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The fascinating true story of radical Victorian dress reformer Lady Florence Harberton and her quest to liberate women through fashion - specifically the right to wear trousers.
An avid cyclist, Florence scandalised Victorian society by flinging off her restrictive corset, bustle and voluminous skirts, and taking to the road in her 'divided skirt', an emblem of female independence that saw her pilloried as a 'pantaloonatic'. She was among the first to understand how closely what we wear is tied up not only with who we are, but also with what we do and how we feel. A passionate and radical advocate of women's rights, she spent decades urging women to reject the tyranny of fashion, and instead choose to wear comfortable, practical clothing that allowed for active participation in society.
In 1899 a scandalous trial marked the climax of Florence's battle for fashion emancipation, when she was refused service by a hotel landlady for wearing her 'divided skirt'. The press had a field day. Crowds flocked to the courtroom to follow a case which, as the defending barrister put it, would 'decide whether a woman should be permitted to go out in public dressed like this'.
In Pantaloonatics! acclaimed author Helena Drysdale uses this fascinating courtroom drama to frame a wider exploration of fashion, feminism, family and female health at the turn of the 20th century and beyond to explore why we wear what we wear and how our clothes shape our lives.
