Bohemian style was not really until the First World War that "many working women ... embarked on a revolution in fashion that greatly reduced the weight and restrictions imposed on them by their clothing". Some women working in factories wore trousers and the brassiere (invented in 1889 by the feminist Herminie Cadolle and patented in America by Mary Phelps Jacob in 1914) began gradually to supersede the corset. In shipyards "trouser suits" (the term, "pantsuit" was adopted in America in the 1920s) were virtually essential to enable women to shin up and down ladders. Music hall artists also helped to push the
Phelps Mansion Phelps Mansion The Phelps Mansion, formerly known as The Monday Afternoon Clubhouse, is a three-story brick and stone mansion located on Court Street in Binghamton, New York. It was built in 1870 as the private home of Sherman D. Phelps. Mr. Phelps was a successful business man, banker, Republican elector for Abraham Lincoln, and mayor of the City of Binghamton. The building was designed by Isaac G. Perry who later became the chief architect for the New York State Capitol building in Albany, New York. The mansion was purchased in 1905 by the Monday Afternoon Club (a women's civic organization).