The Packed History of Travel Clothing – Victorian Capsule Wardrobes

I am doing some last-minute packing for a very big trip, and it has me wondering just how did they manage in an era before luggage had wheels, but everything else did, and suddenly travel was an option for everyone with trains and steamboats, automobiles, and eventually even airplanes. How did they manage those grandiose outfits that looked like they would weigh so much on trips that would have inevitably taken them weeks to make? Did they just wear the same clothes the whole time and hope no one noticed, or did they travel around with hundreds of pounds of trunks and luggage? Well, hopefully the answer is neither of those things, because I am going to be taking some of their advice to heart as I go on my own trip for the next two weeks and try to pack and dress according to the recommendations of the 19th and early 20th centuries, so wish me luck! Of course, travel in the 19th century was still a very difficult thing. While there were plenty of inventions that would make travel much easier in the coming decades, at the beginning of the century, we still rely on things like dirt roads, carriages, and horses above all else, which was an incredibly dirty and difficult, rather physically jarring ride to get anywhere. Not something you did without a need to do. Certainly not something you did for long-distance pleasure. But as trains became an option throughout the 1830s and 40s, more and more railroads were being built, and by the 1850s many people in the US, as well as across Europe and the UK, had the option of getting on a train and going somewhere pretty far distance away without nearly as much difficulty. And it wouldn't be long before we added in steamships that could get people across the Atlantic, regardless of the weather, at a fairly good pace. And then eventually we started to pave roads. We started with systems of aggregate roads, essentially putting smaller pebbles with the large rocks and tamping it down. That was an idea that really started up in the 1830s from McAdam, and eventually we started adding tar to that in the 1870s to smooth things out even further. So that is where they get the term tarmac from, tar-McAdam. It wouldn't be long before automobiles and airplanes in the 20th century made travel even easier. Now, of course, those weren't always pleasant travel options to begin with. It always took a few decades for them to figure out the process. So it really wasn't until post-World War II that travel for pleasure became an absolute normal thing for the vast majority of the population. It became an easy option. But even starting in the 19th century, they had a problem for those that hadn't traveled far and wide before, which was the vast majority of people, and when they were going places that were new. They didn't know what to take, what to pack, how to pack it, or for that matter, what to wear. So we started seeing a lot of recommendations in etiquette manuals and newspapers and magazines about how to dress for travel, which admittedly, for the most part, came down to making sure that you wore clothing that could manage the difficulty of the crush of the dirt and the dust, and all the different things that you would be encountering, regardless of what the weather was, or regardless of your demands. Early travel in the 19th century wasn't expecting people to show up in their absolute best clothing for the fanciest events. They were mostly trying to travel and show up without looking disheveled. Even things like early trains were not the cleanest. There were even written recommendations on how to sit on the train in order to make sure that you didn't get a cinder in your eye or on your dress. So even if it wasn't dusty, it was still going to be smoky, and your clothing needed to be prepared for that. The main way that they recommend taking care of that, of course, is by choosing your fabrics wisely. The materials that you pick for this process make all of the difference. Same thing goes for a lot of modern products today as well, and that's why I am so happy that the sponsor for today's video is Birch. Thanks Birch for sponsoring today's video, because there's nothing more obvious after a long trip than how important a good mattress and a good sleep is. That's why I'm so happy to introduce Birch. They make mattresses that are crafted with responsibly sourced materials, such as organic cotton, organic wool, and 100% natural latex. They're also free from polyurethane foams, which can result in harmful off-gassing, and are constructed without fiberglass, which can be detrimental to your health, not to mention just plain itchy. 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A lot of this was based on the fact that travel was still very dirty and unpredictable at this time, and also generally very cramped. So the clothing that you chose had to deal with that. Making sure that you chose textiles and garments that could handle this was very important. Generally the biggest recommendation was color of clothing. Something black or dark neutrals made a lot more sense than white clothing. You were able to hide the stains, the dust, and the dirt. Additionally, things like wool, especially wool tweeds, were a great option that you could brush off that dust and dirt, and you didn't have to worry about looking like you had been traveling. Now of course in the colder times of year, something like a tweed travel suit is a perfect idea, but during the summer months you need something a little bit lighter weight. Linen was the secondary option for this. The Lady's Guide, as well as other etiquette manuals of the 1860s, really loved to mention things like linen dusters, which would have gone over most of the clothing, protected whatever outfit you had underneath. This would hopefully keep things dust free, at least a little bit dry. But if the weather wasn't great and it was raining, something like a waterproof cloak or suit was a much better option. And most wool is very good at that, especially depending on the weave. It's going to resist a lot of water and simply bead off. They also mentioned that you should dress plainly and without a lot of trim, accessories, and jewelry. This is not because they're concerned about drawing attention to thieves, but instead because jewelry can fall off and get lost easily, and no one wants to do that. Wearing a lot of gaudy jewelry just is unseemly and unmodest. And things like accessories and trims and extra bits have to constantly be attended to and checked, made sure they're in the correct position, they're not getting wrapped up or caught on things. It's just too fussy. There's no reason for those things to be present, so wearing something that isn't fussy, wearing something that is plain and simple makes a lot more sense because it's just going to make your entire process a lot more comfortable. People have things to worry about beyond just the way their clothing looks when they're traveling. Instead, the accessories that they do recommend are to stay warm and dry. Things like cloaks and shawls, or hats that are plain and can help with rain, umbrellas, or even travel boots, which they usually mention are either fur or flannel lined. One of the more specific mentions talked about getting an insole that is flannel on one side and a varnished leather on the other in order to be waterproof. Interestingly enough, I do actually have two pairs of shoes in my collection that would fit in this range. One is an 1840s pair of oxfords that has a separate insole that is flannel on one side and varnished fabric on the other, so that way it would actually keep the foot very warm and dry. Another is an 1860s pair of men's shoes that has a fully varnished insole. It's not separate, but it would again keep the foot very dry. So both of these would do very well for travel or inclement weather, and things like this were readily available throughout catalogs and local stores in many cases. So finding things that were meant specifically for travel and poor weather was not impossible to do. Not a lot is mentioned about the other garments that need to be brought along with. I think in large part because travel in this era is still very focused on the actual process of getting to your destination, and less so on where you are going. It's not travel for pleasure necessarily as often as it is travel for the need of moving or visiting. So what you're wearing at the location depends on what you plan on doing, and what your class is, what who your friends are, what you want to wear, more so than a broadly prescribed wardrobe. There are a few mentions of things like black silks or black alpaca wool that do very well for both packing as well as again wearing around cities to make sure that they don't end up dirty or dusty. Now additionally they do mention that you need to take at least half a dozen sets of undergarments. This is not again for the actual destination, but is instead for the fact that you might only stop while traveling every three or four days, and while you can have laundry done in professional laundering services in all of those decent-sized towns and cities, the people traveling wouldn't be doing their own laundry. Instead they would be sending it out. You want to make sure that you have more than enough so that way you can have the laundry done as you stop every few days. Now in order to carry all of this, plus whatever you have for your destination, the luggage recommended is of course something like a carry-on a small satchel or bag that you would keep with you at all times. This has of course any valuables, though those might do better in some hidden pockets underneath the skirt or inside of a suit jacket, but you can also carry all of your toiletries, necessary things, maybe a few snacks for the journey, so that way you don't have to worry about digging things out of your larger trunks whenever you stop. They even recommend things like nightclothes or a small change of undergarments to be in those satchels, so that way the entire trunk doesn't need to be unpacked because these trunks could be rather large. One recommendation was for a sole leather trunk that was 16 by 18 by 32, which is larger than most large checked luggage today. That would have fit a lot of different garments and other pieces. Then additionally it mentions having an enameled cloth bag that would be 22 by 30, so a very large duffel bag. Between those two things you would be able to fit many changes of clothing and other accessories, so these people weren't necessarily traveling light despite the fact that they might expect to be wearing something like their simple traveling suit or gown for quite a few days in a row. They were certainly changing their underwear, but maybe not changing their traveling garments, but they certainly brought a lot of things with them. As we reach towards the 20th century, travel is getting faster and faster. Speed means that you can travel further, but it also means that you need to travel lighter. No longer are you planning lengthy trips where you haul your baggage up on top of a carriage for days on end. Instead you are alighting on a train carrying your own luggage or managing a multi-day voyage across the Atlantic Ocean, so people needed to be much choosier about what they were taking along. There was also an increasing concern about doughtiness. So while those 19th century recommendations tended to be choose plain practical simple garments out of dark colors and heavier wools, instead the end of the 19th century begins to focus on the fact that people were traveling in maybe not their best dress, and apparently Americans were starting to gain a reputation for that. Instead of traveling in nice clothing, they were choosing some of their worst oldest clothing in order to not have to worry about it getting dirty, torn, or stuffed into bags. As a result of both of these challenges, they started to look towards more specific types of travel garments. This was also the era of separates. So in the 1890s, a lot of women's wear started moving away from a singular dress and towards a top and a bottom, a shirt waist and a skirt. Men's wear of course continued to retain their multi-piece suits, which do very well for travel and can mix and match. Women's wear had not had quite the same opportunity, but they were moving towards that style as well for practicality. As long as it's made out of a practical but fashionable fabric, a two-piece garment would be the best thing for travel. Just make sure that your hems are on the shorter side so they don't drag on the ground, and it's a little bit more practical for walking around and sightseeing as well. Most travel dresses or suits mention again being made out of a sturdy wool that does not show dirt and dust. That problem definitely has not gone away. Having another dress out of a light silk, which packs easily, then having an extra skirt, maybe an extra tailored jacket in order to mix and match, as well as a few shirt waists to swap between, and plenty of undergarments meant that you could manage two to four weeks without much else. However, this wasn't going to tackle one of the biggest problems on the horizon. By the time we reach the 20th century, there's a lot more expectation of what you're going to do on your trip, and how much that's going to require fancier clothing. Even if you aren't going to visit friends or family that are going to expect you to keep up with their social life, a trip was now beginning to include much more formal occasions, including going out to dinner, something that wasn't as easy in the 19th century when restaurants were few and far between, especially those that didn't cater towards men traveling alone. Something like a dress waist, if you already had a plain skirt, was enough to make up for it around the turn of the century, though some might pack in favor of a dinner dress instead, though again, could be fairly lightweight. There was also the addition of more physical activities that you could be doing, hiking and extra sightseeing, so things like sweaters started to show up in the early 20th century on these lists, rather than shawls or capes. Though, if you are traveling by steamship across the Atlantic, which was a very fashionable and popular thing to do in the early 20th century, something like a rug, essentially a very heavy blanket, was also recommended for while you were on the ship, and that meant that you stayed warm even when you were outside on deck. For these sorts of overnight travel situations on trains or ships, they also recommended that you make sure you have a good quantity of night clothes. No longer are women wearing the chemise that they could wear during the daytime for bed. Same thing goes for the men. No longer are those long night shirts considered quite so acceptable, especially if you are on board of a train or a ship where you may not have a private bathroom, and so you are venturing out in your night clothing in front of other people. So having pajamas or a night robe makes perfect sense. This is the era where the Pullman robe, specifically named after Pullman trains, becomes a very popular option for travel. It's a heavier weight robe that is considered perfectly acceptable for both men and women to be seen wandering the hallways in in order to make it back and forth between the cabin and the bathroom. In terms of recommendations for luggage, not much has changed by this point. Trunks are still the standard for large quantities, as well as a few smaller handbags, often leather or cloth, in order to make carrying easier. Flat steamer trunks for ships are highly recommended. Apparently there was a difference between American and European made, however, as American handlers of luggage were much rougher than those in Europe, so you could have something out of a lighter weight bent wood if you traveled through Europe. So a lot of American books recommended leaving behind your heavy trunks if you were headed across the Atlantic. Rattan flat tops with trays or hat compartments, wardrobe trunks that were taller than they were long and usually full of drawers, or tall compartments that you could hang your clothes in, a bit more closet-like than trunk-like. Very often when you traveled across the Atlantic, however, they recommended that you actually pack separate trunks, one for your voyage and one for your travel around the continent. In this case, that meant that you would leave the voyage trunk with the ship operators, so that way you didn't have to carry it all the way around Europe. Instead, you could simply pick it back up when you were ready to board the ship, and the other large trunks that you carried with you throughout the rest of your travel went back into storage down below. But for some, this was even more than they wanted. There were backpackers in the 1900s, just like there are today. One article claimed that a woman made it around Europe with just one bag that she carried herself. They called it a slim outfit, and it was essentially one outfit, one suit or one dress, with six collars, three pairs of hose, three sets of undergarments, again enough to make sure that you could do laundry on the regular, four tailored waists in order to swap out with the skirt, maybe one fancy waist, three corset covers, two night dresses, and of course a raincoat to make sure that none of it got wet, because if you only had one main outfit, the last thing you want to do is have it soaked through. Of course, all of this would travel fairly light, but certainly not the most ideal if you're in a fashionable situation, and this was becoming an increasing concern in the 20th century. With planes and automobiles, we were not only arriving at our destinations much faster than before, but expecting to do far more once we got there. More than just simply seeing family, or even sightseeing. Restaurants, theaters, amusement parks, and even straight-up tourist attractions like Colonial Williamsburg took off. People expected to exercise, shop, have a formal dinner, even go dancing all in one day. And they needed clothing to accomplish it all. Before the 19-teens, etiquette manuals and articles often say to only bring formal clothing if you absolutely need it. You are the exception to the rule, if that is the case. Even then, they would say something like a tuxedo for men would be a perfectly acceptable option, even in the most formal situations, because no one would expect you to have brought along all of the different types of dress that you could possibly need. But by the 1920s, this was changing. One manual from 1922 recommended that men bring along a business suit, an outing suit, and formal evening clothes. For women, in addition to the travel ensemble, they recommended a more casual morning outfit, something appropriate for afternoon outings, and formal evening wear. This was only the base as well, as they state these things would increase based on your taste and the availability of entertainments. One list from the 1930s is far more extensive than we have seen up to this point, starting with a tweed suit with a few blouses or sweaters for day wear, a light wool or silk suit dress for sightseeing, a sheer dress for afternoon tea, and maybe a few jersey knit dresses added in just for general use, of course a full skirt with a few evening blouses for dinner, and at least one fancy evening dress, maybe with a jacket, though you can throw in a few short evening options if you love to dance. And of course, a top coat for weather as well. They are very much stating that one travel ensemble is not going to be acceptable in social situations for the average person anymore. These lists, again, aren't aimed at the very wealthy, who are going to be traveling with an entire closet of options. These are aimed at the middle class, who are somewhat new to traveling, but by the 1920s and 30s it is becoming a much more affordable and achievable option, both financially and in terms of things like vacation time. Travel is becoming a very normalized thing, and what is done on that trip is so much more than ever before. I do feel like a lot of these early recommendations changed dramatically in the latter portion of the 20th century, purely because of synthetics. They are focused on making sure that your clothing doesn't need to be ironed or folded correctly, that you can just cram everything into your suitcase and it will come out perfectly wrinkle-free and travel easily. And that becomes the focus of clothing in general, not just for travel, so it bleeds over into that. And especially since travel today so often includes being very casual, and something like shorts or jeans and a t-shirt will work over and over and over again without expectations of having really fancy or formal clothing, means that our travel can be a lot less complicated. But in my case, I didn't really have that option. I have now returned from my trip and have the results of what worked and what didn't. For me, it really came down to the fact that I was traveling to different destinations in November, so it could be incredibly cold where I was going, or it might be very rainy, or it might be actually somewhat warm. And the answer was all three of these things. I started off in Toronto, walking around to a lot of museums. I then took a train down to the Rochester, New York area to go speak at Genesee County Village as a keynote speaker there for an academic conference. Then down to New York City for a couple of days, going to museums there. And then on to Williamsburg, Virginia, which actually happened to be one of the colder parts of the trip, oddly, though much further south, where I was speaking at yet another conference, with a lot of formal events in the evenings, where I was going to be talking with other academics and making business connections. So I needed to be well-dressed, which meant that I needed to take a fair amount of clothing on this trip. Casual wasn't going to cut it, and nor do I really like to travel that way. So by looking at some of these early travel expectations, I realized that the thing I needed to focus on more than anything else was having a sort of uniform. Even if I did need multiple outfits for different formal events, making sure that I had the equivalent of a travel suit, and maybe multiple versions of that that could be mixed and matched. Just to prove a point with my tweed suit, I'm just sitting on the ground. I'm now covered in leaves and dirt. Good to go! Along with focusing on fabrics like wool tweed that would hold up to the wear, wouldn't look wrinkled, wouldn't look like I had stuffed them into my luggage by the end, and I knew that I would still come out of it looking very fashionable every time. In fact, the tweed jacket that I am currently wearing is part of my tweed travel suit that I wore on both train trips as well as a couple of other days, and the jacket over and over again. With this tweed travel suit and an extra set of trousers in plain black, this was what I wore on all of my travel days. And I kept getting into hotels at 11 o'clock at night after a very long day of exhausting travel where I felt just so disheveled and gross and really just desperate to go take a shower and go to bed, and that was when I got the most compliments on my outfits. So this travel suit, as it were, is the best thing that I am going to take forward into all of my future trips, because I can even make warmer weather versions of it, and it looks so good, and I felt really confident and well put together no matter what, but also very comfortable. Additionally to this, I really focused on the shirt waste idea that they had. And while I wasn't going to be taking care of laundry at every hotel that I stayed at, instead what I did was took a lot of undershirts. So I really love these ones by NuMe that are meant to be sweat absorbing. You can accomplish much the same thing with these little pads that go into your underarms that they do still make, but were very popular throughout the 20th century, because women didn't have undergarments that cover their armpits, but their dresses would definitely not hide the sweat. So that really made a big difference for me. That meant that I didn't have to take a new shirt for every single day, even if I was going to be anxious and sweaty during a presentation. I could just wear one of those undershirts, and then re-wear that shirt again another day. So that is something that I am going to be getting more of for my next trip, because it made such a difference in how much I needed to pack. I also took a couple of sweaters. One of them I really didn't need, but I didn't know what the weather was going to exactly be, and it ended up being a little bit warmer than I was prepared for, so I didn't need the extra sweater. I also took a few sweater vests and tailored vests, which allowed me to sort of make a uniform. Nearly every single day I had a buttoned shirt, some sort of vest, a skirt, or a pair of trousers, and a jacket of varying degrees of warmth. Whether it was this jacket, the other suit jacket that I took that I knew I could wear for both presentations and formal situations, and the larger coat that I had to take because I had to actually do some filming in it. But I honestly didn't really need that, so much as I probably could have made do with a raincoat and more layers. So that took up a lot of space in the luggage I really didn't need, but I do feel like I still made a lot of good choices basing it on that travel suit, plus a bunch of shirtwaists, some that are more formal, some that are less, some bottoms that are more formal, some that are more day wear, and making sure that everything is pretty interchangeable in that way. So less the capsule wardrobe concept, and more just having a standard suit uniform that can be repeated over and over again. Especially when you add in basic accessories like scarves or ties, which aren't part of our standard wardrobe as much, and really help to elevate the whole thing, change it up, make it unique, but weren't as fussy as jewelry can be sometimes. I also had to take my 1840s men's suit to an interpretation day at Genesee, so there was a little bit of extra overpacking that I honestly think if I could go back without the really specific things that I needed, like the 1840s suit, like my tuxedo jacket that I made a few months back for one of the formal dinners, and knowing that I really didn't need the same heavyweight layers, I honestly could have managed this in two carry-ons rather than having to deal with a large trunk suitcase. But the tips that I took away from all of the travel recommendations was simply make sure that you choose your fabric wisely, choose your colors wisely, and have lots of interchangeable shirtwaists, and make sure that your underwear situation is appropriately taken care of. And it is possible to manage a pseudo-Victorian, honestly in my case sort of meets 1960s weird deconstructed Dickens vibe, and get all of that into a decent amount of luggage, and still manage to have a wide variety of ensembles appropriate for lots of different occasions, types of formality, and still remain fashionable. And of course if you're wondering how it is that people manage to afford an entire fancy travel wardrobe and all of the trunks to go with it, the next video is going to be all about our clothing credit systems, which stretch back much farther than you would expect. People were traveling in cannons.