Even today we hear the same comments that have been around for over 100 years when it comes to getting ready for something special or just getting going for the day. What should I wear?

The Fashion Museum in Abilene, Kansas will give you a good look at what the styles have been over the past 100 years. You will be able to think of how certain outfits would be to wear today and decide if that is something you would like to be seen in. Other outfits you will know you are glad you don’t have to wear.

In the 1850′s not only women had a different dressing style but so did the men. Imagine yourself in drawstring drawers made of medium weight cotton sheeting which come to your ankle or a pair of short drawers of linen twill with 2 over and 1 under. Just see how comfortable they would be or how quickly you could dress wearing this type of undergarment.

Again focusing on men’s wear let’s look at a mid-nineteenth century shirt. The square cut, drop-shouldered style with underarm gussets was the most common style for the first half of the 19th century. The gusset was usually a diamond-shaped insert in the seam to allow for expansion or reinforcement of the shirt.

Women also had a different challenge. Their dresses, from 1850 – 1862, were often two piece outfits with the bodice either having a loose fitting bodice with bishop sleeves or a peg-top sleeve that fit more snugly. They were held together with either buttons or hooks and eyes. The skirts, whether gathered or plaited in either box or knife plaits, were floor length and made of either thin cotton or light-weight wool.

Corsets, ball gowns and off shoulder dresses were part of the life of many of the women from the era in the 1860′s. Made from undyed light weight cotton drill they corsets were standard fare.

The “Round Dress” was what was considered standard wear for women in the 1850′s. They were made with a drop shoulder pattern yoke and had a lined and lightly boned front closing bodice. The bodice was attached to the same wasteband and therefore called the “round dress.” The sleeves were banded just below the drop shoulder and then flared out just above the elbow to make moving around easier.

Bell bottom pants and mini-skirts probably weren’t even a twinkle in the eye of those that designed clothing in the 1850′s. But with a museum that has cloths from the 1850′s through the 1960′s you see a radical change in the styles.

The museum is located at 212 N Broadway in Abilene, Kansas and is open 10 – 4 Tuesday – Saturday and after hours by appointment. Admission to the museum is $3 and well worth it to see all the different styles from over the years. Children under 12 are free.