Releases June 6, 2022

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09WCFF6T5

 

Brewster's Baby: The Land Run Mail Order Brides Book 4

By Marisa Masterson

He wants her, needs her. But, will he ever trust her?

Hetty Fields must find a home after her father's sudden death. Michael Brewster needs a wife as he sets up a new business.

Should she have warned him about the baby? And why didn't he tell her they were rushing into Oklahoma to claim land?

If you enjoy sweet romance set against historical events, this book is one for you to read!

Releases June 13, 2022

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09W9ZKS1W

 

Courting the Professor: Matchmakers in Time Book 5

By Kit Morgan

A Germaphobic Professor

A Woman not of this world

And one bottle of disinfectant ...

The 21st Century: Professor Andrew Beaumont was a chemistry professor, not a physicist, so when two strange men show up asking about time travel, he was a little confused. Never mind the fact one claimed to be a duke, it's when they brought up Clear Creek that Andrew's ears perked up. One of his students had seen bright lights just outside the town and talked abut aliens. Was there more to the boy's story, or had the kid been reading too many science fiction novels?

The 19th Century: Tillie White was different, shy, and some folks in Clear Creek thought she was just plain loco. Little did they know she was so much more. And though Tillie had an inkling she was different, she had no idea how much. That is until a strange man dressed in odd clothing showed up on her doorstep. Yet, as odd as he was, he was also familiar. Too bad she was too terrified to leave her house to find out why.

Enjoy this fun, time travel romp set in everyone's favorite town of Clear Creek!

Released June 24, 2022

https://www.amazon.com/Courting-Professor-Matchmakers-Time-Book-ebook/dp/B09Z8P14JJ/

 

Rosie's Gamble: Land Run Mail Order Brides, Book 9

By Linda Carroll-Bradd

After seeing her mother die in childbirth, Rosabelle Ardmore decides to become a doctor. Her self-funded education takes longer than she’d hoped. When she returns to the job promised upon her graduation, she discovers the hometown doctor has died. His replacement has no use for a female doctor. Nor do two other offices where she applied. Rosie takes a chance on answering an ad for a mail-order bride for a man intent on the Cherokee Strip Land Run. Surely, people populating a new town will accept medical care wherever they can get it.

Beck Shepherd returned empty-handed from the 1889 Oklahoma land run. Trying it alone didn’t work. He vows to win a plot this time, but he needs a partner to achieve his dream of opening a mercantile. The easiest way is to arrange for a wife so he places an ad in a matrimonial newsletter. Ideally, level-headed Beck would like more time to decide, but Rosie’s two letters reveal the heart of a woman as determined as he is for a new start. But her bold plan for securing a claim might be the act that tears them apart…forever.

Release July 1, 2022

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09WM3K4TD

 

Ivy: Sweet Historical Western Romance, Love Train Series Book 7

By Kit Morgan

Ivy Pembrooke has a problem. With her brother gone, she's now the heir to the Pembrooke fortune and estate. That is, if she lives long enough. After over hearing a plot to kill her, she does what any other heiress would do. She makes a run for it. But how is she going to elude her would be killers and claim what is rightfully hers? Especially when said killer is her uncle? She decides to run now, and figure things out later. In the meantime, she needs a way of escape ...

Darius Jones made a promise. Quit the ranch he worked for in Texas, return to Oregon, and take his half-blind mother to Clear Creek. The doctor there was said to work miracles, and Mama needed all the help she could get. But his mother wasn’t the only one. A passenger in the form of a petite, blonde-haired spit fire was going to be the death of him. Literally. Was someone trying to do her harm or was trouble her middle name? Yet there was something about her, and doggone if he didn’t try to help. He just hoped doing so didn’t get them both killed.

Released July 1, 2022

https://www.amazon.com/Ivy-Sweet-Historical-Western-Romance-ebook/dp/B0B1C13YGG

Not all of our authors put their books on pre-order. For those who do, advance sales help their sales ranking and are greatly appreciated.

 

 Pre-order for July:

Ainsley: Sweet Historical Western Romance (Love Train Series Book 8)

By Jo-Ann Roberts

Some people come into your life as lessons…
Unexpected fatherhood finds former bank detective, Lucas Harmon desperate for a woman to care for his orphaned nieces. A governess…perhaps? A housekeeper…maybe? A wife…definitely not! Six years ago the wealthy Chicago socialite he planned to wed, publicly spurned his affections. Despite his determination to guard his feelings, a meddling matchmaking conductor and an encounter with a past acquaintance threatens to upend his heart.

…some come as blessings
Anxious to leave behind the whispers and stares of two failed engagements, Boston socialite, Ainsley MacKenzie hopes for solitude on her way to New Hope, Kansas. But when the kindly conductor enlists her help to care for two orphaned girls, she couldn’t say no. Little did she know their uncle and guardian was the one man she couldn’t forget… Lucas Harmon.

Taking a chance, Ainsley offers Lucas an unusual (some might say, scandalous!) arrangement. She’ll look after the children, read them stories and cook their meals until Christmas, giving Lucas time to find a permanent replacement. Yet, the longer she cares for the family the more she longs to be part of it—whatever the risk to her heart.

Releases July 15, 2022

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09TQ1D723

 

Pre-Orders for August:

 

Adella: Already Home Book 7

By Kimberly Grist

In 1917 every man, woman, and child was called to civic duty as the “war to end all wars” encompassed the globe.

When the patriotic call comes, Adella begins her campaign of encouragement by corresponding with the frightened and lonely soldiers. On the cusp of adulthood, the young woman is tired of living a cosseted life and hopes to gain her parent’s support when she wants to volunteer her services to the war effort. Her mother worries for her safety, but Adella is more concerned for her heart.

As a recent college graduate, Gibb is led down a path he never anticipated. And one unexpected meeting at a train station tips all of his carefully laid plans into chaos. In the void, Adella’s words of affection flow across the continents. The image of her smile and the consistency of her letters give him a reason to hope.

Releases August 2, 2022

https://www.amazon.com/Adella-Already-Home-Book-7-ebook/dp/B0B4F2TKS2

 

Pre-orders for September:

 

Sabrina: Runaway Brides of the West, book 6

By Linda Carroll-Bradd

Sabrina Whitmore, daughter of a wealthy railroad investor, has finally found a man who accepts her suffragist work. On the night before her wedding, she overhears her fiancé bragging that if he can’t get her to toe the line after their marriage, he’ll just have her committed to an asylum and take charge of her inheritance. Sabrina escapes the family mansion with her maid and rushes to the Philadelphia train station headed toward an aunt in Denver. When she awakens the morning before her arrival, she discovers her maid is nowhere to be found and has stolen her clothes and most of her money. While hunting for her maid, she sees Maeve spirited away by two burly men and is scared her fiancé is hunting her.

Derrick Burkhardt bumps into a woman matching the description of the governess he hired from a St. Louis agency. Needing to get her settled at the ranch before he leaves for the spring roundup, he does all the talking during the buggy ride. When he returns two weeks later, the ranch is in an uproar over the governess’s unorthodox teaching methods. All Derrick sees are his children at the happiest they’ve been in two years. Will he feel the same when he learns the governess is not who she claims to be?

Releases September 5, 2022

https://www.amazon.com/Sabrina-Runaway-Brides-West-book-ebook/dp/B0B33ZYMY8

 

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Pre-orders for October:

 

Ellie: Runaway Brides of the West - Book 13

By Zina Abbott

          Ellie is on the run from a marriage being forced upon her by her uncle. Her only chance of escape is the man to whom she had been writing for a year. If only his letters spoke of more than friendship.

          Paleontologist Rand avoids becoming entangled in marriage. A wife would expect him to stay home with family instead of spending his summers digging for his beloved dinosaur and mammoth bones.

          When Ellie arrives in Iowa City, only to discover Rand is gone, his friends send her to the wilderness of southern Wyoming. Will she find love amidst the dirt and rocks or only bones of creatures long dead?

Releases October 17, 2022

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B2Z7TVX1

 

Pre-orders for November:

 

Bethel: Runaway Brides of The West - Book 19

By Kimberly Grist

She’s shaking off the dust of her well-worn boots, not looking back and hoping for a transformation. All she needs is a new dress, a new town, a husband, and a fresh start.

Daughter of a traveling merchant, Bethel is tired of peddling her Daddy’s Special Sauce and being run out of town by every sheriff east of the Mississippi. That’s why she’s heading west. She just needs to sell a few more bottles to help fund her trip. After all, who wants to meet their new husband looking like a gypsy? If only she could shake off this pesky sheriff waiting at the stage stop.

Releases November 28, 2022

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0B2QD8VX8