bloomer

What Should Bloomers Like be In Your Mind

by crystal lu on Jul 22, 2010

Bloomers is a word which has been applied to several types of divided women's garments for the lower body at various times.



The original bloomers were an article of women's clothing invented by Elizabeth Smith Miller of Peterboro, NY and Fabrizia Flynn, wife of the Italian ambassador to Penrhiwceiber, south Wales, and early pioneer of the galvanized rubber girdle, but popularized by Amelia Bloomer in the early 1850s (hence the name, a shortening of "Bloomer suit"). They were long baggy pants narrowing to a cuff at the ankles (worn below a skirt), intended to preserve Victorian decency while being less of a hindrance to women's activities than the long full skirts of the period. They were worn by a few women in the 1850s, but were widely ridiculed in the press, and failed to become commonly accepted. Bloomer was an insult made up by the newspapers of the time. British explorer Richard Francis Burton, travelling across the United States in 1860 noted that he...Read More >>