It is a well known fact that fashion has a trickle down effect.  Fashions started by royalty were quickly adopted by the ladies of their court, then to others of nobility.  By the time it reached the masses, the trend setters were on to a new trend to follow.

  The extravagance that royalty and courtiers could create in their dress continued to get less down the fashion ladder to the masses.  Silks and velvets with lace became polished cottons with fabric ruffles all while following the basic fashion.

  Ladies in America far from the fashion setters of England and France relied upon Godey's to adapt the European fashions for the colonies.  Ladies of means in America followed the latest fashions while rural girls were behind in the fads.  There would have been close to a 10 year span from the courts of Europe to rural America.

  Ladies in rural communities were at a great disadvantage to those in the city.  Financial situations being the largest factor in determining dress.  Availability of materials would have come in a close second.  Dress making skills would have then played the third factor.  Skills the ladies had developed would then determine where on the fashion rung they were.

  Keep in mind when creating your Civil War Impression that there were far more ladies on the bottom half of the ladder than on the top half.  We would all love the attention received from voluminous silk dress with ruffles and lace, but realistically we would not have been in such garments.  Having a correct dress is essential to the evolution of the fashion ladder.  We do not just dress up, we are actors who portray history.  Keeping history real and correct in our representations should always be top priority of every lady re-enactor.

  Old dresses had new life breathed into them all the time.  The ladies who practiced saving techniques were ones on the bottom half of the fashion ladder.  Tearing apart dresses to style them in the latest fashion or to make  trim for a different dress.  Not only was this economical, it was also a practical way to keep up with the constant changes in dress.

  As the war progressed, rules of dress progressed as well.  At the beginning of the war, white shirts would have been accompanied with a waist (female version of a vest) or with a jacket.  At the end of the war, white shirts were worn by themselves.  Toward the end of the war, fullness of skirts started to decline with the wide spread  use of box pleats and gored skirts.

  Availability was affected by the war as was soaring prices.  Southern ladies had depleted their resources so much by the last half of the conflict, a sort of fashion trend swept the south.  It was a trend of slender, crudely woven, white dresses.  A fashion of covering the hoops with such fabric alone was forced upon Southern ladies.  While ladies in the North were little affected except for mounting prices.  All the while fashion continued in Europe.

  The fashion rung that you may have been on would be the determining factor of dress.  Before building a wardrobe, I recommend doing a semi detailed plan of what you imagine your life would have been like during the Civil War and go from there in getting started.  Myself, I have done family research to find my family were farmers who did fairly well so I grew up with modest clothing, to marry a LT.;  with an occasional party and visiting dress.  Keeping my re-enacting expense down as well as keeping true to my impression.

  I do hope that the trickle down effect helps you in determining the human factor of fashion.  The human factors being economical, availability, and skill will all help play a part in our impressions of the Civil War Period.