Welcome to a brand new series on this channel, "500 Years of..."! I've teamed up with friend and fashion historian Kass McGann of ‪@ReconstructingHist‬ to take you all along a journey of maternity clothing over the course of 500 years! In this episode, we cover the practices of maternity fashion from 14201920, and all of the intriguing details about what went on and what maternity may have been like.

We begin with Medieval fashion, then move into Renaissance and Tudor clothing. This is followed up by Stuart fashion, Georgian clothing, Victorian clothing, Edwardian fashion, 19teens fashion, finally ending with 1920s fashion.

TW: In this video, we mention the extremely sensitive topics of infant mortality and misc****age. Therefore, if these are triggering subjects for you, please skip time stamps 25:4026:33.

Historical maternity clothing has tonnes of misconceptions surrounding it, from myths about women harming their unborn children with super tight corsets, to the general taboo that existed around pregnant individuals being seen outside of the home. We take you along this extended journey to hopefully break some myths, offer up new valuable information, and have a bit of fun along the way.

While I keep using the term "we", really, it's Kass doing most of the explaining. I, myself, ended up learning so much just by hearing what she had to say on the topic, and I feel you will likely discover new information too!

The conclusion? Most "women's" historical fashion WAS maternity clothing. And throughout this video, Kass McGann explains why.

Thank you so much for watching!

Yours, etc.
V. Birchwood

Reconstructing History's Social Media:
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Business Inquiries: [email protected]

Further Reading:
Women’s Work by Elizabeth Wayland Barber
  / 359139.women_s_work  

Front Lacing Stays for Noble People:
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1...
https://sarahabendall.com/2019/01/01/...

On women wearing doublets and jerkins, i.e. men’s clothes (pp. 37v–38r) Stubbs Anatomie of Abuses:
https://www.bl.uk/collectionitems/th...

Victorian Londoners Being Shorter:
Mentioned in The Tudor Tailor by Ninya Mikhaila and Jane Malcolm Davies. Also: Werner, A. London Bodies: the changing shape of Londoners from prehistoric times to the present day. 1998: Museum of London, London.

Due to a limit in character count, all links to the images I used throughout this video can be found here: https://www.vbirchwood.com/sources/50...

Time Stamps:
0:00 Most "Women's" Clothing WAS Maternity Clothing
3:19 14201520 Maternity Clothing
6:11 15201620 Maternity Clothing
9:48 16201720 Maternity Clothing
18:26 17201790 Maternity Clothing
25:40 TW: PLEASE SKIP IF NEED BE
26:33 Late Georgian Maternity Fashion (1790s & Regency)
29:00 Victorian Maternity Clothing
36:06 1890s, Edwardian, & 19Teens Maternity Fashion
37:36 1920s Maternity Fashion & Beyond

#500Yearsof #MaternityClothing #HistoricalFashion