Buckskin Dresses and Pumpkin Breeches: Colonial Fashions from the 1580s to the 1760s (Dressing a Nation: The History of U.S. Fashion)

What would you have worn if you lived during the Colonial era? It depends on who you were! For example, many Native American women made skirts or dresses out of deerskin, and they completed the look with jewelry crafted from metal, shells, stones, pearls, or animal bones. But in European settlements, women of fashion dressed in many layers. One of the first layers was a stay―a corset-like garment made of whalebone that tied or laced around the chest. On top of that, they put on a bodice, a waistcoat or a jacket, and several heavy petticoats. Read more about Colonial fashions―from wigs to beaver-pelt hats and linen caps―in this fascinating book!