3. Dec, 2021
Dressed for the Moors: Fashion maintained in the Highlands
In 1803, James Hogg found himself exploring the wilds of Loch Maree in the company of a lady, a Miss Jane Downie. He was impressed by her agility: "It was a scene worthy of these regions, to see a lady of a most delicate form and elegantly dressed, in such a situation, climbing over the dizzy precipices, in a retrograde direction, and after fixing one foot, hanging by both hands until she could find a small hold for the other." But he was also " in the greatest distress on account of the lady. The wind, which had grown extremely rough took such impression on her clothes, that I was really apprehensive that it would carry her off, and looked back several times with terror for fear that I should see her flying headlong toward the lake like a swan."
Victorian and Edwardian fashion is captured on hundreds of late 19th/early 20th century photographs. I am about to post a photo album page with a few examples from my collection. It is a tribute in particular to the determination of ladies of that time to maintain high fashion standards even when out on the moors!