We explore how wool is made into suiting fabric, from the shearing of the sheep to the finished product. In 1999 Time named Pankhurst as one of the 100 Most Important People of the 20th Century, stating "she shaped an idea of women for our time; she shook society into a new pattern from which there could be no going back". Fashion was driven by the aristocracy and if you were wealthy you wanted people to know that you didn’t need to work for money you wore expensive clothes that were difficult to move in. The effect will be very much lost unless the colours are carried out in the dress of every woman in the ranks.

Emmeline Pankhurst, her daughters Christabel, Sylvia and Adela Pankhurst, and a small group of women based in Manchester founded the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) in 1903. The Express Yourself Edwardian Votes for Women costumes are genuinely high quality with many unique touches rarely found anywhere else including the famous sash worn by the Suffragettes. The group’s increasingly militant actions are well documented, but what is less well known is the role that clothing played in furthering their cause. The four-mile suffragette Coronation Procession through central London culminated in a rally at the Royal Albert Hall and involved over 60,000 delegates dressed in national and historical costume.If every individual in this union would do her part, the colours would become the reigning fashion and, strange as it may seem, nothing would so help to popularise the WSPU [Women’s Social and Political Union]. By contrast, men who supported women’s suffrage were depicted as hapless fellows left at home, holding the babies and wearing the skirts. By basing its headquarters in London meant the Suffragettes could protest where the government was situated.

When suffragettes gathered en masse, they were literally sending a strong cultural message of bright hope, purity, and femininity. Both salaried and volunteer office staff organised fund-raising events, public meetings and demonstrations and produced the weekly newspaper, Votes for Women, which had a circulation of 22,000 by 1909. They were drawn by the spectacle of the delegates dressed in the Suffragette purple, white and green colours (otherwise known as the tricolour) and carrying over 700 banners. The Coronation of George V in 1911 inspired the WSPU to organise its own spectacular coronation pageant, which exceeded the numbers who attended on Women’s Sunday.They were really quite detailed and specific and wanted this united uniform to look striking as they marched. A variety of flowers are associated with the woman’s suffrage movement, with yellow roses and sunflowers being the most popular. It brought Suffragettes from all over the United Kingdom to march in seven different processions through Central London to Hyde Park.

Then, I completed my suffragette look with my modified hat, white knee socks, thrifted belt, vintage shoes, and, (of course) a picket sign and sash.In 1903 the 'votes for women' campaign was energised by the creation of the Women's Social and Political Union (W. This particular hat had a convenient loop of ribbon on its band that made attaching the bow a cinch! In her defence she declared ‘I have tried to destroy the picture of the most beautiful woman in mythological history as a protest against the Government for destroying Mrs.

All I had to do was snip off their pink flowers and slide the purple bow clip onto their white, elastic hatbands. It was this role that was acknowledged with the granting of the parliamentary vote to a limited number of women over the age of 30 in 1918.

As the campaign became increasingly militant, over a thousand suffragettes, including Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughters Christabel, Sylvia and Adela, received prison sentences for their actions. She was widely criticised for her militant tactics, and historians disagree about their effectiveness, but her determined work and sacrifice is recognised as a crucial element in achieving women's suffrage in Britain.