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Welcome to Dressed, the history of fashion, a podcast where we explore the who, what, when, of why we wear. We are fashion historians and your host, April Callahan

and Cassidy Zachary. Okay, dress listeners, I think that any of you out there who are Jane

Austin or Louisa May Alcott fans are about to get a little bit of a thrill because today

we are taking a trip back in time

to explore the elaborate and prodigious intricacies of 19th century etiquette.

And, you know, manners may not be exactly the first thing that comes to mind when you think

of perilous situations, but let me assure you that some of these codes, which

governs the social graces during this time period, and we are talking specifically here

about Europe and America here today, well, these codes of etiquette can be mind-blowingly complicated.

And one false step, well, it wasn't just embarrassing. It could potentially mean utter social

ruin. Not to mention these codes of etiquette were specific to gender, age, and even marital

status. So you had to keep all of these designations in mind with each and every social interaction

you had throughout the day. Many of the rules governing behavior during the

19th century can feel a bit overwrought and even a tad ridiculous to us today, but at the time

they were considered the very fabric and structure of society. To even begin to comprehend them

ourselves, we of course, well, we headed straight to the bookshelf for etiquette

books of the era. Yes, and we are super fortunate to have a whole slew of these types of books

and special collections at FIT. And I looked specifically at the following books. I looked at

etiquette for ladies, which was published by Liam Blanchard in 1839. I looked at

...