Dress Reform and Women's Rights: the Intersection of Women's Suffrage, the Bloomer Costume, and the Oneida Community

In the early 19th century, women's rights reformers were interested in tackling a variety of issues that were holding women back, including the very clothes they wore! For many reformers, the movement soon coalesced around work toward the right to vote (seen as the best way to affect change in other areas), but that didn't stop many from trying reform dress, or what became known as the Bloomer Costume.

This talk will focus on the way the dress reform movement and suffrage movement intersected, and how women reformers in the broader world were inspired by what women in places like the Oneida Community were wearing.

Hopkins-Benton’s book Votes for Women: Celebrating New York’s Suffrage Centennial will be available for signing and purchase following her talk. 

Ashley Hopkins-Benton is Senior Historian and Curator of Social History at the New York State Museum

• Date: March 13, 2025 

• Time: 6:00 pm-7:00 pm