Cross dressing in History

[JoAnnDallas]

One of my cousins and his wife came over last night. George is a History Prof at UT, Dallas. I had remembered something I had read about Men's fashions from t he 1700's, so I asked him about it. he told me that "Yes, it was common for men in the 1700's and early 1800's to wear WIGS, LACE, MAKEUP, ROUSE, LIPSTICK, and even 2" or 3" HEELS. It was high fashion for men back then. He said "Look at the picture of George Washington that is in the White House. Look at his face and shoes, you'll see what I mean, in fact look at almost any picture from the 1700's that have men in them". Now I want to know WHO CHANGED MEN'S FASHIONS. We had it made and blew it all away in the late 1800's. LOL

[MistyCD]

Maybe it was the French, with their revolution and the guillotine, if not, then lets blame it the bible belters

[lissa_cd]

the answer is war...war changes everything..and war is created and supported by religion..

[celeste26]

There are stories I've read about a certain "Lord Cornbury" and his famous crossdressing. Well it is just not true. The one painting of him crossdressed that everyone points out, is a political harangue meant to humiliate him not reflective of anything about the choice of clothes he wore.

Yeah I remember reading all about this episode but I have learned otherwise and I thought you might be interested in the truth concerning him. He was certainly not the greatest governor of New York maybe not the worst though.

[Ibuki_Warpetal]

WHO CHANGED MEN'S FASHIONS.
I'm pretty sure it was whoever invented the tuxedo.

[JoAnnDallas]

My cousin was telling that the King of England, in the 1700's wore 3.5" heels and no one was allowed to wear anything higher than 3". He also mentioned that at the same time women did not wear shoes with high heels, they perfered flats.

[Julie]

Back when makeup was commonly worn by men it was used primarily to cover up dirty faces. Since water was contaminated then, people were afraid to use it to get clean. And yes, they smelled really bad too, hence perfume.

Another fun fact is why men's and women's buttons are on opposite sides. Initially all buttons were on the left and button holes on the right. But men engaged is sword fights would usually remove their shirts during a fight. When they tried to unbutton them (most were right handed) it was difficult to do it with their left hand only. Then someone came up with the idea of switching the buttons to the other side which made unbuttoning with the left hand only much easier. Soon all men's clothing were made with the buttons on the right.

What I find interesting though is you used to always be able to tell women's clothing by the side the buttons were on, but not anymore. It's like the manufacturers toss a coin and put them wherever they want. Another trend where women's clothing takes on a male appearance? Will we ever see men's clothing take on a female appearance?

[Sharon]

Even if I lived in an era when men wore powdered wigs, lace, make-up, etc., I would still want to be wearing whatever it was that women wore then. Gads -- whale-bone corsets, bustles, under-sized shoes.... -- it would have been excruciating, but I would have been doing it nevertheless.