Has there ever been a bitter academic dispute in your field? Something like Prof. A traces a certain stitching pattern to the the 1810s, but Prof. B argues that its actually two similar yet distinct patterns that emerged independently in 1815 and 1823, and then the profs spend years sniping at each other in articles and the feud spans generations through their students. Anything like that? I feel like political/social/economic/etc history is full of contentious debates and disagreements over minutiae, and I am curious about examples in other fields.

In the novel Jane Eyre the impression is given that Jane owns two, perhaps three dresses at the most. Was that a dramatic device to underscore her poverty, or would that have been common for a woman in her position at the time?

These are probably really broad questions, but what role did the Industrial revolution have on women's fashion from the start of the 19th century to the end of the 19th century? And also, what impact did the "Age of Empires" have on fashion, if any? A lot of the western european nations expanded massively during this time period, and I'm wondering if the colonies had an impact on fashion at all, whether it be from materials used or just cultural exchange.

As a caveat to me questions, i'll just say that I know literally nothing about fashion history whatsoever, but this whole period fascinates me.

When did we see a transition from the hoop skirts era? Were corsets common practice throughout the entire 19th century for upper class women? Was there a stigma against certain manufacturing origins in the 19th century, like there is today with China and Thailand?

How quickly did women's fashion spread across the country? If something appeared in New York, how long would it take to be fashionable in Philadelphia or Boston? Would fashions start in cities? How much variation was there North to South and East to West?

Streets were muddy and rutted with the tracks of heavy wagons; horse doody was everywhere; sidewalks were a suggetion; how did women negociate a city while wearing high heel button-up shoes?

What was the most revealing clothing worn?

How do you find the accessibility of fashionable clothing changes for women outside of major cities throughout the century? I've wondered about the switch that happens between mantua makers in the previous century and mass-produced items in the following.

What articles did women use for their monthly period? When did the commercial market for these products start?

Textiles are pretty fragile. How extensive are actual, surviving examples of women's clothing from the Regency period? Are there lots of surviving examples across the economic classes, or are surviving articles mostly the preserved dresses discovered in aristocratic attics?

Hi! What can you tell be about the shape of the back armscye in women's Recency bodices? The typical shape for the period seems to be cut much deeper and rounder than we would use today (c.f. typical modern back armscye). Was this aesthetic preference, or is there a technical reason why the extra depth was needed? If it was aesthetic preference, how/when did that style develop from whatever came before, and when did we start to prefer the look of straighter, shallower modern armscyes?

Thanks for doing this -- your book looks extremely cool!

I see a lot of these questions cover urban fashions in major cities.

How did this differ in rural/farming environments in the United States and in Europe? I'd be shocked if a farm woman milked cows in a hoop skirt and corset, for instance. Was clothing like that reserved for Church days and other formal occasions? What would women wear in their typical day-to-day rural life?

Before 1830, did women wear solid colored cotton other than white? Looking at fashion plates etc. it can be hard to tell the material.

Something I've always wondered is if fashion in that era was as uniform as it seems to be when you watch historical dramas and such. When I look at modern fashion, I see a wide range of outfits and styles available, and people keep clothes for a long time (for instance I might have several things that were "in" five or ten years ago but that I still wear). But in dramas, all the women seem to wear a set type of dress (i.e. all of them will have bustles, or all will have puffy sleeves). So was there more variety than we tend to think, or is the variety in modern fashion a consequence of industrialization and changes in social norms?

Awesome!! I'm wondering how much of your work on your book was doing the physical patterning off the antique clothing, if any? Or if you had a team or experienced cutter/draper for that. I'm also curious about the MA textile history program and how much you're expected to be a technician capable of immitating or recreating historical techniques as opposed to historians in other fields who are expected to only be researchers/writers/lecuters.

I'm an MFA in costume design so I have a solid overview of costume history and enough research skills to learn more when needed but my education definitely focused on developing technical skills. I've met historians who have ended up studying fashion/costume by some other route but I've never really gotten to ask about textile history as its own area of study.

How accurate would you say dedicated period cosplayers can get with period clothes? How easily can a determined dressmaker of today make convincing dresses that a woman from the period wouldn't think were a little off?

A Godey's Lady's Book in the 1880s makes a comment that the fashion for powdering the hair is ceasing. My "What?!" Could be heard down the block. I had never before heard of a late Victorian fashion for hair powder. This was taking ancien regime worship a bit far. More to the point, no book on fashion history ever mentioned it. Did I miss the monograph? Do you know more about this? When did it last? New York only or other places?

Was makeup worn?

Was hair ever dyed? I vaguely remember seeing a book plate that claimed dying your hair /purchasing a wig of a really bright colour to match your dress for a late night party was popular at some point in time.

Nowadays there is a stereotype that women see Halloween as a good opportunity to put on a 'slutty'/showy outfit. Was this attitude the same in Victorian times? A lot of the costumes from then look like pretty ballgowns with stuff attached.

I know that in the early 1800s the Titus style was a popular hairstyle that doesn't look remotely like the standard bun&ringlets of the regency era. What are some other examples of styles that don't fit the stereotype of what their decade looks like?