| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 89.2

You have not been recognized as a subscriber to JAH online. About 248 words from this article are provided below; about 351 words remain.

If you are a individual member of the Organization of American Historians, you may:: • login here if you have already registered for online access.; • Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.
• Set up your online account for the first time.
If you are not a member of the Organization of American Historians, you can:: • Join the OAH and receive many member benefits including print and electronic issues of the Journal of American History.
• Purchase a research pass to gain two-hour access to the entire History Cooperative web site. You will have full access to current issues of the Journal of American History (86.1-present). Note: the Research Pass does not provide access to JSTOR's holdings of the Journal of American History.
Instititutions can:: • Subscribe to this journal and receive print and electronic issues.
• Activate your existing subscription so that we recognize your IP number ranges.

| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 89.2 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Pantaloons & Power: A Nineteenth-Century Dress Reform in the United States. By Gayle V. Fischer. (Kent: Kent State University Press, 2001. xii, 262 pp. Paper, $24.00, ISBN 0-87338-682-5.)

In 1971 the young women of Sierra Junior High School in Riverside, California, challenged the campus dress code. Arriving panted rather than skirted, they staged a sit-in outside the administration building and refused to attend classes until female students were permitted to wear pants to school. By the end of the day, the principal had capitulated. We (for I was one of those protesters) had successfully challenged men's exclusive right to wear pants. Reading Gayle V. Fischer's new book, Pantaloons & Power, reminded me of this long-forgotten episode and helped me better understand the sources and variety of dress reform impulses in nineteenth-century America. 1

Movements to promote bifurcated garments for women, commonly called pantaloons, Turkish trousers, or bloomers, were among the longest-lived nineteenth-century reform efforts. From the introduction of Robert Owen's plain dress for the New Harmony community in the 1820s to innovations for female bicycling costumes in the 1890s, advocates struggled to promote an alternative to contemporary feminine fashions. A focus on pantaloons for women ran through the agendas of a range of otherwise unrelated movements. Dress reform survived, not because it brought together common complaints or developed a comprehensive movement, but rather because pantaloons became the alternative female dress supported by a variety of health reformers, utopian and religious experiments, and women's rights advocates. . . .

There are about 351 more words in this article. Please log in (or, if you are not yet an authorized user, please go to the User Setup page) to gain full access rights. Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.