Submitted by omniicrafter t3_11y7a5r in books
There is a part early on in the book where Jane walks out in the snow. She says she 'covers her head and arms with the skirt of her frock.' I can't wrap my head around this line; is she quite literally pulling up her skirt and pulling it over her head? lol. I looked up images of dresses/frocks and I can't make sense of how this would work.
edit: thank you all there are some great answers here 😊
There are underskits under the frock (over dress). So she is pulling the skirt of the over dress up in the back and sides over her back, head and arms. She still has underskirts/ slips down as a skirt.
This right here. What the author is describing is an overskirt.
Yup. Exactly this. As someone who loves wearing this form of clothing, it is doable.
That makes sense!! thank you for the quick and informative response. 😊
It probably refers to skirting, so the skirt is the edge of her frock.
Great question! Luckily some great answers too. Running into era/cultural misunderstandings can take me out of the book pretty heavily.
I’m not sure if this would be interesting or not, but there are a pile of historical costuming videos from Crow’s Eye on YouTube, which take you through outfits of various periods in great detail. I found them fascinating https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLx0IRLJNwjho-6Pkv8hR0yiFIEe_HmG_j
She would have layers of under skirts
I have watched those videos of how previous generations used to dress- no wonder they needed lady’s maids, there were so many layers (not to mention all the buttons up the back and the ties and the long hair etc)
Yes. All the layers that go into 1830s clothing, and the excessive fabric in the skirt makes it very possible.
Her frock had a skirt. That's what she uses: her frock. "Skirt" in this context means "rim".
Made me lol. Eve. With the explanation given by another user, the mental image is silly.
This is fascinating!! thank you so much! ❤
Exactly! It's also worth stressing /why/ they wore these crazy clothes: houses were barely heated at all.
There's a scene where Jane looks out over the garden and through the frost on the inside of the window. Houses had fireplaces, and you could warm up if you stood by the fire, but most of most rooms was very cold, and below zero C in winter.
They wore many, many layers of clothing because it was a vital part of keeping warm. You'll notice Jane doesn't dress up to go out, she just steps out into the snow. All she needs to do to be in effectively outdoor winter gear is lift the outermost layer of fabric over her arms and head haha.
There are some really fantastic answers here!
Imagine taking half the day to get dressed, I could never lmao.
I always like when they pull their aprons over their heads in embarrassment (usually maids).
It can actually be done in minutes, provided you're used to it. And the most fastidious details were usually only for the most well off, so if you're a working class woman you won't need a maid to dress you :)
There are a lot of videos on youtube dispelling the myth of how difficult it was to actually put on and live in these clothes. Obviously it's more fuss that a t-shirt and jeans, but not all that much!
No problem: enjoy!
Underskirt, overskirt, chemise, petticoats, there was no central heating, and this is how people survived, by wearing layers. There are some great videos by reenactors on how people dressed in the 19th century on youtube.
Maybe this is the norm for most copies but my copy has endnotes which explain a lot of older references, Bibilical references and archaic words and phrases. I just finished the book yesterday and it is my new favourite (10/10 for me!) and the endnotes were so helpful.
Probably the top layer of all of her garments.
It was so ahead of it’s time with the feminism and robots
Have a look at this frock from the 1850s from Scotland:
https://mode.nms.ac.uk/victorian-frock-coat/
See how the frock flairs out below the buttons? That is called a skirt too. The frock skirt flairs out so much bc it is expected to go over her regular skirt.
She ma be having two pieces skirt.
Take a look at this photo of an 1830s to 1850s frock:
this is beyond merely interesting. Thanks for sharing!
Not at all: I love finding out things like this
She's using the bottom part of her overskirt (frock). She probably had another three layers of skirts under that.
paper_swan t1_jd6kfw0 wrote
I haven’t read that book, but yes. Potentially. The book was published in the mid 1800’s, and clothes were so different back then. She probably would have had several layers of clothing, including underskirts and a ‘frock’ that went over it all and could have been heavier (even wool). It makes sense to me that if she went out while it was actively snowing, she could have lifted that back part of her skirt up over her head and wrapped it around her arms, while still having her behind covered by the rest of her garments.