When did we start equating Working Class with Homelessness?

There seems to be a disconnect in how we actually live, and our perceptions of what class we hang out in. Most of us are working class people. Plain and simple. The actual middle class pay more in taxes every year than many of us earn, and that's with ridiculous tax breaks. The truly wealthy, the 1% are making more money each year than many of us can even comprehend.

OK, so now that I have established that we are, for the most part working class, how do you see yourself in your daily life? Do you get up every day, bathe, put on clean, relatively new clothing, and go out and work your job every day? Do you sometimes, but not really all that often, get dirty, really dirty in your daily life? I know in my life, the most I get dirty is my hands, even when I'm in the garden. I might need to take a bit of care with my fingernails at the end of the day, but that's about it.

So when we look at a historical interpreter who is wearing accurately constructed clothing, that fits well, and is in decent repair, why is it we place that interpreter in a higher class than they actually are? I work in the eighteenth century mostly. My wardrobe consists of gowns and petticoats for the most part. I do own a bedgown that is well tailored to my body that I wear for warmth over my gown like a cardigan. I work in my gowns. If I'm going to be getting really dirty, I might take my gown off for a minute to do the job, and then put it back on again...maybe. I just don't get that dirty, and can't be arsed dressing and re-dressing throughout the day, so I just stay in my gown.

I've been confused by other interpreters for being a different class because I am wearing all my proper clothes. Or for being a different culture because I am wearing a sacque backed gown when all the other women are wearing jackets.

Nope. I am the same as them, a working class woman, going about her day. I may be much older, or just wearing a different fashionable style. Today, all women don't go about their day in exactly the same kind of outfit. We each have our own personal style within the fashion of our era.

This morning on one of the 'show us your impressions' pages on facebook, a man posted his interpretation of a 1830s farmer. He was perfect in my eyes. I hope to one day dress my staff as well as this man was. People kept putting him in a much higher class level though, mainly due to his clothes actually fitting, and he was wearing all of his clothes, and wasn't looking destitute.

There is a huge difference between working class and homelessness.

We have to start dressing out our interpreters in properly constructed and well fitted clothing. We need to teach them that the fit will make the clothing more comfortable, that natural fibres are a beautiful thing! We need to teach them to wear all their layers and pieces and accoutrements so that they actually look like the people we are trying to represent.
One size does not fit all. We need wardrobe staff who are trained to create and fit the interpreters. Who know how to do research on the extant garments in our museum collections. We need to value those wardrobe people we do have on staff as much as we value the curators, and archaeologists, and historians. We are historians too, and the work we do is as valuable as getting the paint chemistry correct in our historic buildings, the artifacts cleaned and researched properly, or the names and dates on the labels correct.

Last week I got to see quite a few costumed interpreters. I felt an overwhelming need to fix every single one of them, even the better ones needed to have their clothing taken in a great deal to actually fit. I will be writing about this subject over the next month or so for the dissertation. Trying to situate my research into the greater interpretation conversation. I will also be constructing a couple of pieces for two gentlemen who are very much within the scope of working class interpretation, as well as an outfit for myself to wear to an 1820s museum site in the Fall.

A couple of groups for you to check out...
Living History ~ show us your impression
Womens Living History ~ Show us your impressions
Historical Interp Playas!

There are others, and not every impression is perfect, but the people who post in these groups are trying really hard to make themselves look the very best they can.

Not homeless, nor am I upper class, just a working class woman going about her day circa 1776