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Period Clothing

By Treva Rodemaker

Men’s Clothing

I find men’s clothing of this period to be even more interesting than the women’s, which is unusual. 

Starting on the bottom, Norrie is wearing a pair of shoes which don’t come in lefts and rights. You bought them and wore them until they molded to your feet (ouch!)  This also went for women’s shoes.  Norrie has enough money to wear silk stockings most of the time, but he would still probably keep some cotton ones for very casual wear, such as when he was working on a ship.  Socks were held up with garters, which tied (usually), or buckled (more rare, and mostly for dress.  These are the silver buckles that Bobbie Shaftoe has.)  Breeches or “small clothes” were the terms for what a man wore on the lower half of his body.  Long pants were for slaves and peasants, and were low class on a scale that we have no equivalent of today.  

Another interesting note is that you never said the words “Breeches” or “small clothes” in mixed company.  An example of this was given in a court transcript from the period.  A homeowner is testifying about hearing a noise outside in the middle of the night.

Homeowner: I got up and put on a pair of…

Judge (breaking in): Ladies present!

Homeowner:  …shoes, and went outside. 

The point of the tailoring of the breeches was to make the front look absolutely smooth.  Since buttons were the only way to open the fly, a lot of men preferred the whole center front to fall open. With a row of buttons set on either side, as far from the center as possible.  (I think this is visible when Elizabeth is wearing the Marine uniform).  When the coat was on, it covered the buttons, making the closure invisible.  The problem with all this was that they were dealing with fabrics which had no stretch at all (loomed wool) so, in order to keep the guys from hurting themselves badly when they sat down, the backside had to be very baggy.  Sorry, ladies.  That’s another reason why they always kept the coats on, to cover the baggy butts. 

Norrie, like Elizabeth, has no underwear.  He takes his shirt tales, (a cotton or linen shirt, with tails that came down to mid-thigh) pulls the tail up between his legs, and tucks the front back.  So any guy running around with his shirt tails out had better not be allergic to wool. 

The breeches, waistcoat, and coat are wool.  Summer weight wool, but wool none the less.  The waistcoat is not an optional item, since the coat doesn’t really close in front, and the shirt is underwear, and can not be shown in public.  The tie around the neck is to hide the drawstring closure, which still exists on many men’s shirts.  Buttons are made of thread.  (If anyone is interested I can explain the construction of a thread button.)  By the way, all that gold on there is real gold, and the buckles on Norrie’s dress shoes probably are, too.  

The way Norrington holds onto his wig, he may have a shaved head under there.  A lot of men did that.  The sausage curls on either side of the wig are called pigeon’s wings. Notice Gillette has two pigeon’s wings, which make him look a bit foppish. Some nobility went in for three, which was really over the top. 

 I can’t find where those tricorne hats were ever made in any color besides black.

Women’s Clothing

Elizabeth Swann is very lucky that she lives in a time when, in England, women were trying to freeze to death (according to those people who are always writing to complain about Fashion). It is only recently that women have gained the right to wear three-quarter sleeves, flirting with showing off their elbows, and they
won't give up the right, no matter how cold they get. Of course, this is great for ladies who live in a warm climate.

Elizabeth wears a chemise, or sort of very long shirt, which was probably low cut in front, had three quarter length sleeves, and came down to somewhere between her hip and knee. Over this she would wear a corset. Always. (We have some letters from scandalized Europeans complaining that women in the New World would get so hot that they took off the chemise, and ran around in just a corset and a skirt. But they always kept the corset.) Why? well, for one thing, bras hadn't been invented yet, and it was the only kind of breast support available. I assume that the corset Elizabeth got as a gift from her father
just didn't fit properly, as corsets really aren't that bed, and the Ideal Of The Time was a far cry from the 17" Victorian waist. 

(Here I would like to interject that I have been corrected, and that many of the female readers have worn corsets and say they do hurt.  However, for myself and my corset-wearing, in-person type friends, I still say that a properly fitting corset, when not laced as tight as it will go, is a pleasure to wear.)

Over this she would most usually wear a bum roll (it went by different names) which was a sort of U shaped pillow. Your waist went into the middle of the U, and it tied in front with string. This made the hips look bigger, and also helped support the weight of the skirts that went on top of it. For very dressy
occasions, she might wear a sort of basketwork cage tied over each hip, so that the dress stuck out even further to the sides. (Panniers)

Over this goes one or more petticoats. Over this goes the dress. Very often the dress was made in two pieces, so that the skirt tied around the waist on its own, with the bodice laced on separately.

Not too bad. Elizabeth is not supposed to wear "wool next to the skin", which is something that later generations of Englishwomen had to endure, even in the tropics. Light fabrics like cotton and linen were fashionable in England, as freer trade made them "the new thing", and the height of style (and expense) for dress occasions was Battersea silk, which is a lot more comfortable than velvet. 

Hair was often dressed elaborately, and one of the main ways to hold hairdo’s together was lard.  Yes, lard like rendered fat.  In your hair. 

Now, the interesting part...

1. Notice that nowhere in here does it mention panties. They didn't exist. Nor did pantaloons. If you could lift the corner of her petticoats high enough, you'd see everything.  In an era when baths were few and far between, a “healthy circulation of air” was the only way to keep from getting infections.

2. She would probably have worn a lot of her mother's clothes. People kept clothes, and made them over. Even rich people did it. (cloth and clothing being a lot more expensive back then, for one thing)

3. Throughout almost the entire movie, Elizabeth is in someone else's clothes. She is first seen in her own dress, then in her own nightgown and bed gown. But once she's on the Pearl, Barbossa makes her change into the Pirate Wench gown, and the chemise that she is in on the island with Jack definitely is not her own, probably came with the PW gown. Later she's in men's clothes, a Marine uniform. She only gets her own clothing back at the very end.

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~.~

Posted at Black Pearl Sails on November 24, 2004