Help my wife! Womens Ranch Clothing circa 1885

[Hangtown Frye]

Um... yeah.  Hardly waiting for a steamboat!  Well, maybe a rescue by one, but hardly just a ride!  Looks like they're waiting out a flood. more likely, considering what they have with them there (including maybe Uncle Henry in the dufflebag...)  Steamboats usually don't cross over fences to get to the levy either, at least in my experience.

Cheers!

Gordon

[Delmonico]

Good eye, we could be photo editors for Ken Burns.

[Delmonico]

OK, the best I could do with what I had, but I'm sure it's a split skirt:



Hold Ctrl down on your keyboard and use the mouse wheel to elarge the picture some. 

[Hangtown Frye]

Hmmm... yeah, not enough wrinkles in it to not be a split skirt, now that I look close.

Cheers!

Gordon

[Delmonico]

Also look behind the cinch, looks like a material line.  A lot of years in these eyes looking for such stuff is all.

[Hangtown Frye]

Possibly, I can't really tell myself. But after thinking about it some, I do know that women's skirts of that period were pretty tight fitting (certainly not as voluminous as earlier decades) and it would be pretty difficult for a woman to ride astride in one and still have it come to her ankles like that, and remain full.  Also, it does rather look like there is some sort of gathering of the material around her ankles, behind the stirrup.  Again, hard to tell, but they could be some sort of "Bloomers" or "Turkish Trousers", or even something she came up with on her own so she could ride astride and still be "decent".  I guess that leaves a lot of room for discussion!

I suppose if I were seriously interested I would order a better copy from the museum, but I'll let someone who needs to dress his wife up in something like this have that opportunity to be the discoverer of a new fashion statement for women of that era.    Fun to speculate about womenfolk's clothing though, I have to admit!

Cheers!

Gordon

[Fiddler Green]

Here, tell her to go nutty!

http://www.trackofthewolf.com/Categories/PartList.aspx?catID=10&subID=71&styleID=255

[Ima Sure Shot]

Gentlemen,
Do a search of photos of Mary Edwards Walker.  Civil War Doctor, commissioned.  Received Congressional Medal of Honor as well. At forefront of women's movement. Also worked to free women and children from corsets. Lots of Photographs of her in Uniform with trousers as dress was not good for riding. Photographed in other types of clothing with trousers of her design. Many Photographs in Library of Congress of her. U.S. Stamp was issued several years back. She was ridiculed by many during her lifetime.  She thought the tight corsets and clothing to be unhealthy. Children of affluent families were put in corsets at 8 or so years.  Muscles did not develop properly in abdomen which caused problems breathing and later for women during childbearing. Also pictures in Library of Congress of of others of the time period in pants. Celeste

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Done!

http://www.google.ca/images?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=s&hl=en&q=Mary+Edwards+Walker&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=vFyhTMChI4_UtQPjrfW7AQ&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4&ved=0CEEQsAQwAw&biw=1024&bih=588

[Paladin UK]

A piccie From Hangtown Frye`s suggested site.....



Now they havta be the nastiest spurs I have seen EVER!!

Paladin Whut feels Reeeel sorry for that horse ) UK

[Hangtown Frye]

Notice how far he's keeping them from the horse?    

I suspect that the spurs were for the photo.  However, I've run across photo's of Mexicans wearing spurs much like those and using them on their horses. Of course, they tend to use them somewhat differently, and just "roll" them along the horse's flanks, rather than jabbing them.  A light hand an light heel are tricky to attain, but you do get enormous control when both you and the horse are properly trained to them. On untrained heels though, it's a quick trip to the dirt!  

Cheers!

Gordon

[ChuckBurrows]

Women in Pants: Manly Maidens, Cowgirls, and Other Renegades
http://www.amazon.com/Women-Pants-Maidens-Cowgirls-Renegades/dp/0810945711

The Cowgirl Way: Hats Off to America's Women of the West
http://www.amazon.com/Cowgirl-Way-Hats-Americas-Women/dp/0618737383

Texas Women on the Cattle Trails
http://www.amazon.com/Cowgirl-Way-Hats-Americas-Women/dp/0618737383

Cowgirls: Women of the Wild West
http://www.amazon.com/Cowgirls-Women-Elizabeth-Clair-Flood/dp/0939549182/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1333746334&sr=1-7

Cowgirls: Early Images and Collectibles
http://www.amazon.com/Cowgirls-Images-Collectibles-Schiffer-Collectors/dp/0764322389/ref=pd_sim_b_7

How the West Was Worn: Bustles and Buckskins on the Wild Frontier
http://www.amazon.com/How-West-Was-Worn-Buckskins/dp/0762735643/ref=pd_sim_b_6

That should get you started.........