Why did women wear floor length dresses, hoop skirts, etc during the Civil War and before?

Answer 1

Hoop skirts were actually a practical replacement for layers of petticoats. After the straight lines of the Empire style at the turn of the century, women's fashion silhouette started to become wider at the top and in the skirts, and emphasizing the waist. They'd wear 5 or 6 petticoats to get their skirts to puff out, which was heavy, hot, and often smelly (washing clothes wasn't easy back then). Creating a "cage" of wires to hold out the skirts instead meant the lady got a nice draft around her legs (a plus in Southern summers...) and she only had to wear one petticoat, thus saving a good 10-20 pounds of weight.

During Elizabethan times, the farthingale came into fashion for the much same reason- though it was usually stiffened with willow bents or whalebone.

Hemlines much above the ankle were simply scandalous, until about the 1920's when people decided that scandalous wasn't so bad after all... Before that, working women tended to wear their skirts a bit shorter than the upper classes, because they were out in the muddy fields- so floor-length skirts and trains were also a sign of status.

Answer 2

Who knows. but that was the fashion for centuries, until the 1920s and the flapper generation.
We are all slaves to fashion, and each generation, seems to adopt their own.
How about bustles and corsets, during the Victorian era, those poor ladies. That must have been hell, to live through.
They were so uptight, they used to cover, up piano and table legs, that were too curvy. Those Victorian men, must have been very horny dudes, lol.
I think that Cole Porter, wrote a song in the twenties, "Anything Goes" starting out with, "In olden days a glimpse of stocking, was looked on as something shocking. Now heaven knows, Anything goes"
That fits this generation to a tee. lol

Answer 3

Back in the day, which would be right up to the 1920's, it was thought to be risque if a woman showed her ankles. So, to be proper, a lady had to have her ankles covered. The hoops in hoop skirts were just fashion.

Answer 4

it wasn't until much later that that fashion started to change and women were allowed to show their knees. So was always floor length. The different syles are derived from different time periods. Get your self a fashion history book. You will be surprised

Answer 5

I think it was because back then it was considered indecent to show too much skin. Hoop skirts were fashionable.

Answer 6

Remember everything has to do with culture. Women were very religious and submitted to men. that was the modest attire of that time. not like now in days.

Answer 7

For modesty -- showing even an ankle in those days was considered immoral.

Answer 8

It was all about modesty....covering the most you could, but showing enough here and there to tantalize a man.

Answer 9

It was thought that men could not control themselves if they saw too much of a woman's flesh!

Answer 10

To cover their ankles, which were not to be shown in those years.