Bloomers on, bloomers off ...

I’ve just finished reading 'Letters to Henrietta' by Isabella Bird, edited by Kay Chubbuck. It’s basically missives sent from all over the world by Isabella Bird, a famous traveller of the Victorian Age, to her sister back in gloomy Scotland.

What I especially enjoyed was her love of roughing it and horse riding alone through exotic landscapes like Hawaii, Colorado and Australia. She hated using a sidesaddle, as was expected of a lady in those days, and revelled in the opportunity to escape the constraints of civilization and ride astride whenever possible. To that end, she adopted the Bloomer Suit, Turkish trousers with a divided skirt falling mid-calf, a practical garment devised for women in the 19th century by the reform dress movement.

I came to love the snippy passages about changing clothes every time she arrived at, or left a town, e.g. (and I'll just point out that Isabella wasn't much for commas): 'I got off and took off my skirt a mile from Denver being in very bad pain and you cannot imagine the unspeakable relief of getting on astride.' and 'I got off put on a skirt and rode sideways but it did not look like a place where any deference to foolish prejudices was necessary.'

I can just imagine her quick changing behind trees, grumbling about the silly conventions that necessitated so much bother.