"Amelia Bloomer was 30 years old when she attended the first women's rights convention in 1848. Married to the anti-slavery editor of the Seneca County Courier, Bloomer began publishing The Lilly in January 1849 as a temperance newspaper focused on alcohol abuse but, influenced by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, it soon emphasized the interests of women.
Championing dress reform in person as well as print, Amelia Bloomer wound up having her name associated with the new fashion she helped popularize. Although many considered the Bloomer costume both comfortable and practical, women wearing the outfit often drew crowds of men and boys who jeered at them when they appeared in public." -Cooney, Winning the Vote |
"[The Lily's] editorial stance conformed to the emerging stereotype of women as “defenders of the home.” In the first issue, Bloomer wrote:
It is woman that speaks through The Lily…Intemperance is the great foe to her peace and happiness. It is that above all that has made her Home desolate and beggared her offspring…. Surely, she has the right to wield her pen for its Suppression. Surely, she may without throwing aside the modest refinements which so much become her sex, use her influence to lead her fellow mortals from the destroyer’s path." - National Park Service |
"Bloomer became interested in dress reform, advocating that women wear the outfit that came to be known as the “Bloomer costume.” Stanton and others copied a knee-length dress with pants worn by Elizabeth Smith Miller of Geneva, New York. Although Bloomer refused to take credit for inventing the pants-and-tunic outfit, her name became associated with it because she wrote articles about the unusual dress, printed illustrations in The Lily, and wore the costume herself. " - National Park Service |