2/1/2006
By Maureen A. Taylor
Fashion clues may not apply if women wore the britches in your family photos—but you still can identify gender-bending images.
Face it The hoop skirts, bustles and corsets our female ancestors wore most of the time weren't exactly comfortable, especially for active pursuits. In Women in Pants: Manly Maidens, Cowgirls, and Other Renegades (Abrams), Catherine Smith and Cynthia Greig explain why genteel ladies of the past—such as the pair pictured here—sometimes donned men's clothes. From the early feminists of the 1850s to Calamity Jane in the 1890s, photos prove women wore bloomers, knickerbockers, breeches, pantaloons, pants and trousers.
Pants were outside the norm for 1800s and early 1900s ladies, though, so a fashion encyclopedia might not help you interpret a portrait of Great-aunt Nell sporting the latest in trouser wear. Instead, learn about your female relative by using other photo details and focusing on the interests and activities her legged outfit reveals.