The character most concerned with fashion in the text is Caroline Ingalls, the mother of Mary and Laura.
Caroline was a teacher before she married, and seems to have belonged more to the town and town life rather than to life on the prairies. Of course, she was excellent in her role as a pioneer's wife. Yet, like all women of her time, Caroline had no choice but to follow the lifestyle her husband had selected for her. Though she was unhappy to leave her family, she had to follow husband Charles to life in a wagon and the West. Marilyn Yalom has commented in the isolation felt by the wives of the pioneers, and I completely agree with her.
Even in isolated areas, however, Caroline sought out the town and the market. Whenever their money permitted it, she would make a new dress. Laura describes in detail the dresses their mother made -- the colors, cut, the bosom, pockets, the trimmings and skirts. It seems that Caroline was a very good seamstress, who had an eye for detail.
When Mary is going to the college for the blind in Iowa for the first time, Caroline's great concern is for Mary to have good clothes so that she will not feel inadequate to the town girls who would be with her at college. For this reason, Caroline visits a younger neighbor, who verifies that their dress patterns are still in fashion. She makes new dresses for Mary and escorts her with Charles to Iowa. To her great relief, Caroline finds that Mary is among the best dressed girls at school.
Little House on the Prairie is a complex and sometimes problematic text. More about this in later posts!
Have a good evening and be well xxx
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