Honors in the Major — Daela Webster and “The Language of Fashion: Women’s Clothing and Politics in Colonial America, 1760-1800”
In her Honors in the Major project, Daela Webster examined how women in North America used clothing to convey messages about their politics and their social standing during the revolutionary period. It turned out to be a lot more complicated than stating ‘Patriots wore homespun, and loyalists wore imported fabrics.’
Webster, a History major, spent her first-year abroad at FSU’s London Study Center where she fell in love with British history. Her passion for the history of textiles developed during Covid when she made her own 18th-century inspired dress. In her HITM project, Webster decided to deconstruct the revolutionary binary of patriot v. loyalist with regards to fashion. Her findings established that women’s fashion choices were shaped by considerations of social standing, as well as cultural and community expectations. During the period of boycotts, the 1760s and early 1770s, elite women did not necessarily want to wear homespun, which was a material associated with the lower classes. Instead, they wanted to continue using imported cloth. But rather than buying new material, some refashioned old garments to fit new trends. While men used their uniforms to signify political allegiance and social standing, women had to use more ingenuity to balance political and social demands.
Webster worked on this project under the supervision of Dr. Katherine C. Mooney, a historian of the U.S. South. “I spent most of my second year trying to find a History professor who could supervise my work on fashion history. When I took Dr. Mooney’s class on the History of the South, I really liked her way of teaching, and I asked her to be my supervisor.” Dr. Mooney suggested to Webster a series of secondary sources to start with and was there for regular consultations and offered feedback on Webster’s work. “Dr. Mooney encouraged me to do fieldwork at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and Colonial Williamsburg the summer before I started my project. That was the most fun part of my project.”
For sources, Webster mainly used newspapers and fashion prints of the time. Not many gowns made in America during the late 18th century have survived. More dresses survived in Europe. The Met had several gowns from the 1760s and 70s but very few for the decades afterward. Conversely, most of the dresses in Britain’s premier design museum, the Victoria & Albert in London, were from the period after 1800. “All-in-all, I looked at around twenty dresses from my focus period,” confirmed Webster, “but not many were what I was looking for.”
Webster had thought about using paintings as a source but was quickly dissuaded. “It was not clear if the dresses displayed in paintings were actually worn by the people depicted,” she explained. Some painters in colonial America would travel in search of customers with nearly finished paintings which could be customized to individual patrons by adding their hair and facial features. Many sitters were also depicted in more timeless styles instead of the current trends. Instead, Webster used letters from prominent women, like Abigail Adams and Mercy Otis Warren to supplement the printed material. Secondary sources on the political and social landscape of the time helped Webster interpret the fashion trends.
“I had been preparing for this project for over a year before I started,” declared Webster, “Starting it was not scary.” Other aspects of the project proved more daunting. “I am more of a shy person, so reaching out to people to ask about being on my committee, that was scary. Getting ready for the prospectus defense was scary.” Webster knew though that these were all components of the HITM process that she had to navigate. “I just had to do them.” The overall project on the other hand was one that she had designed for herself and was keen to do.
Webster sat down with Dr. Mooney and, working backwards from the fixed deadlines (the prospectus defense in the first semester, the final defense in the second semester), they established deadlines for work to be completed. “I was not always able to meet those deadlines, but we were usually able to rearrange my workload.” Webster mainly worked on her HITM project during weekends. “On weekdays, I was busy with homework for my other classes – plus I had to complete a senior seminar for my Art History minor too.”
Webster went into the HITM project as a practice opportunity for graduate school, especially researching and writing a Ph.D. in history. As a first step, she will be doing a master’s degree in textile and dress histories at the University of Glasgow, Scotland, in fall 2025. Her completed Honors thesis came to 56 pages. “I liked what I put together in the end, even though I did not like every part of the process of getting there.” A particular challenge was staying on top of all the notes she had taken. Dr. Mooney suggested she color-code her notes so that she could see which notes were relevant for the first, second, or third section of her thesis. “When I start writing, I usually know the main points and the minor points I want to make in the section I am working on. Having the notes together for each section ensured that I did not overlook any relevant details.”
Webster presented a part of her work at the 2025 Southeast Regional Conference organized by History’s Graduate Student Association. She enjoyed being part of a panel of presenters, observing how others organized their talks and handled questions. “That was a first for me, and I learned a lot.” Additionally, Webster presented at FSU’s Undergraduate Research Symposium. For that occasion, she had to wrangle her findings onto a poster board. “It was definitely a challenge to find the right images for the board and condense my text into manageable proportions.” Overall, though, Webster found that the two presentations helped her become more practiced at talking about her work, which made the final defense much easier.
Webster’s advice to other students planning on doing an HITM project is to start the research as early as possible. While Webster was able to travel over the summer to view primary sources in different collections, she had not been able to start reading the secondary literature her committee and mentor recommended. “If I had been able to spread things out more, it would have been very helpful. I wish I had had three semesters to complete the project rather than just two.”
Another insight was to talk more to people on your committee during the writing process. Webster only asked Dr. Mooney for feedback on her writing until the actual thesis defense. “I was concerned about sending things to my committee that were not finished. But by not sending them my writing, I did not get their feedback until the very end, and I could not incorporate their suggestions into my draft.”
Fortunately, Daela’s defense went well, which means that she graduated from FSU with Honors. Even better, she has had time to incorporate the changes into her Honors’ thesis. “All of the work was a great preparation for graduate school. I can’t wait to start my MLitt in the fall!”