How to dress for Colonial Day Colonial Clothing How to dress for Colonial Day

Pilgrims The clothing brought by the Plymouth colonists was typical of that worn by all Englishmen in the early 17th century. Primarily it was fashioned from wool and linen cloth, with some leather. There was a much wider range of colors than exists in the modern image, including reds, yellows, purples and greens as well as black and gray. Some of these colors had social significance—black was indicative of solid respectability, blue was frequently worn by children and servants, and russet (reddish-brown) was a countryman’s color.

The clothing for a typical English yeoman of the early 17th century consisted of a number of garments, mostly still recognizable today. The basic garment was the linen shirt, which was considerably longer and looser than its modern counterpart. Breeches were designed in a variety of styles and fabrics, from elaborate trunk hose to plain knee-length. Stockings were tailored of cloth or could have been the relatively new knit type. Shoes were the most common sort of footwear, but boots had become fashionable as a result of Charles I's fondness for them. A doublet, close-fitting and padded, was the usual upper garment. Capes and loose-fitting coats were the usual outerwear for men and women. There were many styles of hats and caps which were worn indoors and out. Typical Plymouth male

Typical Plymouth female The English women also had a basic undergarment much like the shirt, which was called a shift. Over this she wore her stays (corset) and petticoats. The outermost clothing was either a gown or a waistcoat (fitted jacket) and skirt. Most adult women wore a linen cap called a coif covering their hair. Their shoes and stockings, capes, coats and hats were much the same as the men's. Aprons protected the skirts from the myriad chores of the day.

Dress Code An open neckline was always covered with a shawl. Dresses were often worn with a long, full apron of stiff, white fabric with large pockets. Skirts fell at least to the ankle and sometimes to the floor. HATS: Tall hats with feathers or bonnets were worn outdoors, but, inside, women al- Ways covered their hair with mop caps.

Day Dress dress usually consisted of a gown and petticoat. The gown Throughout the 18th century a woman's dress usually consisted of a gown and petticoat. The gown consisted of the bodice and skirt joined together, with the skirt open in the front to reveal the separate petticoat.

Colonial Wedding garb In colonial times women wore a variety of different colors on their wedding day, wearing their very best gown or purchasing the finest they could afford. After the wedding, they typically wore it for other important events as well.

Children’s Clothing Boston, 1755-1760, boy and (?) girl Children, both boys and girls, were dressed in similar fashion (loose-fitting dresses) to each other, until about the age of seven. At that time a boy would be "breeched," that is, dressed for the first time as a young man in scaled-down versions of adult clothing. Young girls then were dressed like their mothers.  Boston, 1755-1760, boy and (?) girl

The ball gown/Festival dress Gowns were made with wide hoopskirts. They often featured lavish professional embroidery. Other were made of silk brocaded on a weaver's loom with silk, silver, and gold threads.

Body Garments and Breeches The coat, waistcoat, and breeches were worn by a man during the period of the Revolution, and until 1800. Thus, the dress coat remained about the same. The sleeves were worn quite tight, with a small cuff at the wrist, the front sloping away to the back in two narrow coat-tails.

Men’s Overcoats In the late 17th and early 18th centuries a coat was a relatively straight loose garment, with the slight fullness in the knee-length skirts falling into folds over the backside of the hips

Male Hair Styles Boys had long hair and an odd fashion craze was the wig for men.  The wigs were human hair, goat hair, or horse hair.  If a person was really poor, his wig was made out of thread.  The wig fit tightly on the head. The worst thing for a man was "flipping his wig" or the best was to be known as a "big wig" because that meant he was wealthy.

Women’s Hairstyles Most girls wore their hair in braids or tied back in low ponytails. Women usually tied theirs back in buns or low ponytails, too. In the 1700s, before the American Revolution, an American woman who wanted her hair to be in style would arrange it as high as possible and would use wool, tow (generally hemp or flax fibers), or other padding, as well as hairpieces to give the hair plenty of volume, accessorized with combs, feathers, ribbons, flowers, etc. For special occasions, she might wear a wig.

Hats and Caps for Females Women and girls would keep their hair covered all the time. They wore mob caps. Worn for fashion and for protection against the sun, a lady out of doors almost always wore a hat. A fashionable hat usually had a very shallow, flat crown and a wide brim. Hats of straw were popular from the 1730s to the 1770s.

Accessories Women’s included: caps, hats, neck and handkerchiefs, aprons, pockets, purses, mitts, gloves, stockings, shoes, fans and jewelry. Men’s: wig or hat, buckled shoes. Pastel colors and glittery stones were considered manly and appropriate for dressy occasions. Men’s accessories could be practical or stylish.