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
Benjamin K. Phelps with his Yale classmate Sherman W. Knevals (1832–1908). From 1866 to 1870, Phelps was an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. In 1869, he was sent to North Carolina to take charge of the proceedings against the officers of the USS Hornet, charged with a violation of the Neutrality laws. In 1872, he formed a new law firm "Arthur, Phelps, Knevals & Ransom" with Chester A. Arthur, his old partner Knevals, and Rastus S. Ransom (1839–1914, Surrogate of New York 1887-93). In November 1872, Phelps was elected on the Republican ticket New York County District