A riding habit is women's

clothing Clothing (also known as clothes, garments, dress, apparel, or attire) is any item worn on a human human body, body. Typically, clothing is made of fabrics or textiles, but over time it has included garments made from animal skin and other thin s ...

for

horseback riding Equestrianism (from Latin , , , 'horseman', 'horse'), commonly known as horse riding (Commonwealth English) or horseback riding (American English), includes the disciplines of riding, driving, and vaulting. This broad description includes the u ...

. Since the mid-17th century, a formal habit for riding sidesaddle usually consisted of: * A

tailor A tailor is a person who makes or alters clothing, particularly in men's clothing. The Oxford English Dictionary dates the term to the thirteenth century. History Although clothing construction goes back to prehistory, there is evidence of ...

ed jacket with a long

skirt A skirt is the lower part of a dress or a separate outer garment that covers a person from the waist downwards. At its simplest, a skirt can be a draped garment made out of a single piece of fabric (such as pareos). However, most skirts are ...

(sometimes called a

petticoat A petticoat or underskirt is an article of clothing, a type of undergarment worn under a skirt or a dress. Its precise meaning varies over centuries and between countries. According to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'', in current British E ...

) to match * A tailored

shirt A shirt is a cloth garment for the upper body (from the neck to the waist). Originally an undergarment worn exclusively by men, it has become, in American English, a catch-all term for a broad variety of upper-body garments and undergarments. ...

or chemisette * A

hat A hat is a Headgear, head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorpor ...

, often in the most formal men's style of the day (since the

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. Slightly different definitions are sometimes used. The era followed the ...

, a

top hat A top hat (also called a high hat, or, informally, a topper) is a tall, flat-crowned hat traditionally associated with formal wear in Western dress codes, meaning white tie, morning dress, or frock coat. Traditionally made of black silk or ...

with a

veil A veil is an article of clothing or hanging cloth that is intended to cover some part of the human head, head or face, or an object of some significance. Veiling has a long history in European, Asian, and African societies. The practice has be ...

has been worn) Low-heeled

boot A boot is a type of footwear. Most boots mainly cover the foot and the ankle, while some also cover some part of the lower calf. Some boots extend up the leg, sometimes as far as the knee or even the hip. Most boots have a heel that is clearl ...

glove A glove is a garment covering the hand, with separate sheaths or openings for each finger including the thumb. Gloves protect and comfort hands against cold or heat, damage by friction, abrasion or chemicals, and disease; or in turn to provide a ...

s, and often a necktie or stock complete the ensemble. Typically, throughout the period the riding habit used details from male dress, whether large turned cuffs, gold trims or buttons. The colours were very often darker and more masculine than those on normal clothes. Earlier styles can be similar to the dresses worn by boys before breeching in these respects. When high waists were the fashion, from roughly 1790 to 1820, the habit could be a coat dress called a ''riding coat'' (borrowed in French as

redingote A frock coat is a formal men's coat characterised by a knee-length skirt cut all around the base just above the knee, popular during the Victorian and Edwardian periods (1830s–1910s). It is a fitted, long-sleeved coat with a centre vent at th ...

) or a petticoat with a short jacket (often longer in back than in front).

Origins

In France in the 17th century, women who rode wore an outfit called a devantiere. The skirt of the devantiere was split up the back to enable astride riding. By the early 19th century, in addition to describing the whole costume, a devantiere could describe any part of the riding habit, be it the skirt, the apron, or the riding coat. In his

diary A diary is a written or audiovisual memorable record, with discrete entries arranged by date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period. Diaries have traditionally been handwritten but are now also often digita ...

for June 12, 1666,

Samuel Pepys Samuel Pepys ( ; 23 February 1633 – 26 May 1703) was an English writer and Tories (British political party), Tory politician. He served as an official in the Navy Board and Member of Parliament (England), Member of Parliament, but is most r ...

wrote: Two and a half centuries later,

Emily Post Emily Post ( Price; October 27, 1872 – September 25, 1960) was an American author, novelist, and socialite famous for writing about etiquette. Early life and education Post was born Emily Bruce Price in Baltimore, Maryland, possibly in Octob ...

would write:

Gallery

Image:Joseph Parrocel, attributed to - Madame La Comtesse de Saint Géran - Google Art Project.jpg, Masculine-styled jacket and waistcoat, Image:Gobert - Marie Adélaïde of Savoy - Versailles MV 6825.jpg, Scarlet habit, male cuffs, gold trim, buttons, early 18th century Image:Ladyworsley.jpg, Portrait of Lady Worsley, Cutaway coat, waistcoat, military details matching husband's regiment, 1779 Image:Morland squires door detail.jpg, Redingote and tall hat, 1790 Image:1799 Riding Habit July LMM.jpg, High-waisted, 1799 Image:Riding habit 1830s.jpg, Full sleeves, 1830s Image:Lovers-Morning-Recreation-Sarony-Major-1850.jpg, Ringlets and top hat, 1850s File:Riding habit in cloth with tightly tailored bodice and closed skirt with stitched-in knee, ca. 1885-1895.jpg, Closed skirt with stitched-in knee, 1885–1895 File:Riding habit, including jacket, riding skirt and divided skirt, 1900-1910.jpg, Divided skirt, 1900-1910 File:Head of suffrage parade, Washington (cropped to riders).jpg, Divided skirts, 1913 File:Side Saddle Concours d'Elegance (3715927383).jpg, 2009

Women's redingote

The redingote (or redingotte, redingot)''Oxford English Dictionary'', Third Edition, September 2009 is a type of

coat A coat is typically an outer garment for the upper body, worn by any gender for warmth or fashion. Coats typically have long sleeves and are open down the front, and closing by means of buttons, zippers, hook-and-loop fasteners (AKA velcro), ...

that has had several forms over time. The name is derived from a French alteration of the English " riding coat", an example of

reborrowing Reborrowing is the process where a word travels from one language to another and then back to the originating language in a different form or with a different meaning. A reborrowed word is sometimes called a ''Rückwanderer'' (German, a 'returner') ...

. The first form of the redingote was in the 18th century, when it was used for travel on horseback. This coat was a bulky, utilitarian garment. It would begin to evolve into a fashionable accessory in the last two decades of the 18th century, when women began wearing a perfectly tailored style of the redingote, which was inspired by men's fashion of the time. Italian fashion also picked it up (the ''redingotte''), adapting it for more formal occasions. The ''redingote à la Hussar'' (from French ''redingote à la Hussarde'') was trimmed with parallel rows of horizontal braid in the fashion of

Hussar A hussar, ; ; ; ; . was a member of a class of light cavalry, originally from the Kingdom of Hungary during the 15th and 16th centuries. The title and distinctive dress of these horsemen were subsequently widely adopted by light cavalry ...

s' uniforms. The style continued to evolve through the late 19th century, until it took a form similar to today's redingote. The newer form is marked by a close fit at the chest and waist, a belt, and a flare toward the

hem A hem in sewing is a garment finishing method, where the edge of a piece of cloth is folded and sewn to prevent unravelling of the fabric and to adjust the length of the piece in garments, such as at the end of the sleeve or the bottom of the ga ...

. File:Woman's redingote c. 1790.jpg, Image:Morland squires door detail.jpg, File:RedingotJosefina.jpg, 1810s Image:Redingote a la hussar.jpg, à la Hussar, 1817 File:Fig9REDINGOTEdrap carreaux fanraisie.png, 1887 File:Redingote-polonaise-1914.png, Redingote polonaise (left), 1914

References

Notes

* Cassin-Scott, Jack, ''Costume and Fashion in colour 1760–1920'', Blandford press, * Payne, Blanche: ''History of Costume from the Ancient Egyptians to the Twentieth Century'', Harper & Row, 1965. No ISBN for this edition; ASIN B0006BMNFS * Takeda, Sharon Sadako, and Kaye Durland Spilker, ''Fashioning Fashion: European Dress in Detail, 1700–1915'', LACMA/Prestel US 2010, * Tozer, Jane and Sarah Levitt, ''Fabric of Society: A Century of People and their Clothes, 1770–1870'', Laura Ashley Press,
Pepys' diary for June 1666

See paragraph 40 "Riding Clothes" *

External links