Fashion on the Feminine Frontier: The Clothing and Fashion of American Pioneer Women from 1875-1885 and its Discussion in Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House
Abstract:
Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House books are perhaps the most popular series in children’s literature. Based on the accounts of her childhood, Wilder’s series presents a pleasant picture of the American West and of the pioneer family with stories telling of courage, hard work, and self sacrifice. One of the ways in which Wilder teaches these values is through her discussion of clothing and fashion within the books. The first chapter in this study examines her use of clothing and fashion given the historical time period in which she is writing, 1930s America. The second chapter discusses the demands of the frontier and how pioneer women’s clothing reflected their lives. It will then examine passages in Little House that show these same demands. The third chapter focuses on the difficulties women faced while living on the frontier regarding how they dressed and how they were perceived by Victorian society and women in their communities. By blending historical facts and fictional children’s literature, we see that there was a creation of what I call a feminine frontier—a compromise forged between Victorian society’s standards in regards to feminine dress and the demands of the frontier—which is evident in both the accounts of pioneer women as well as Wilder’s Little House.