The Turkish Embassy Letters By: Lady Mary Wortly Montagu Published: 1778
Clothing in text: Stays
"The lady, that seemed the most considerable among them, entreated me to sit by her, and would fain have undressed me for the bath. I excused myself with some difficulty. They being however all so earnest in persuading me, I was at last forced to open my shirt, and shew them my stays; which satisfied them very well; for, I saw, they believed I was locked up in that machine, and that it was not in my own power to open it, which contrivance they attributed to my husband..." (Montagu 59)
Social commentary: Montagu's experience in Turkey became a traveler's guide for many back home in England. Since few could afford the luxury of travel within such social circles, her time accompanying her husband helped to shape the genre of travel literature. In this scene her stays function as a foreign characteristic that separate her from the Turkish women.
By discussing clothing, Montagu forces the reader to consider females in the narrative of travel, as noted by Grundy: "Montagu is attentive to history and its visible manifestations in buildings and other tourist sights; but more so to technological improvement, and to the place of women in society, which the masculine focus of other travel writers had so far rendered all but invisible" (Grundy 200). The stays act as more than an article of clothing; Montagu uses them to contrast the two cultures, a juxtaposition of nudity with the most restrictive fashion available in England.
Other Clothing References: " I cannot forbear giving you some description of the fashions here, which are more monstrous, and contrary to all common sense and reason, than 'tis possible for you to imagine. They build certain fabrics of gauze on their heads, about a yard high, consisting of three or four stories, fortified with numberless yards of heavy ribbon. The foundation of this structure is a thing they call a Bourle..." (Montagu 17).
"When I took my leave, two maids brought in a fine silver basket of embroidered handkerchiefs; she begged I would wear the richest for her sake, and gave the others to my woman and interpretess" (Montagu 91).