Have a mentioned I love this book? Well, I do. Not because it portrays an exclusively female world as absolutely perfect, but it just makes you look at your own reality in a different way. Herland (the place in the book, not the book itself) has a darker undercurrent to it actually. Makes you think.
Anyway this is when the men first see the women. In class there was a lot of wondering about their clothes. Gilman describes them in such a way that.....they're imaginable, but really open to interpretation. According to the book, they're comfortable, practical, shorts that go to their knees and other things I had to look up. Do you know what a jerkin is? How about a trim gaiter? I didn't know and it turns out the first is a jacket and the second are these things that go around your legs...well the best I can imagine is some sort of leg warmer type thing.
I was also interested in the androgynous nature of the women. It was a challenge because the quickets way to establish feminine beauty in drawing is to slap on the mascara and lipstick. "She has lipstick! See? She's pretty!"
Obviously these women aren't like that, so I was trying to get the beauty of them without going to the ultra-feminized drawings.
This book sounds awesome! I love your women, also the fact they have short hair, and aren't portrayed as make-up wearing girls that are pretty. The clothing looks like you described.<3
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