Hail Victoria, or, Seven Pounds of Underwear?

I continue to experience mild astonishment at the number of web sites devoted to the Victorian era. Since Golf in the Year 2000 comes straight out of that period, I will share, from time to time, some of the more interesting sites that I come across. One, called Fashion-era, has a whole subsection on Victorian-era costume, social conditions, etc., that could easily stand all by itself as a content-rich site about that age.

Nugget: "The Rational Dress Society ... drew attention to restrictive corsetry and the immobility caused by fashions of the day. The Rational Dress Society also sold boneless stays and promoted fashions that did not deform the body. The Rational Dress Society thought no woman should have to wear more than seven pounds of underwear. This may still seem like a great deal of clothing to modern women, but the underwear was made from bulky gathered cotton or even wool flannel and both materials were heavier than shorter silk or modern synthetic garments. The figure actually halved what had been worn by most women in 1850 when ladies often wore up to 14 pounds weight of undergarments."

[Tags: fashion history England costume]