Did you have to remove the blayeuse when walking inside a house? Like "take of your dirty shoes at the entrance" there is a stand of blayeuse holders next to the door 😂 Or put another "inside house" blayeuse on top of the dirty one? 😂
That’s probably part of why they had “walking” dresses, riding habits, day dresses, morning dresses, etc. It seems they changed dresses every time they went out? At least the upper class.
Garments like these are only worn during evening and special events. So if a woman is wearing a trained dress to someone’s house. It’s more than likely for a ball or dinner. No you wouldn’t remove a Balayeuese while in someone’s home lol. It’s underneath the skirt. It would be improper etiquette and public indecency. More than likely will ruin your social life. After the event, once back in the privacy of your own home. Then will you have your servant remove the Balayeuse for cleaning.
@@meganrae2508 Middle to upper class women changed according to the time of day and event. You’re are correct. It was just considered proper etiquette. Walking dresses for when going out in public or making calls to someone’s house. Wrappers for in the boudoir, tea gowns to lounge in and receive guests. Afternoon attire, evening attire, dinner gown, gowns for the opera, gowns for balls. Dresses for sports, and riding. The minimum amount of garments of middle to upper class woman would need, would be about 4.
@@soheesweetheartimagine appearing at a ball in the same dress every time? I suppose the really wealthy had more than one ball gown. but they wouldn't have worn a completely new gown for every single ball. these days you cannot attend weddings in a gown you've worn at a previous wedding, and we wonder why we have issues with fast fashion. society really needs to change our thinking around rewearing outfits. we also need to bring back the pretty gowns of the 19th century, because most dresses these days are boring 😂
My grandmother was born in the 1890's and had to wear the long dresses and the underwear with the slit in them for going to the bathroom. She told me when I was very young not to romanticize those clothes. She said they were awful and one thing she specifically spoke about was how dirty the bottom of the skirts were. She said they were so hot and because of what was proper for that time buttons were buttoned and sleeves were long. Her hair was so long and heavy and she wore it up when she became of the age when young girls were old enough to "wear their up". She said it gave her terrible headaches and she hated it. Needless to say when the Roaring Twenties came about, she was in her early twenties and she adopted some of the flappers' fashions. Her dresses became shorter, she wore teddys versus pantaloons, and that "damned" hair got cut off to a bob. I have one professional photo of her from the 30's and she was beautiful to me. I wish she were around to tell me, my daughter and my grandson those wonderful tales from her childhood and young adulthood. For reference, I am 71 so I am old enough to have a grandmother that lived through those years.
Yes, fashion is just something some guy (usually a male “designer” thinks up) and then women are dumb enough to wear with much problems, or as your poor GMA was Forced to wear back in those old days. Look at high heel! WTH are today’s women trying to prove? Not me thank you. I wear comfortable beach or exercise wear here in my home state of Florida… and flip flops 😂
People in that time did not dispose of things. There were people that hand washed and pressed everything for the rich. My mom used to wash and press for wealthy people. She used an iron that opened up and you put hot coal inside. They also soaked or sprayed in starch depending on how hard you wanted the clothes.
@@ElliLavenderthis is something that still happens in parts of the world, maybe not the coal iron but some women still work washing and ironing other people's clothes
My great-grandmother was a ladies' lady. She didn't wear those dresses herself, she said that they were too impractical. But she did have to care for her lady's clothing. One of the most important things, she said, is not to try to wash dirt or mud out. Hang it, let it dry completely, and then brush it out. She said the lighter the colour, the more important this is. I got mud on a pair of white trousers once. I tried this. It worked brilliantly.
THANK YOU for sharing this!! It makes total sense, the dirt would sit on top of the fibers, but we instinctively mush them all in there 😅 this is such a useful tip!
It really was the very classiest time in history, as far as public attire goes. The 1940s also saw people caring about their clothing. I wish everyone would dress up in today's world! It would lift A LOT of spirits!!
@@leslie4351can u imagine walking in something so long on today's buildings, streets full of traffic etc.? Any spirit that those clothes would lift up would've been lifted down by how uncomfortable and messy it would get. I mean look outside - today's streets are so dirty, u could sometimes feel afraid to wear a pair of new clean shoes, let alone a long sweeping gown. Not to mention u would prob tear that gown's skirt apart wearing it outside on a daily basis.
@@maddieb.4282I think they’re implying that the servant would scrub them clean, I think. “How did their hems not get dirty?” They would get dirty, they just had people they paid to clean it!
@@Kimmie9553 yes, a bit of both. Sometimes they had people to carry their trains, and sometimes they just paid people to clean them. But it’s still interesting that there were also “skirt aprons” to help out with the problem as well. For every problem that fashion throws our way, someone comes up with a solution. Soft shoes getting muddy? Create pattens to lift your shoes up out of the mud! Ridiculously long toe points making it hard to walk? Curl them upwards, or even tie them to your leg using a decorative cord. 😁
@@maddieb.4282 no, they didn’t have people walking behind them ALL the time. But sometimes they did that, and sometimes they just had their servants do the laundry. Either way, the rich person didn’t have to think too much about the impracticality of the garment, because they had enough money not to care how impractical it was.
My great aunt had a decorative silver device that attacked to the belt /girdle of such long dresses. It had a clip that attached to raise the hem for walking outdoors.
Well, she said « ou », instead of « eu ». But it’s totally fine because french is way too hard for no reason. Anyway, french-speaking people knew what she meant and it’s totally fine 😌
@@Bakerygo seeing how english and french have difficult sounds in each language for the other one she did alright the eu sound is tricky and if she had gotten this part right i think it would have been clearer for us to get the word without seeing it in the subtitles
They also made knitted covers to keep fireplace soot and other dirt off their furniture, but when these things themselves became too elaborate and decorative, they had to make covers for the covers. So the answer to dirt seems to have been "add more fabric" generally, not just for dresses.
This is also a mark of ones class to know you will need a balayeuse for your train ss even if you wore the wedding dress once, its traditional amongst the upper classes that you would want to hand it down to the next-generation and would to preserve the integrity of the dress.
@AstaDarling ...Something similar to the blayeuse is employed for sarees....it is about a 7inch wide length of cotton (color matched to the saree) that is basted allong the bottom edges that get contact with footwear+dirt whilst walking.
This concern was only for the poor women. Rich women had money to have others clean or replace their clothing. This was a sign of wealth. Working women had short hems for day to day wearing. I think this was also how white gloves became fashionable again in the mid-20th century. White gloves meant you didn't have to work with your hands and it offered protection for steering your car (power steering wasn't available then) if your husband was rich enough to buy a 2nd one.
Exactly. Poorer women definitely did not wear dresses with trains. They also didn't wear hoopskirts, bustles or any petticoats. Those were impractical luxury items they simply couldn't afford.
@@MrsWilberforce2They did wear all those things though? They were expected to wear them because even the poorest people wanted to emulate the popular silhouette and it was just apart of daily clothing in that era. There are loads of images of working class women working in petticoats which were 100% worn to get the shape and crinolines and bustles. They weren’t luxury items at all There were loads of second hand stalls and people would invest in them just like they did in proper corsets bc they were essentials.
I’ve always been into different time periods. Like Medieval, Colonial, French Revolution, Victorian, 1940s-early 1960s and of course, the 80s. My “Walt Disney” dream would be if they could build a theme park like EPCOT but instead of worlds, it would be time periods. The hotels you could stay in would either offer rooms like they were in that time period or today. Attractions would be the most interesting things of those times. The people who work in each “era” would be dressed and act like the time period, like they do in EPCOT. Food, some of the favorites from those times and also foods we have today. I think that would be so cool. We could all learn new things, experience life of those before us and just have a really cool experience. Anyone think this sounds awesome?
I'd vacation there every year! I've always wondered why aren't there wild West towns for folks to actually live like it was over a hundred & fifty years ago?! I'd move there for sure!
@@leslie4351 I’m glad someone else thinks it’d be a cool place to go. Now if I can only find investors. There aren’t any old west type towns you can go to? I feel like there has to be. Maybe one day it’ll happen but someone else will get rich off of it because that’s how my life goes.
I would love that. I would also love to dress up like that for a day, including the corset, perhaps to even go to a ball to watch Cinderella meet Prince Charming before the clock struck twelve!!! Oh to be an extra at that moment!!!
You'd also wear different hem lengths for different occasions - you wouldn't be having a chill day at home or a trip to the marker with an elaborate train.
Many years ago I asked this question of a very old lady who was born in 1870. She said the skirts they wore for everyday (not dresses) did get muddy at the bottom and that had to be dried off, then it was removed with a small hard brush which was kept attached to the waist. She recalled that the first thing she had to do when visiting a friend was always to dry the mud, then brush it off. She came from a wealthy background but told me she always did this herself when visiting to prevent the dirt from building up.
I always assumed there was a protective layer down there but this is the first time I have seen it explained. Thank you! Also that pink gown was a masterpiece in confectionery design ☺️💕
Alot lf garments that were worn regularly were whool wich had natural dirt repelling amd water repelling properties and people wore a lot of underlayers to too so theyre skin and sweat never cam in contact so the fabrics werent washed often
There was no "REady To WEar" with these types of dresses. You had to have a dress like this specifically made to fit your body. Therefore if you could afford this type of dress, you also had a maid that would help you get dressed and undressed as well as personally clean your soiled gown or give it to a laundress for cleaning.
I work in a warehouse for a department store chain. Gown hems can get dirty before storing and shipping. Kinda wish they came with a belayeuse from the manufacturer.
I've always wondered about the girls in China wearing traditional clothes in daily life. they are absolutely beyond stunning, but a lot of them are made from chiffon with beautiful long draping sleeves. I don't know how they don't wreck them on the first day!
A common phrase for me on ren-fairs is 'careful your standing on her dress/train' or 'don't move they are standing on your dress/train' when i am looking at stalls. most ladies with long dresses put a little loop so they can lift the dress is it's very dirty where they walk 🤣
I saw an interview with a lady who grew up in the very late Victorian times and she was lamenting about washing her big LONG skirts. She said it was awful and really enjoyed the shorter hems of the 20s. For anyone who has made it this far, she was in her 80s and the interview was from the 60s
@@MrsWilberforce2Ever hear of lifting the hem of your skirt? Plenty of photos during this period,( Gilded Age), or the turn of the century, fearure women walking on the streets holding up the back of their hems. People did not comport themselves in the same manner as folks do today when it comes to clothing. There was a manner of wearing these garments.
Thank you for teaching me something new today! I try to learn something new daily. I love the Victorian Era, as well, so this is like a double win for learning today. Lol Ps: Your dress is BEAUTIFUL!
Reminds me of those microfibre socks that look like soft hedgehogs, which claim that they help you cut down cleaning time by sweeping the floor as you walk around the house. The truth is that you only walk in a habitual pattern that excludes the dustiest corners, and when you go to bed at night you forget to take the broom socks off and just dump all the mess straight into bed instead…
When Queen Victoria and Prince Albert organized their expo in the Crystal Palace there were concerns about ticket stubs and other refuse being dropped and littering the floor so to fix it the builders set the floorboards with a small gap between them so ladies skirts could sweep the litter into those gaps with their skirts
Hey Just wanted to share the Gospel that all men need, the Bible says all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) this means we all deserve death and separation from a perfect and holy God. But God did not leave us for dead, He sent His only begotten Son to die in yours and my place, so that anyone who believes in Him and repents of sin will be saved from separation from God, and have eternal life! I urge you please put your faith in Jesus Christ and follow Him, He promises to save all who cry out to Him and have a humble heart. We arent guaranteed another day so we must seek Him today while He may be found.
In a book I'm reading about single women throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, the author says that mud at the bottom of the hem on aristocratic/wealthy women's dresses meant that they were doing what they ought to be doing (going out, promenading, coming home). Pretty interesting
Yes because if they were out instead of sending a maid or servant girl running errands for them, also a status symbol that they had the wealth to clean or dispose of that piece of fabric and that they had multiple garments to wear while something else was being cleaned! Very interesting how much fashion can tell about the time period!
always wondered this, thank you! especially in GOT everyone would just walk around with mud and water and shit caked on the bottom of their dresses or covers and every time i thought my god how do they ever get it clean again
It's a balayeuse (not blayeuse, I think that was a typo in a previous comment) and it's what my mom called her Electrolux vacuum cleaner..in the 60'-70's.:))) now known as "aspirateur"😉
It's disgusting when you think about it. Sweeping everything up wherever you go. This is one reason it was against the law to spit on the streets n sidewalks.
THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH !! IM AN OLE' MAN ,,and for about 40 years I've had the question ! Streets were dirt m9stly there were horses everywhere and a lady would walk across street in long dresses, why they didn't male lady's dresses shorter !! Thank you !!
So the ladies that had these long ball gowns with trains only used them in their own homes for dinner or on special occasions like a ball. If they had to travel to the event, they had carriages & foot men to clean up any messes before they entered or left the carriage. A walking, visiting or day dress (I forgot the name) IS abit shorter and doesn't have a train. It was used to run errands or visit with friends. Please understand that these women had a different dress for everything they did and would change their clothes SEVERAL times a day. I hope this answers your question.
@@AnadyiaHowellThank you for pointing out what I pointed out earlier. Women did not wear the same dress all day. Women wore different dresses for whatever function they were attending to. Only the poorest would wear the same dress throughout the whole day. People have to consider how folks lived back then and to stop looking at this era through the lens of present day standards. The mode of walking through streets barely dressed, as many do today, would have had one summarily arrested for public indecency. No one would have dreamed of such an offense.
I kinda feel like life back in the days were so hard.. Just dressing up to go outside and grab a cup of coffee or to take a walk would take so much time and energy
Was wearing this down to ground full length skirt in a really dirty weather one day and this old old lady started yelling at me to get a shorter skirt, because it will get dirty and that seemed to be good enough reason for her to demand I wore short skirt, so I walked straight through a mudpool just to irk her. She gasped and went on a long tirade on how on how disobedient these girls are while i continued my walk home like nothing had happened. It was actually super easily cleaned, but she didn't have to know, but the look on her face was priceless!
As a french speaker, balayeuse is pronounced "Ba-lei-y-E-z" (don't attack me, how are we supposed to explain the sound "EU" ENGLISH SPEAKER DON'T HAVE THAT SOUND 😭)
I started sewing at 9 years old. My grandmother taught me. The first dress I made was a little too long. But I liked how it looked! I didn’t want to hem it up and my grandmother was going to have me do the next lesson (and she would hem dresss up high it was like a left over 60s fashion thing lol.) So I thought through my problem and came up with the idea to bast a piece of plain fabric on the inside so it didn’t get the dress dirty. I was so excited to show my grandma what I had invented. She looked at it and said “oh you just put in a balayeuse instead of hemming it. Good” and moved on 😂 So I got praise, but her already knowing exactly what it was kept me humble. Ever since then I have loved to learn old clothing tips and tricks.
So beautiful! I had to ask, is the first shot Christine's Masquerade dress from Phantom of the Opera? I've been obsessed with that dress ever since I saw it in the movie!💖💖
I would love it if someone opened up a place where like-minded women could gather for the day. Try on different victorian outfits & have tea & tea sandwiches. That would be so cool to learn about Victoria Culture while there.
Of course, ladies who wore dresses like these rarely walked the streets. Contrary to historically inaccurate Hollywood movies, ladies ( not working women such as maids) never went anywhere unchaperoned and wore outdoor clothes for outdoor events.
So...... I am guessing the garments were never washed until they walked by themselves, since machine wash or dry cleaning did not exist, at our pay level, and those with fine stitching, embroidery, or silks, or wools, or fancy filigree, could not be washed, so was cleaned by hand in a wash tub and hung to dry in the wind, blowing smoke and dust, or hung in the wind to air out, if you did not freeze in winter. I am old enough to have hung out clothes on the clothesline in the winter, and it was not fun hanging out wet clothes, or bringing in frozen ones, to defrost.
Remember that only women with the money for coaches and servants wore these dresses. They would step inky a short distance to the coach and into the house with a ballroom. They weren't wearing these to dig potatoes in the garden or walk 8 mile to the butcher.
Balayeuse you say ballet like the dance for the first part and the second i dont' really now how to tell in english but the eu sound like eh and se is a z sound i don't know if it's clear for you 😅
THE ACTUAL ANSWER: they had staff!! Women of status changed at least 3x daily. They didn't walk in the gutters, their staff did. And their skirts were shorter. Day dresses were shorter, and evening dresses like some of these shown bustled up.
Did you have to remove the blayeuse when walking inside a house?
Like "take of your dirty shoes at the entrance" there is a stand of blayeuse holders next to the door 😂 Or put another "inside house" blayeuse on top of the dirty one? 😂
That’s probably part of why they had “walking” dresses, riding habits, day dresses, morning dresses, etc. It seems they changed dresses every time they went out? At least the upper class.
Walking dresses did not drag.
Garments like these are only worn during evening and special events. So if a woman is wearing a trained dress to someone’s house. It’s more than likely for a ball or dinner.
No you wouldn’t remove a Balayeuese while in someone’s home lol. It’s underneath the skirt. It would be improper etiquette and public indecency. More than likely will ruin your social life.
After the event, once back in the privacy of your own home. Then will you have your servant remove the Balayeuse for cleaning.
@@meganrae2508 Middle to upper class women changed according to the time of day and event. You’re are correct. It was just considered proper etiquette. Walking dresses for when going out in public or making calls to someone’s house. Wrappers for in the boudoir, tea gowns to lounge in and receive guests. Afternoon attire, evening attire, dinner gown, gowns for the opera, gowns for balls. Dresses for sports, and riding. The minimum amount of garments of middle to upper class woman would need, would be about 4.
@@soheesweetheartimagine appearing at a ball in the same dress every time?
I suppose the really wealthy had more than one ball gown. but they wouldn't have worn a completely new gown for every single ball.
these days you cannot attend weddings in a gown you've worn at a previous wedding, and we wonder why we have issues with fast fashion.
society really needs to change our thinking around rewearing outfits.
we also need to bring back the pretty gowns of the 19th century, because most dresses these days are boring 😂
So it was basically a special apron for the hem of your dress.
Yes, pretty much!
Wow.
What a great idea! 😊
A special broom!
@Sam-rx5ig Thankfully, slavery was abolished in the United Kingdom before the reign of Queen Victoria. But definitely, America is another story.
Balayeuse is also the term we use for the truck machines that clean the streets 😂
It's probably where they got the word
I can see why!! 😂 I think that word must mean broom in French.
@@winxclubstellamusaShe literally said what it means. It's "sweeper", a broom can kinda fall in that.
Why make this comment?
In French today it means vaccum cleaner
@@unemilifleur thanks for sharing that! I was wondering what it meant 😊
So, they had a walking broom with them.
big brains
200 IQ women never have to stop cleaning IF they are the broom/mop ;))
that's true 😂
it's like those slippers they sell today that are mops on the soles.
@@katyb2793or like the baby onesie with the mop like thing on the front half
@@cofffee817 yes that's true 😂 those are so awful 😂
My grandmother was born in the 1890's and had to wear the long dresses and the underwear with the slit in them for going to the bathroom. She told me when I was very young not to romanticize those clothes. She said they were awful and one thing she specifically spoke about was how dirty the bottom of the skirts were. She said they were so hot and because of what was proper for that time buttons were buttoned and sleeves were long. Her hair was so long and heavy and she wore it up when she became of the age when young girls were old enough to "wear their up". She said it gave her terrible headaches and she hated it. Needless to say when the Roaring Twenties came about, she was in her early twenties and she adopted some of the flappers' fashions. Her dresses became shorter, she wore teddys versus pantaloons, and that "damned" hair got cut off to a bob. I have one professional photo of her from the 30's and she was beautiful to me. I wish she were around to tell me, my daughter and my grandson those wonderful tales from her childhood and young adulthood. For reference, I am 71 so I am old enough to have a grandmother that lived through those years.
Yes, fashion is just something some guy (usually a male “designer” thinks up) and then women are dumb enough to wear with much problems, or as your poor GMA was Forced to wear back in those old days. Look at high heel! WTH are today’s women trying to prove? Not me thank you. I wear comfortable beach or exercise wear here in my home state of Florida… and flip flops 😂
Wow
thank you for sharing!
I was wondering ur age when u sd ur gma was born in 1890's 😂 GREAT👏 story i bet she had lots of GREAT stories 😁consider urself lucky 👍thank u 🤗
Fascinating 🖤 thank you for sharing this beautiful piece of information and life❤
People in that time did not dispose of things. There were people that hand washed and pressed everything for the rich. My mom used to wash and press for wealthy people. She used an iron that opened up and you put hot coal inside. They also soaked or sprayed in starch depending on how hard you wanted the clothes.
I've seen people with some of those Irons at home used as decor, they actually are so pretty!
So did my nana! She tailored, washed, & pressed wealthy people’s clothing. She even made dresses for their wives, daughters, etc .
Is your mom 150 years old?
So did my grandmother
@@ElliLavenderthis is something that still happens in parts of the world, maybe not the coal iron but some women still work washing and ironing other people's clothes
My great-grandmother was a ladies' lady. She didn't wear those dresses herself, she said that they were too impractical. But she did have to care for her lady's clothing. One of the most important things, she said, is not to try to wash dirt or mud out. Hang it, let it dry completely, and then brush it out. She said the lighter the colour, the more important this is. I got mud on a pair of white trousers once. I tried this. It worked brilliantly.
Wow! I never would have thought of that! Is this just for mud? 😊
THANK YOU for sharing this!! It makes total sense, the dirt would sit on top of the fibers, but we instinctively mush them all in there 😅 this is such a useful tip!
Отличный совет! Так и есть.
The artistry of Victorian gowns was masterful and so beautifully elegant.
It really was the very classiest time in history, as far as public attire goes. The 1940s also saw people caring about their clothing. I wish everyone would dress up in today's world! It would lift A LOT of spirits!!
@@leslie4351 and the 1930s.. because.. obviously.
@@leslie4351can u imagine walking in something so long on today's buildings, streets full of traffic etc.? Any spirit that those clothes would lift up would've been lifted down by how uncomfortable and messy it would get. I mean look outside - today's streets are so dirty, u could sometimes feel afraid to wear a pair of new clean shoes, let alone a long sweeping gown. Not to mention u would prob tear that gown's skirt apart wearing it outside on a daily basis.
@@LouRyderr and the streets were even dirtier then. Difference is now you might accumulate quite the selection of syringes under that dumb skirt😂
@@loriegosnell9355 syringes? More like syringes, empty drink cans, wrappers from food, uneaten food, dirty paper tissues....
Also: if you had trains, you also had servants. But it’s cool to know they had these skirt aprons, too!
I actually thought that’s what she was going to say, lol.
Even the wealthiest people weren’t followed around by a servant carrying their hem all the time, lol!!
@@maddieb.4282I think they’re implying that the servant would scrub them clean, I think. “How did their hems not get dirty?” They would get dirty, they just had people they paid to clean it!
@@Kimmie9553 yes, a bit of both. Sometimes they had people to carry their trains, and sometimes they just paid people to clean them. But it’s still interesting that there were also “skirt aprons” to help out with the problem as well. For every problem that fashion throws our way, someone comes up with a solution. Soft shoes getting muddy? Create pattens to lift your shoes up out of the mud! Ridiculously long toe points making it hard to walk? Curl them upwards, or even tie them to your leg using a decorative cord. 😁
@@maddieb.4282 no, they didn’t have people walking behind them ALL the time. But sometimes they did that, and sometimes they just had their servants do the laundry. Either way, the rich person didn’t have to think too much about the impracticality of the garment, because they had enough money not to care how impractical it was.
My great aunt had a decorative silver device that attacked to the belt /girdle of such long dresses. It had a clip that attached to raise the hem for walking outdoors.
That's pretty Rad!
Need more info
and my boyfriend wonders why I put safety pins on hem of my shirts, i said for my long skirts. 12/9/23 7am pst - Maggie
Scandalous! 😮 😉
@@ahill4642No, it isn't. It just holds up a section of the dress to keep it off the floor. Not the whole dress.
I am french and you said "balayeuse" almost perfectly ! Just that the "se" at the end is pronounced "ze". French is a mess
Well, she said « ou », instead of « eu ». But it’s totally fine because french is way too hard for no reason. Anyway, french-speaking people knew what she meant and it’s totally fine 😌
And its "ba" not "bel"
@@Skyethestudente
@@Bakerygo seeing how english and french have difficult sounds in each language for the other one she did alright
the eu sound is tricky and if she had gotten this part right i think it would have been clearer for us to get the word without seeing it in the subtitles
@@Bakerygoima be honest it don't matter
They also made knitted covers to keep fireplace soot and other dirt off their furniture, but when these things themselves became too elaborate and decorative, they had to make covers for the covers. So the answer to dirt seems to have been "add more fabric" generally, not just for dresses.
Exactly why having a linen collection was part of a woman herritage
And then of course an economic structure that forced many people into service to be exploited to maintain the impractical lifestyle of the wealthy
Antimacasars are actually pretty useful devices to keep the hair product (macasar) from getting onto the furniture.
@@bookhuggah and something removable/washable to cover the armrests of chairs and sofas. Even washed hands leave grubby residue. 😞
They should do this for modern wedding gowns
You can always request for it. Most people just don't because they only wear their wedding gown once so they don't care if it gets dirty.
yes
@@cinderellacomplex7good point.
Yep
This is also a mark of ones class to know you will need a balayeuse for your train ss even if you wore the wedding dress once, its traditional amongst the upper classes that you would want to hand it down to the next-generation and would to preserve the integrity of the dress.
@AstaDarling ...Something similar to the blayeuse is employed for sarees....it is about a 7inch wide length of cotton (color matched to the saree) that is basted allong the bottom edges that get contact with footwear+dirt whilst walking.
I was always told it was to protect the saree material from anklets but this make s sense too..
@@BCFSruthiS It does that as well 😊
Really interesting. I hadn’t heard of that being done with saris. I did know about the use of Sweepers, as we called them in Scotland .
Saree ka fall, right?
@@paralleluniverse7581 yes
You also had maidservants who would be brushing the hems for you when you arrived home. If you were upper crust.
Upper crust
Lmao
Upper crust?😂😂
I’m dead😂💔
For everyone laughing, the term really is upper crust to refer to high society
@@Alesana907 right? Who knows what they're thinking, lolol
Well thieves lol
This concern was only for the poor women. Rich women had money to have others clean or replace their clothing. This was a sign of wealth. Working women had short hems for day to day wearing. I think this was also how white gloves became fashionable again in the mid-20th century. White gloves meant you didn't have to work with your hands and it offered protection for steering your car (power steering wasn't available then) if your husband was rich enough to buy a 2nd one.
Exactly. Poorer women definitely did not wear dresses with trains. They also didn't wear hoopskirts, bustles or any petticoats. Those were impractical luxury items they simply couldn't afford.
Wow, fascinated by the off white dress with the gold sun rays and clouds as well as the whole one with black embroidered flowers
@@MrsWilberforce2They did wear all those things though? They were expected to wear them because even the poorest people wanted to emulate the popular silhouette and it was just apart of daily clothing in that era. There are loads of images of working class women working in petticoats which were 100% worn to get the shape and crinolines and bustles. They weren’t luxury items at all There were loads of second hand stalls and people would invest in them just like they did in proper corsets bc they were essentials.
😂😊t e😊😊😅1
@@di7209Ahh, someone intelligent. Thank you!
That pink dress looked so good on you!
There was also skirt braiding or brush braid for walking skirts, to keep the hems and skirt bottoms from wearing out.
I’ve always been into different time periods. Like Medieval, Colonial, French Revolution, Victorian, 1940s-early 1960s and of course, the 80s. My “Walt Disney” dream would be if they could build a theme park like EPCOT but instead of worlds, it would be time periods. The hotels you could stay in would either offer rooms like they were in that time period or today. Attractions would be the most interesting things of those times. The people who work in each “era” would be dressed and act like the time period, like they do in EPCOT. Food, some of the favorites from those times and also foods we have today. I think that would be so cool.
We could all learn new things, experience life of those before us and just have a really cool experience. Anyone think this sounds awesome?
yes!
I'd vacation there every year! I've always wondered why aren't there wild West towns for folks to actually live like it was over a hundred & fifty years ago?! I'd move there for sure!
@@leslie4351 I’m glad someone else thinks it’d be a cool place to go. Now if I can only find investors. There aren’t any old west type towns you can go to? I feel like there has to be. Maybe one day it’ll happen but someone else will get rich off of it because that’s how my life goes.
I would love that. I would also love to dress up like that for a day, including the corset, perhaps to even go to a ball to watch Cinderella meet Prince Charming before the clock struck twelve!!! Oh to be an extra at that moment!!!
You'd have to be rich to go there
A lot of fashions also utilized a ruffle along the bottom edge of the skirt that could be removed and replaced with more of the same fabric.
You ain't living if you don't learn something new everyday. I know for a fact I'm living. ❤❤❤
That sounds like my “You learn something new every day! That was my new thing I learned, now I’m done for the day” 😂
That's a good thing to live by. Knowledge is free, soak it up.
You'd also wear different hem lengths for different occasions - you wouldn't be having a chill day at home or a trip to the marker with an elaborate train.
Great point!
Correct. Well to do women would actually wear several dresses during the course of the day. Only the very poor would wear the same dress all day.
I appreciate these educational shorts you make.
Edutainment is always golden.😁
Many years ago I asked this question of a very old lady who was born in 1870. She said the skirts they wore for everyday (not dresses) did get muddy at the bottom and that had to be dried off, then it was removed with a small hard brush which was kept attached to the waist. She recalled that the first thing she had to do when visiting a friend was always to dry the mud, then brush it off. She came from a wealthy background but told me she always did this herself when visiting to prevent the dirt from building up.
In english it's called a dust ruffle
I've only heard of dust ruffles on beds.
That's for beds
There is a name, but that’s not it lol.
@@samaraisnt what is the name?
Love the Victorian style from the dresses to the home’s furniture etc. beautiful ❤
I always assumed there was a protective layer down there but this is the first time I have seen it explained. Thank you! Also that pink gown was a masterpiece in confectionery design ☺️💕
Alot lf garments that were worn regularly were whool wich had natural dirt repelling amd water repelling properties and people wore a lot of underlayers to too so theyre skin and sweat never cam in contact so the fabrics werent washed often
Thank you for informing us about this. I'm watching The Gilded Age right now and have always wondered how they keep the bottom of their skirts clean.
For walking skirts (outdoor skirts), there was skirt braid or brush braid, which protected the bottom edges from wear.
The one you aer wearing was without protection . ?
There was no "REady To WEar" with these types of dresses. You had to have a dress like this specifically made to fit your body. Therefore if you could afford this type of dress, you also had a maid that would help you get dressed and undressed as well as personally clean your soiled gown or give it to a laundress for cleaning.
I would have loved to live in this time and wore dresses like that. Absolutely gorgeous! 💖
I work in a warehouse for a department store chain. Gown hems can get dirty before storing and shipping. Kinda wish they came with a belayeuse from the manufacturer.
The worst thing about going to run Faire is cleaning the bottoms of your dresses afterwards 😂
I've always wondered about the girls in China wearing traditional clothes in daily life. they are absolutely beyond stunning, but a lot of them are made from chiffon with beautiful long draping sleeves. I don't know how they don't wreck them on the first day!
A common phrase for me on ren-fairs is 'careful your standing on her dress/train' or 'don't move they are standing on your dress/train' when i am looking at stalls. most ladies with long dresses put a little loop so they can lift the dress is it's very dirty where they walk 🤣
Those dresses are like works of art! Stunningly BEAUTIFUL!
You know those little pieces of trivia that you actually need to know? This is definitely one of them!
Excited to use this!! I'm currently on break but I'll update when I go back to school
Those gowns are gorgeous...!
I saw an interview with a lady who grew up in the very late Victorian times and she was lamenting about washing her big LONG skirts. She said it was awful and really enjoyed the shorter hems of the 20s. For anyone who has made it this far, she was in her 80s and the interview was from the 60s
They did got dirty af 🤣🤣🤣 thats one of reason why there was separate maid that done only laundry 🤣🤣🤣
This is why i keep most of my dresses ankle length though i have a friend who stills tries to get me into a hoopskirt XD
Yep that’s what my long haired 🐶 has- a street, pardon, a sweeper 🧹 glad to know we’re contributing to cleanliness of our surroundings 🎉😊
They also had servants keeping their floors inside clean, important to remember
Yes, but I'm sure even rich ladies went outside to their gardens, to social events, etc.
Yeah, but the problem occurs when you had to venture outside onto the filthy sidewalks and streets (and Victorian streets were truly filthy).
@@MrsWilberforce2Ever hear of lifting the hem of your skirt? Plenty of photos during this period,( Gilded Age), or the turn of the century, fearure women walking on the streets holding up the back of their hems. People did not comport themselves in the same manner as folks do today when it comes to clothing. There was a manner of wearing these garments.
Thank you for teaching me something new today! I try to learn something new daily. I love the Victorian Era, as well, so this is like a double win for learning today. Lol Ps: Your dress is BEAUTIFUL!
Reminds me of those microfibre socks that look like soft hedgehogs, which claim that they help you cut down cleaning time by sweeping the floor as you walk around the house. The truth is that you only walk in a habitual pattern that excludes the dustiest corners, and when you go to bed at night you forget to take the broom socks off and just dump all the mess straight into bed instead…
I'm sure they also used some kind of hook to pull up skirts so as not to drag ..
That pink gown is absolutely gorgeous 🥰🥰
My sympathies to Victorians with myopia. How can they navigate dimly lit ballrooms with lots of tripping hazard?
Myopia was way more rare back then.
When Queen Victoria and Prince Albert organized their expo in the Crystal Palace there were concerns about ticket stubs and other refuse being dropped and littering the floor so to fix it the builders set the floorboards with a small gap between them so ladies skirts could sweep the litter into those gaps with their skirts
@@daynawithawhy Wow that's incredible that they thought of that! 😳
Hey
Just wanted to share the Gospel that all men need, the Bible says all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) this means we all deserve death and separation from a perfect and holy God. But God did not leave us for dead, He sent His only begotten Son to die in yours and my place, so that anyone who believes in Him and repents of sin will be saved from separation from God, and have eternal life! I urge you please put your faith in Jesus Christ and follow Him, He promises to save all who cry out to Him and have a humble heart. We arent guaranteed another day so we must seek Him today while He may be found.
In a book I'm reading about single women throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, the author says that mud at the bottom of the hem on aristocratic/wealthy women's dresses meant that they were doing what they ought to be doing (going out, promenading, coming home). Pretty interesting
Yes because if they were out instead of sending a maid or servant girl running errands for them, also a status symbol that they had the wealth to clean or dispose of that piece of fabric and that they had multiple garments to wear while something else was being cleaned! Very interesting how much fashion can tell about the time period!
always wondered this, thank you! especially in GOT everyone would just walk around with mud and water and shit caked on the bottom of their dresses or covers and every time i thought my god how do they ever get it clean again
It's a balayeuse (not blayeuse, I think that was a typo in a previous comment) and it's what my mom called her Electrolux vacuum cleaner..in the 60'-70's.:))) now known as "aspirateur"😉
That will be the final jeopardy question when I get on Jeopardy! Thank you for the intel!! 🌷🤣🤣
Laundry day in Victorian times must have been a pain!
They didn’t do it. They hired extremely poor women who subsisted on cleaning rich women’s clothing daily…Yes, their lives were hard.
It's disgusting when you think about it. Sweeping everything up wherever you go.
This is one reason it was against the law to spit on the streets n sidewalks.
THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH !! IM AN OLE' MAN ,,and for about 40 years I've had the question ! Streets were dirt m9stly there were horses everywhere and a lady would walk across street in long dresses, why they didn't male lady's dresses shorter !! Thank you !!
So the ladies that had these long ball gowns with trains only used them in their own homes for dinner or on special occasions like a ball. If they had to travel to the event, they had carriages & foot men to clean up any messes before they entered or left the carriage.
A walking, visiting or day dress (I forgot the name) IS abit shorter and doesn't have a train. It was used to run errands or visit with friends.
Please understand that these women had a different dress for everything they did and would change their clothes SEVERAL times a day.
I hope this answers your question.
@@AnadyiaHowellThank you for pointing out what I pointed out earlier. Women did not wear the same dress all day. Women wore different dresses for whatever function they were attending to. Only the poorest would wear the same dress throughout the whole day. People have to consider how folks lived back then and to stop looking at this era through the lens of present day standards. The mode of walking through streets barely dressed, as many do today, would have had one summarily arrested for public indecency. No one would have dreamed of such an offense.
❤ I always wondered what this looked like-in old Russia it was called what translates as a a brush. Balayeuse in French is what you sweep with.
That dress is a whole other level of beautiful
I think they also picked the dress up too. Their was a fabric handle where they could pick it up and hold it.
Would be a great idea for wedding gowns.
Thank you Mr. Garry and the whole team for delivering yet another masterpiece! Absolutely loved it! ❤
Also referred to as a dust ruffle
The dress you are wearing is just gorgeous!!!
*I love learning stuff like this
Gorgeous fashion, but everyTHING, everyWHERE and everyONE must've stunk ALL of the time 🙊
I kinda feel like life back in the days were so hard..
Just dressing up to go outside and grab a cup of coffee or to take a walk would take so much time and energy
People today are lazy when it comes to personal grooming and dressing. Even wearing a track suit is too formal for many.
Look at all these gorgeous dresses!!!! Totally amazing. Thank you for this information because I didn't know.
Was wearing this down to ground full length skirt in a really dirty weather one day and this old old lady started yelling at me to get a shorter skirt, because it will get dirty and that seemed to be good enough reason for her to demand I wore short skirt, so I walked straight through a mudpool just to irk her. She gasped and went on a long tirade on how on how disobedient these girls are while i continued my walk home like nothing had happened. It was actually super easily cleaned, but she didn't have to know, but the look on her face was priceless!
I assume you’re a teenager based on this story? 😂
As a french speaker, balayeuse is pronounced "Ba-lei-y-E-z" (don't attack me, how are we supposed to explain the sound "EU" ENGLISH SPEAKER DON'T HAVE THAT SOUND 😭)
As a French girl, " balayeuse " just mean " brooms " 😂
That was actually a very good pronounciation of balayeuse! Good job!
" how did the victorian gowns not get dirt-"
My dumbass : *that looks like shrimp*
That’s soo nice!! Here in Quebec, we still use that french word « balayeuse » to say vacuum 😅
I started sewing at 9 years old. My grandmother taught me. The first dress I made was a little too long. But I liked how it looked! I didn’t want to hem it up and my grandmother was going to have me do the next lesson (and she would hem dresss up high it was like a left over 60s fashion thing lol.) So I thought through my problem and came up with the idea to bast a piece of plain fabric on the inside so it didn’t get the dress dirty. I was so excited to show my grandma what I had invented. She looked at it and said “oh you just put in a balayeuse instead of hemming it. Good” and moved on 😂 So I got praise, but her already knowing exactly what it was kept me humble. Ever since then I have loved to learn old clothing tips and tricks.
So beautiful! I had to ask, is the first shot Christine's Masquerade dress from Phantom of the Opera? I've been obsessed with that dress ever since I saw it in the movie!💖💖
I would love it if someone opened up a place where like-minded women could gather for the day. Try on different victorian outfits & have tea & tea sandwiches. That would be so cool to learn about Victoria Culture while there.
Of course, ladies who wore dresses like these rarely walked the streets. Contrary to historically inaccurate Hollywood movies, ladies ( not working women such as maids) never went anywhere unchaperoned and wore outdoor clothes for outdoor events.
Don't matter if you are skinny.
This will make you have a cake😶
So...... I am guessing the garments were never washed until they walked by themselves, since machine wash or dry cleaning did not exist, at our pay level, and those with fine stitching, embroidery, or silks, or wools, or fancy filigree, could not be washed, so was cleaned by hand in a wash tub and hung to dry in the wind, blowing smoke and dust, or hung in the wind to air out, if you did not freeze in winter.
I am old enough to have hung out clothes on the clothesline in the winter, and it was not fun hanging out wet clothes, or bringing in frozen ones, to defrost.
I really like the pink dress, the lady is wearing at the start of the video. What’s the dress called?
“My goodness did you see her hem? Six inches deep in mud. She looked positively medieval”
Remember that only women with the money for coaches and servants wore these dresses. They would step inky a short distance to the coach and into the house with a ballroom. They weren't wearing these to dig potatoes in the garden or walk 8 mile to the butcher.
Compared to the past, everything now is so shabby and degraded. We really dress like trash these days.
C1900 Russian woman translated it as a brush.
Balayeuse you say ballet like the dance for the first part and the second i dont' really now how to tell in english but the eu sound like eh and se is a z sound i don't know if it's clear for you 😅
Pronounced "bah-lay-yurs", French for "sweeper", as in to sweep with a broom. Also the French word sometimes used for a vacuum.
The floors weren't dirty, they were hand washed by the servants every morning.
This is why we don't have the Victorian dresses anymore because they are hot and unhiegenic
😅 nunca me imaginé vivir en esa epoca y barrer las calles con un vestido 👗😅
Why does that dress in the beginning look like a prawn LOL
And also attached some food at the bottom so all the bugs don’t crawl up the cooch
The amount of dog hair I get on the bottoms of my pants…
Fyi beagles shed an entire fur entity.
Your dress rwminded me of a shrimp 😃 (not an insult btw)
I always windered hiw they never got dirty dirty
This is so intresting
The germophobe in me would have had a double layer so that once i got somewhere, i could unbutton the bottom one lol.
Is this why the streets were so much cleaner back then compared to now 🧐
Huh thats why lots of dresses have puffy fabric on the bottom edge of them 😅
THE ACTUAL ANSWER: they had staff!! Women of status changed at least 3x daily. They didn't walk in the gutters, their staff did. And their skirts were shorter. Day dresses were shorter, and evening dresses like some of these shown bustled up.
The question i always get is… how am I so beautiful
🤔 INTRESTING, THANKS FOR SHARING 😊!!!💚
They used Scotch Guard, of course.