Prairie dress

A prairie skirt worn as part of an American Civil War reenactment

A prairie dress or prairie skirt is a modest American style of skirt, an article of women's and girls' clothing.

Prairie dresses may be straight to slightly flared to very full, and may have one or more flounces (deep ruffles) or tiers; prairie dresses may be worn over a ruffled eyelet or lace-trimmed petticoat.[1] Traditionally, prairie dresses have long sleeves.[2] In keeping with their design inspiration, traditional prairie skirts are usually made of "country" fabrics such as denim and flowered calico, though they can be of a solid colour too. Prairie skirts are a staple of women's western wear, and very full prairie skirts are worn for square dancing. Prairie dresses are often worn by women who attend Christian churches that emphasize the practice of plain dress (as with the Bruderhof Communities) or the doctrine of outward holiness (as with the Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection).[3][4] They are seen as fashionable, especially in cold weather.[5]

Prairie dresses earned their name for people travelling to the Western parts of the United States, though they were once "worn by women of all classes all over the country."[6]

  1. ^ Lynch, Annette; Strauss, Mitchell D. (30 October 2014). Ethnic Dress in the United States: A Cultural Encyclopedia. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 303. ISBN 978-0-7591-2150-8.
  2. ^ Mackall, Dandi Daley (May 2015). The Secrets of Tree Taylor. Random House. p. 269. ISBN 978-0-375-87294-5.
  3. ^ Margolis, Maxine L. (10 October 2019). Women in Fundamentalism: Modesty, Marriage, and Motherhood. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-5381-3403-0.
  4. ^ Orden, R. Van (11 June 2018). Seventh-Day Adventists, Ellen G. White, and Salvation. Christian Faith Publishing. ISBN 978-1-64114-179-6.
  5. ^ Torgerson, Rachel (1 January 2020). "Prairie Dresses Are the Perfect Winter Trend for People Who Hate Tights". Cosmopolitan Magazine. Retrieved 30 July 2021.
  6. ^ F, José Blanco; Hunt-Hurst, Patricia Kay; Lee, Heather Vaughan; Doering, Mary (23 November 2015). Clothing and Fashion: American Fashion from Head to Toe [4 volumes]: American Fashion from Head to Toe. ABC-CLIO. p. 189. ISBN 978-1-61069-310-3.