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
William E. Phelps William E. Phelps William Edwin Phelps (1835–1914) was an American politician from Peoria County, Illinois. During the Civil War, he served as Consulate General of Saint Petersburg, Russia. In 1868, he was elected to one term in the Illinois House of Representatives. William E. Phelps was born on October 9, 1835 in what would become Elmwood, Illinois. His father, William J. Phelps, founded the settlement. The family descended from early American settler William Phelps. When Phelps was fourteen, he began to attend Farmington Academy in winters while working on the family farm in summers. He graduated from Knox College when