Read and translate the text. Victorian fashion plates from 1858 showed dainty young women with huge befrilled, be-ribboned, domed skirts held out with hoops

Victorian fashion plates from 1858 showed dainty young women with huge befrilled, be-ribboned, domed skirts held out with hoops. Their tiny boots peeped out beneath frilled hems. Their sleeves were flared or ballooned to the wrist. Their silk bodices were tightly boned and trimmed with lace.

By 1870 the hoops were replaced with bustles protruding at the back. By 1880 skirts were slim from waist to the floor but in the mid-1880s the bustle staged a comeback - in an even more exaggerated form. In the mid-1890s interest switched from the bustle to enormous "leg-of-mutton" sleeves (revivals of the styles of the 1830s). All this finery hid the sturdy corsets worn beneath.

For outdoor wear, there were cashmere shawls imported from India or copies woven in the Scottish town of Paisley (fashionable from 1795). In the 1870s they were replaced by capes trimmed with braid decoration and chenille velvet fringing. All of these clothes could be ordered from private dressmakers or bought from the grand new department stores opening up in the big cities. Not everybody was an avid follower of fashion, however. A few brave, more artistic women preferred a natur­ally shaped style called "aesthetic dress" in the 1878-1910 period. In soft colors and fab­rics, they were hand embroidered and often worn without corsets.

Most women could only afford modified versions of these designs, in cheap, dark wools or cottons, with little decoration. All over Europe, with the exception of Britain, men and women in remote rural villages still wore their local peasant dress. The bright styles varied enormously even from village to village.

In mid-19^th century America, as new terri­tories were opened up by fur trappers, settlers, miners, cattlemen and farmers, frontier women spun and wove their own flax, wool, and cotton cloth into calicoes and ginghams. They made shirts and underwear for their men, and simple calico dresses, aprons and sunbonnets.

Women knew about town styles, but hoops were a nuisance when traveling in wagons to settle in new areas, and were usually removed. Some women even took to trousers when working at home or on the land but they would always wear dresses in public. Their menfolk often wore home-made trousers, jack­ets, and coats made out of heavy-weight denim or leather.

Both in Europe and in America some women began to question not only the dis­comfort of fashionable clothes but also their own role and place in society. They wanted better education, more equal treatment before the law, the right to vote, and the right to develop their own careers. The clothes they wore reflected their growing freedom. In the late 1840s, a group of women active in the first American feminist movement adopted comfortable Turkish-style trousers, and wore them with flat shoes and long tunics. These trousers were much mocked and nicknamed "bloomers" after Mrs. Amelia Jenks Bloomer, their inventor. The style was revived for cyc­ling wear in 1894 but still caused such a scandal that only a few women had the cour­age to wear them.

Other groups in America rejected the idea of seasonal fashion changes. Puritan religious communities, such as the Quakers, Amish, and Shakers, preferred plain garments, which were strongly made from good-quality, sober-colored fabrics. The men wore black suits and wide-brimmed hats, the women plain dresses, shawls and bonnets. The Amish still wear these clothes today.

The move towards more comfort in women's clothing was gradually accepted in most Western countries. By the late 1880s, even in the most fashionable circles, more practical walking dress was accepted. It took the form of the tailored suit, adapted from riding wear. These clothes borrowed styles from men's clothing and included jackets, shirts, ties, flat caps and straw boaters. They were, however, still worn with long skirts that touched the ground. By the 1890s such suits were being manufactured by the thousand in huge steam-driven factories. Even poor sales girls could manage to save up to buy at least one to have for best.

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