Her Half of History

Nothing says social status quite like ridiculous clothes, and throughout history, women have shown theirs with clothes that were sheer, huge, heavy, trailing, constricting, and otherwise totally impractical. In this episode I introduce you to sheer dresses, huge dresses, heavy dresses, dresses with sleeves so long they drag on the floor, headpieces with horns so high you can't get through the door...

Most women, if they swam at all, were probably skinny dipping. Regular beach goers with regular beach wear got going in the 19th century when they wore an unbelievable amount of gear. In the decades since, the swimsuit shrunk in fits and starts, and even an occasional retreat. Visit the ⁠website⁠ (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures. Support the show on my ⁠Patreon page⁠ f...

Veiling was invented thousands of years ago. It became very common, if not always required, for Muslim women within a few generations of Muhammad. Wearing the veil became hotly contentious in the late 19th century. So much so, that at one point commentators thought it was dying out, but in fact the opposite has happened. Growing numbers of women wear the hijab, for a variety of religious, cultural...

Large numbers of women in history went free and easy, wearing nothing that resembles modern underwear, though some of them wore plenty of undergarments that don’t resemble modern underwear. Knickers came in the early 19th century before evolving into briefs in the 20th century. Bras are generally also thought to be a 20th century invention, except it turns out that they may be quite a bit older th...

 The modern woman’s wardrobe contains many little mysteries. Why so few pockets? Why so many heels? And why are the buttons different on men’s and women’s shirts? In this episode, I discuss the times when pockets were detachable, men wore heels, and buttons were a mystery (as they still are today).  Visit the ⁠website⁠ (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures. Support the show...

Hemlines throughout history have ranged from nonexistent (that is, no clothes at all) to trailing 25 feet behind you, but for the most part they went to at least the ankle and often the floor. Starting in the early 20th century, they started ricocheting up and down and up and down again until finally we have arrived at a point where you are free to look good in a skirt of pretty much any length yo...

Women wore various versions of skirts or robes for most of history. A few brave women in pants traumatized their neighbors in the 19th century, but it wasn’t really acceptable in the western world until the 20th century, when women in sports, women in film, and women in fashion design took the bifurcated risk and gave us the right to wear pants (almost) everywhere we want to go. Visit the ⁠website...