For a young lady of leisure in the Gilded Age, flawless etiquette was a prerequisite for acceptance, long before her fashion choices were evaluated.

She could not receive a gentleman caller unchaperoned, was not to walk the street alone after dark, and carried herself with a slow, graceful stride whenever she was in the public gaze.

Conversation had its own rules too: speaking in a quiet, pleasant tone in the drawing room, avoiding fidgeting and staring, and waiting for others to finish speaking before offering her own opinion. 

Dress reinforced these expectations rather than standing apart from them. A woman of her class changed clothes four or five times a day, and each change was itself a small performance of decorum, signaling that she understood exactly which hour, which company, and what occasion she was dressing for. In the Camellia Grace letters, this custom of dress is exemplified by the comment “seven gown changes.”

That knowledge extended outdoors, where a young lady's conduct was judged as closely as her clothing. A parasol was not optional; carrying one while walking or driving by day was as much a statement of propriety as it was protection from the sun, marking her as a woman who did not labor, and did not tan. 

Sport introduced new social ground to navigate. As tennis, cycling, and yachting became acceptable pastimes for young ladies, firms like Redfern built their reputation on tailoring women's clothing for these activities without abandoning the structure and modesty still expected of them. Redfern is credited with introducing the interchangeable blouse in 1886, allowing a young lady to dress appropriately for sport while still meeting the standards of a fashionable wardrobe, a small concession that etiquette writers of the day watched carefully.