When Jo March
scorched her dress in Louisa Mae Alcott's LITTLE WOMEN, it seemed almost a joke, especially when
she admitted it wasn’t an unusual occurrence. Actually, fire was not a friend to long skirts and
petticoats of that time period. Many fabrics, especially for summer, were
loosely woven to allow air to cool the wearer. Men, whose garments were constructed of less flammable
and tightly woven fabric, were not so likely to be involved.
These dangerous feminine materials
included cotton muslin, gauze, and tarlatan. They also appeared whiter and
almost gossamer by candlelight, emphasizing that women are perfect, delicate, ephemeral beings. The very construction that made them popular also made them deadly. If
there was crinoline in their petticoat, the flammability was increased several
times.
 |
| Dancers by Edgar Degas example of ephemeral fabric |
In July 1861, Fanny, the
wife of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, was seated at her library table amusing her two
youngest children when a spark caught her dress. She was engulfed in flames before
her husband could save her and died the following day. I can’t imagine the
horror her children and husband witnessed.
Oscar Wilde’s two half-sisters died of
burns when one went too close to a fire while wearing a ball gown and the other rushed to help her.
In an article for Racked, Rae
Nudson reported that in the mid-19th century, women wearing the style ballgown of the day could burst into fire. Their dresses were so dangerously flammable that
if they caught fire, it would spread in an instant, sometimes leading to groups
of women dying at the same time.
“It’s
not a build-up like, ‘Oh my gosh, you’re smoking, let me tamp that out.’ It’s
like, ‘Ahh! Your girlfriend beside you is a ball of fire, and you’re now a ball
of fire, and boom boom boom boom boom, they’re all balls of fire.’ Says Dierdre
Kelly, author of Ballerina: Sex, Scandal,
and Suffering Behind The Symbol of Perfection.
Since cotton muslin was a common dress fabric in the West, one can extend the hazard to our early settlers. Especially for women cooking over an open fire/fireplace, this would have led to many injuries and fatalities. Life was filled with so many dangers that it's a wonder our ancestors lived long enough to pass their genes on to us.
Fabric hazards didn’t stop with the 19th
century. In the 1960s a coworker of my mother’s was ironing clothes for her and
her husband to wear to work that day. Her synthetic nightgown touched her iron. The fabric ignited instantly and melted to her body before
her husband could reach her. She died of her injuries that day.
Many of us can remember when flame retardant fabric became available for children's pajamas and then for Halloween costumes. Thank heavens that danger has diminished.
Throughout history, women have subjected
themselves to fashion hazards. In all probability, no one thought what she was
doing would prove dangerous. That was just the style of the day. Today,
we can still get ‘burned’ for our clothing, but ours is not so literal.
Sources:
Caroline Clemmons is the author of DANIEL McCLINTOCK, now available at http://amzn.to/2J14ukP
Five star reviews include:
"Oh I thoroughly enjoyed this forth book in the McClintock series! I felt so sorry for Daniel at the end of the last book. I should have known Caroline Clemmons would give him his own book. She sent to him an angel in the form of Clara. She was spunky and confident, just what he needed to want to care again about a future. I enjoyed this storyline, so different from others and her characters are always so likeable, it's fun to follow them to their HEA."
When my younger brother was a kid, one of his 'friends' (using the term loosely) was messing around with a flaming stick at a campfire, and he 'accidentally' set my brother's jeans on fire. My brother sustained terrible burns up the back of one leg, but he recovered, in time. People back 'in the day' often kept their cooking fires in a separate building from the main house because of the dangers of burning down the family's home. So, like Frankenstein says to Mavis in the animated movie, 'Hotel Transylvania', Fire Bad!
ReplyDeleteAn interesting read, Caroline and certainly a reminder of yet another danger our pioneer women had to be aware of...also, do remember synthetic clothing and sleepwear being a risk before fire retardant used.
ReplyDeleteOn another note, have you heard how Celia is doing? I had sent her a card while she was in rehab.
Caroline, You "illuminate" a dangerous element in history that probably doesn't get the attention it deserves. Interesting to read of Longfellow's wife and horrible death and Oscar Wilde's sisters. How terrible for family members to witness such events, attempt to help and share the same fate. I don't think I've ever read of such a scene in a western novel...a strong dramatic scene for certain, especially as a possible suicide! (Stop with the visuals, Arletta!)
ReplyDeleteI never knew about these horrible incidents involving women's fashion and fires. What a terrible way to die.
ReplyDeleteIn recent years we were all so concerned about babies and their flammable clothing that the infant wear companies began to use chemically treated fabrics to prevent such dangers of fire--only to find out later that the chemicals used in the infant clothing contained carcinogens. It's like we can't win against fire without running into something even worse.
I remember my grandfather McNeal who was raised in the late 1800's was extremely cautious about fire. When they lit the candles of the Christmas tree he would stand close by with buckets of water at the ready. Caution with fires must have been, and still is, a major concern.
Great blog!