A writer in the Old Colony Memorial, gives the following account of dress among the early inhabitants of New England:—
“In general, men, old or young, had a decent coat, vest, and small clothes, and some kind of fur hat. Old men had a great-coat and a pair of boots. The boots generally lasted for life. For common use they had a long jacket, reaching about half way to the thigh; flannel shirts, woollen stockings, and thick leather shoes; a silk handkerchief for holydays, which would last ten years. Shoes and stockings were not worn by the young men, and by but few men in the farming business.
“As for boys, as soon as they were taken out of petticoats, they were put into small clothes, summer or winter. This continued until long trowsers were introduced, which they called tongs. They were but little different from our pantaloons. These were made of tow-cloth, linen, cotton, or flannel-cloth, and soon were used by old men and young.
“The women, old and young, wore flannel gowns in the winter. The young women wore, in the summer, wrappers or shepherdress; and about their ordinary business, did not wear stockings and shoes. They were usually contented with one calico gown; but they generally had a calimanco gown, another of camlet, and some had them made of poplin. The sleeves were short, and did not come below the elbow. On holydays, they wore one, two, or three ruffles on each arm—the deepest of which were sometimes nine or ten inches. They wore long gloves, coming up to the elbow. Round gowns had not then come in fashion; so they wore aprons. The shoes were either of thick or thin leather, broadcloth, or worsted stuff, all with heels an inch and a half high, with peaked toes turned up in a point. They generally had small, very small muffs, and some wore masks.”
The following extracts from Watson’s Annals of New York, will further elucidate the fashions as to boots and shoes in the British colonies in America.
“Before the revolution, no hired man or woman wore any shoes as fine as calf-skin; that kind was the exclusive property of the gentry. The servants wore coarse neat’s leather. The calf-skin then had a white rind of sheep-skin stitched into the top edge of the sole, which they preserved white, as a dress-shoe, as long as possible.”
The use of boots has come in since the war of independence; they were first worn with black tops, after the military, strapped up in union with the knee buttons; afterward bright tops were introduced. The leggings to these latter were made of buckskin for some extreme beaux, for the sake of close fitting a well-turned leg.
“Boots were rarely worn; never as an article of dress; chiefly when seen, they were worn by hostlers and sailors; the latter always wore great petticoat trowsers, coming only to the knee and then tying close. Common people wore their clothes for a much longer time than now; they patched their clothes much and long; a garment was only ‘half worn’ when it became broken.
“As English colonists we early introduced the modes of our British ancestors. They derived their notions of dress from France.
“Breeches, close fitted, with silver, stone, or paste gem buckles; shoes or pumps, with silver buckles of various sizes and patterns; thread, worsted, and silk stockings, were worn in the colonies previous to the revolution. The poorer class wore sheepskin and buckskin breeches close set to the limbs.”