19th Century Fashion Research book: How the West Was Worn by Chris Enss

Bustles and Buckskins on the Wild Frontier: Fashion that Shaped the Old WestBack cover blurb: Did you know that pioneer women sewed lead in their hems to keep their dresses from billowing on the trail? Or that hatless men had to wear bonnets to protect their eyes from the scorching sun?From old familiar Levi's to the short-lived "instant dress elevator," HOW THE WEST WAS WORN examines the sometimes bizarre, often beautiful, and highly inventive clothing of the Old West. You'll learn how a cowboy's home state determined the way he wore his pants and hat, as well as how to distinguish one Indian tribe from another by their moccasins. Meet John B. Stetson, leading maker of cowboy hats; Adah Menken whose flesh-colored nylon costume left an audience gaping at her underwear; and Amelia Jenks Bloomer, the promoter of - you guessed it - the bloomer.

About the author: Chris Enss is an award - winning screenwriter who has written for television, short subject films, live performances, and for the movies, and is the co-author (with JoAnn Chartier) of Loved Untamed: True Romances Stories of the Old West, Gilded Girls: Women Entertainers of the Old West, and She Wore A Yellow Ribbon: Women Patriots and Soldiers of the Old West and The Cowboy and the Senorita and Happy Trails (with Howard Kazanjian). Her research and writing and reveals the funny, touching, exciting, and tragic stories of historical and contemporary times.Enss has done everything from stand-up comedy to working as a stunt person at the Old Tucson Movie Studio. She learned the basics of writing for film and television at the University of Arizona, and she is currently working with Return of the Jedi producer Howard Kazanjian on the movie version of The Cowboy and the Senorita, their biography of western stars Roy Rogers and Dale Evans.

The chapter headings are:

DRESSING FOR A GOLD RUSH
In this chapter, we learn about a San Francisco dry goods dealer named, Levi Strauss who developed a brand new material, called denim which he believed was superior to any other on the market.

CIVILIZED STYLE IN THE WILD
I found this chapter most interesting. We meet Amelia Bloomer who female underwear was named after. While she did not design the female, "bloomers" she did wear daring outfits which were a short dress that reached below the knees with a Turkish-style trousers gathered in ruffles at the ankles. Bloomers became a symbol of the fledgling women's movement.

DRESSING FOR ROUNDUP
What I found so fascinating about this chapter was that the cowboys at a certain ranch resented their employers for enforcing them to wear uniforms. Sporting bib pull-over shirts of the same color does not sit well with the hires, even if it is marked with the (name) Ranch.

SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF THE TRAIL
This chapter dealt with what children wore during the 19th Century. To my surprise, I discovered that daughters didn't wear ankle length dresses. Their hems came to below their knees. Girls longed to be grown up enough to let their hems down and their hair up.

PRAIRIE STYLES
In this chapter, an excerpt from The National Wagon Road Guide, 1858 gave a listing of what men should pack for their trek across the country on the wagon train.

A LASTING EFFECT
Accessories made the woman. It could change her mundane, everyday, dress to a nice social, evening dress.

ALL DRESSED UP
Evening wear accessories, such as jewelry and popular hairstyles and hair accessories that were popular in the day.

UNDER THE CLOTHES
This was a fascinating chapter on male and female "unmentionables". I didn't know that the average person felt that underwear was such a taboo subject that they wouldn't even make their own, but preferred to order them through a catalog.

STYLE IN THE RANKS
Military wardrobe

BORROWED FROM THE LAND
Indian clothing styles

I think what I loved most about this book are several things:
1. The author uses many pictures to show exactly what she is saying. (Photographs, catalog images, and patterns)
2. Lots of white space, the readability of each chapter is easy.
3. I loved the clothing biographies of many famous people, including pictures.

HOW THE WEST WAS WORN is a definite asset to any historian or historical writer.