Why historical clothing has so many layers? 

Just giving my random take as a man, the use of undergarments in the past seems quite economical. You invest in one corset and some underlayers, the corset will last a long time, and the underlayers will protect your outer clothing. Even from a tertiary glance, I've been shocked by the expense for women's undergarments. And for all the talk against corsets, I've never seen someone complain about their undergarments as much as women complain about their bras.

This is why folks thinking people in the past were gross amuses me. They didn't dirty their support garments and used multiple layers to protect their clothes from the inside out. They literally had better clothing hygiene than we do, we're the gross ones by comparison.

My grandparents were born in the late 1880’s, my parents in the early 1920’s, so Victorian/Edwardian-plus. When you had one bathroom in the house and limited hot water you would “bathe” once every week or two and “wash” every morning. It’s a little acrobatic, but they even washed their hair in the sink or basin. I know this is the tail end of when folk nowadays think “people were filthy back then”, but first and second hand knowledge- nope, they weren’t. Love your videos, very informative and entertaining 😊.

I worked on a farm for a few years and boss thought I was insane for wearing long sleeves in the summer. Didn't believe me it was better

Something you forget to mention is the insulation that all those layers provide. Both from the heat and cold! Plus, because of the insulation, any sudden changes in weather in the middle of the day were not as big of a deal as it is with our clothing today. When I'm dressed in historical clothing, I can tolerate about a 50 degree (fahrenheit) difference in the same outfit. In my modern clothing, I get a tolerance to about a 10 degree difference from one outfit.

Very interesting video. I had never heard all the reasons for each layer all together in one video. In the 70s, as I was growing up, I remember slips still being a thing under dresses and skirts. As time passed, I thought they just made me hotter, which given they were probably polyester and did make me hotter, I quit wearing them. My dad who’s in his 80s still wears undershirts, but neither of my brothers do. I just recently started following fashion history I. The past four years and am working on a late Victorian outfit from the shift and drawers up through all the layers. I just love videos like this that help me really connect with these garments and put all my effort even into the under layers that won’t be seen by anyone but me. I love the outfit you’re wearing in the video. Looks very elegant. The red head scarf is lovely. Is it a 1920s era dress? Take care.

I loved it! 3 years ago I began using tziniut (jewish traditional clothing) and I realized practically some of the things you explain in this video, like the function of petit coat and the temperature isolation. Thank you so much for this class! ❤

I’d love to see a video like this about menswear, since it seems through most of history they wear fewer layers than women.

thank you for the video! it's so interesting how much modern fashion separated itself from this long history. so many items that have been with us for centuries are mostly forgotten now. i think we have a lot to learn from historical fashion.

Wonderful explanation and makes sense. I've been using an undershirt to protect outer shirts for some years now and air clothes outside and bedding.

Thank you for such a comprehensive and entertaining video! I enjoy your presentation style and the way you connect everything together. I saw that others also wondered about your current outfit, and thought it would be a great feature if you were to give a little bit of information about what you’re wearing either before or at the end of the videos. You bring fashion and the lifestyles that shaped it into an easily understood and accessible format.

I love your look in this video, you look so pretty.

I love that dress so classy

Wow, I've been watching historical clothing videos for a long time and did pick up a lot of what you said here about hygienic the undergarments were, but you put it all in one easy-to-find-and-understand video, and there were a LOT that I didn't know and learned from this video as well. I love how informative it was. I want to share this with other people I know to show how it wasn't about getting sweaty and stinky in impractical layers back then, but that they were SUPER practical and clever. LOVE THIS.

Very informative! Thank you.

Very Interesting information

21:10 ahmmm.... In Brazil the average person takes at least 2 bathes per day.....

So comprehensive, thank you.

Thanks for an informative video. 🙌