Looking at fashion of the past can tell us a lot about not only what people wore, but what their lives were like. Changes in style serve as documentation for greater cultural shifts. Clues to how people lived hundreds of years ago can be hidden in clothing pieces, invisible to the untrained eye. Thankfully, we have professional help! We asked Julia Acton from Guthrie Theater Costume Rentals in Minneapolis to give us some interesting insights into Civil War-era clothing and uniforms to help celebrate the second season of PBS’s hit drama “Mercy Street.”
Did you know that when the Civil War started, soldiers’ uniforms weren’t standardized?
“As the North was standardizing their uniforms, the South was also coming to terms with what the economic impact was of the Civil War on their uniforms,” Acton said. “The South had a lot of raw materials but they didn’t have a lot of manufacturing capability.”
So, even as Southern soldiers’ uniforms became more, well, uniform, they kept a hodge-podge look, with the wool fabric of their hats, jackets and pants rarely matching, she said.
Why do we care about what people wore so long ago?
“The Civil War really was, I think, the defining moment in American history,” Acton said. “I mean, there are so many things you can trace back to the Civil War. It just has these ripples. … History doesn’t really die—if we pay attention, we can see how it affects us every day.”
Watch this video to find out not only why the South’s uniforms were gray, but also what H&M (or any modern clothing retailer) can thank Northern uniform makers for and how the classic image of the “Southern Belle” changed during the war.
The Story Behind Civil War Clothing in ‘Mercy Street’
Catch season 2 of “Mercy Street” Sundays on TPT. See listings or watch online here.
This article originally appeared on Rewire
© Twin Cities Public Television - 2017. All rights reserved.
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