Too often, clothing is designed to be aesthetically appealing without being functional. Beginning in the 1820s, women had limited use of their arms thanks to gigot sleeves, also known as leg o' mutton sleeves. While puffed sleeves can still be found in clothes today, the sleeves of the 19th century were so outrageously large that women could barely move. The sleeve would balloon at the shoulders, then taper down along the arm before ending tightly at the wrist.
These sleeves would prevent women from raising their arms above their heads. The large sleeve trend would continue throughout the Victorian era. Combined with other trends of the time including wider skirts, tighter corsets, and layers of undergarments, women in this era were so encased in fabric that the summer months must have been agonizing for them. These trends resulted in a generation of women who were barely able to move, let alone breathe. A physical manifestation of oppression if we ever heard of one.
