PRESENTATION OUTLINE
Fashion During the Industrial Revolution
In the late 1700s, people all dressed the same in their social classes. The upper class women wore fancy dresses and the men wore suits with long socks and tophats. The middle class would general transition between a couple outfits depending on the situation, they could go from scrub to fancy. The lower class generally wore worn out clothing and did not own much color. Clothing was expensive and took a long time to make so what you wore showed your class. Almost all of the clothing was heavy material that was difficult to get around in. Some ladies could not leave home because of the weight of their dresses. Most clothes were also very hard to wash so people would wear dirty clothes for a while because it was normal.
As the industrial revolution started spreading, so did the manufacturing of thread, cotton, and other ways of making clothing. It first started in Great Britain in 1769 when the first factory was built in which they spun thread. As time went on, more and more factories popped up, producing better thread and clothing in the UK. The first factory in the United States was built by Samuel Slater in 1790, but only produced wheels of thread.
Although Samuel Slater´s factory was an amazing accomplishment and advancement, it was slow and only produced one part of final product. As technology advanced, so did production of goods. Factories soon started popping up that could either spin much faster, or make the full article of clothing. Production in Massachusetts and Connecticut was a large success in bringing money to the United States and boosting the economic power.
By about 1800, people started to express themselves through clothing by wearing accessories, hats, or even with unusual colors and patterns. Dresses became more structured and suits were made firmer. By this time people had started wearing different things and fashion magazines started just a couple decades later.
Children´s clothing went through many different stages from the adult stages of fashion. Many of the upper class children had dresses and suits tailored to them as they grew, and had many outfits. Many lower class kids, however, were not as lucky. Most lower class children were given adult clothes that were cut down to their sizes because it was cheaper. Kids clothing also changed with the revolution, though. As time went on, they also started to express styles by adding colorful scarves or hats if they could afford it.
My reaction to the fashion during the Industrial Revolution is that their clothing was different than ours in every way. To me, it is crazy that everyone dressed the same or similar and that clothes were so heavy all over the world because it would be super hot in a lot of places.
I also think it is crazy on how the first factories produced thread wheels only because now we have machines that make clothing speedy quick without human labor. It is almost unimaginable to me on how they switched between three outfits on average because I have too many and still want more.
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