Vintage Miscellany – July 23, 2017

That’s Snow Ball and me in back and Rachel is rowing and the girl lying down is Claudia. Rachel’s sister took the picture.

There’s no date, but the all-girl group might indicate that it was taken during WWII. It could be a few years later, and they just left the guys at home. At any rate, it looks like a relaxing afternoon.

And now, on to the news…

• •   As I write this the 2017 British Open (golf) is winding down, so it’s appropriate to first share a link to an article about the club where the contest is being held this year. Unlike most golf clubs that banned women members (some as late as 2015) Royal Birkdale admitted women from its beginning in 1889. The reason why makes perfect sense.
  •  And so it is also fitting to share a link to Teen Vogue about the new dress code put in place by the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA). Just when we all thought dress codes were passé.
  • So now I have to mention that the US House of Representatives also has a dress code, though it is pretty vague, and calls into question what exactly is “appropriate dress”?
  • It turns out that the fashion exhibition blockbuster of the summer is not at the Met, but in Paris at Le Musee des Arts Decoratifs. The topic is Dior, the setting lavish, and the experience, so I hear, transformational.  There’s not much chance that I’ll be in Paris to see it before it closes in January, but looking at the photos, the feeling I get is overwhelmed. When it comes to exhibitions, is bigger necessarily better?
  • Jewelry designer Kenneth Jay Lane has died at age 85.
  • The Guardian had an interesting article about the early days of vintage clothing collecting.
  • Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania and South Sudan have decided to stop the importation of used clothing by 2019 in order to encourage domestic production of clothing. But in this world, nothing is ever simple.
  • Why was it that weavers in textile factories had a higher rate of TB than the general population?
  • One of my favorite children’s books, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler  turns 50 this year. If you don’t know this book, read it. The story is about Claudia and Jamie who run off to live in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and then get involved in a mystery involving a work of art. I read this one every year with my small-town fifth graders who loved this delightful (though a bit out-dated) view of life in the big city.
  • Flip-flops can be dangerous, and not just from getting them caught in an escalator.
  • Why do poor people “waste” money on luxury goods?
  • We had Made in America week at the White House, and no products with the Trump labels were on display. Spokesperson Sean Spicer managed to partially blame the “decline of newspapers”. Some of the companies, such as Campbellsville Apparel Company, are highly dependent on US military contracts and others are things most of us would not be spending money on, such as DitchWitch. Here’s the complete list.

Vintage Miscellany – July 9, 2017

Here’s a rare example of an older photograph with the kind of information one wishes came with all old pictures. Written on the reverse:

Margaret Graham & Bessie Roher (?) about 1897 or ’98 on the tennis (grass) court at Wood Lawn. R. Niles Graham – Pease collection.

Woodlawn had been the estate of Texas governor Elisha Marshall Pease, the grandfather of Margaret Graham and her brother Niles Graham. Niles was a prominent businessman in Austin, Texas, and after he died his papers along with those of his grandfather were donated to the Texas State Library and Archive. I’m not sure why this photo was not included. How did it end up in the vast market of used stuff?

And now for some more modern news…

• •  Amelia Earhart is back in the news due to the discovery of a photograph that might be her and Fred Noonan in the company of Japanese sailors. Of more interest to me is this article about her clothing line. I knew about it, but I’m pretty sure the existence of sewing patterns by Earhart is news to me.
  • If my one little tennis photo is not enough, then this link to more vintage photos is for you.
  • Here’s a very thoughtful article on American production of garments. Is it more ethical to produce in the USA, and if so, why?
  • Look inside a garment factory, and chances are, you’ll see a very diverse group of workers.
  •  If you are concerned about your favorite hat factory closing, then do as Georgiette  Morgan-Thomas did and buy the company.
  •  This has nothing to do with clothing, nor of textiles. But it is of interest to anyone who values history and cultural heritage. I’d like to be able to say I was shocked by this, but unfortunately, I’m beginning to think I’m shock-proof. Please don’t shop at Hobby Lobby.
  • Vestoj published a powerful interview with veteran but recently fired British Vogue fashion edit0r Lucinda Chambers. In it Chambers claimed she hasn’t read Vogue in years, and gave examples of why the magazine lacks relevance in today’s fashion atmosphere. Shortly after the piece was published, it was taken down. It then reappeared saying the piece had been amended after talks with Conde Nast (the publisher of Vogue) and Edward Enninful, the new editor of British Vogue. They objected to the way Chambers described her firing. 
  • And so The Guardian asks the obvious question: Does the fashion industry still need Vogue?
  • Great tips from Jayne Shrimpton on deciphering clues in old family photos .
  • And finally a story about how documents (and photos?) end up on ebay.

Here’s the reverse of the photo. Maybe you can help decipher Bessie’s surname. And if the Texas Archive wants this photo, it’s yours.

Vintage Miscellany – June 25, 2017

Judging by the length of the skirts, this is probably 1926 or 27. That mid-knee length on the younger woman is about as short as it got in the Twenties. Her whole outfit is great, but I especially love the rolled stockings. Or maybe it’s the polka dot headband that I love best. It’s hard to decide.

There’s lots of news, so let’s move on to it.

• •   As a teacher, my colleagues and I often said our jobs were making us crazy. We might have been exaggerating a bit, but in the 1930s it was discovered that workers making rayon were experiencing high instances of mental disorders. 
  • Today, the dangers of manufacturing rayon continue.
  • As so many companies out-source the manufacturing of goods, the companies themselves often don’t have a clue as to conditions in the factories that make their goods. That’s a pretty valid reason for reshoring clothing and shoe manufacturing, especially when it allows companies like American Giant to keep a close eye on the entire process. And yes, this does come at a price to consumers.
  • Remember Dexter shoes? They were made in Dexter, Maine until the company closed (due to foreign competition) in 2001. Now a new shoe company has opened in Dexter, and again, American-made comes at a price.
  •  Is there any way to reduce all the waste we are producing? Can we limit the amount of garbage in the world through the products we buy? How about these shoes?
  •  Here’s a true story of an eight year old girl who in 1835 was saved from a stabbing because of her corset.
  •  When things get political, can a clothing company stay out of politics?
  • Or maybe they should just stop pretending and sell to the “resistance”.
  • Leather goods maker Mark Cross has a long and interesting history.  Established in 1845 as a maker of horse accessories, the company was bought by the Murphy family in 1875. The company eventually fell to Gerald Murphy who, along with his wife Sara, was part of the 1920s American ex-pats in Paris set that included Hemingway and Fitzgerald and Cole Porter. And probably best known of all Mark Cross facts is that Grace Kelly carried her nightie to James Stewart’s apartment in the 1954 film, Rear Window. Eventually the company closed, only to now be revived. Their biggest success is a bag called the Kelly, modeled after the case Grace carried in the movie.
  • People keep posting photos of their visits to the Brooklyn Museum to see the Georgia O’keefe: Living Modern exhibition. I loved this article about the exhibition in The New Yorker.

For those of you wondering when I’d go on another rant about social media, the time has come. And for those of you who don’t want to come here to read anything political, then you need to stop and call it a read.

Some of you probably know that I get the great majority of my Vintage Miscellany links from my Twitter feed. For years I’ve found Twitter to be the best source of fashion history and fashion issues articles. But lately (since the election, to be honest) I’ve found myself really hating Twitter. Part of it is my own fault. I started following organizations with which I agree. That led to checking the trending hashtags to see what Trump was shouting from his bully megaphone. That led to reading the comments, which led to a lots of despair about the current status of the human race.

Then, last week, Damon Linker spelled it all out for me in an articled titled “Twitter is Destroying America.” One line in particular made sense, “Twitter is a place, finally, that all-too-often transforms otherwise thoughtful people into a furious mob.”

It is, actually, more than just twitter, as a commenter pointed out. Facebook is no better, and have you ever read the comments of practically any newspaper article? The idea of being able to say anything we want, in a manner that confronts anyone who does not agree with us is now taken as one of our fundamental rights. It’s the First Amendment on amphetamines.

I’ve done a lot of thinking (not a good thing, actually) about our current situation in the USA, and I know why it produces so much anxiety in me. I had a very anxious youth, with the Vietnam War hanging over our heads, and not knowing which of the young men in my high school class would end up there, perhaps as casualties. When I met my husband in 1972, he was still mourning the loss of a childhood friend who had died in Vietnam. And then when it looked like the war was finally going to end, the whole Watergate mess became public.  It dragged on while the country’s business was put on hold. No wonder I have this déjà vu feeling whenever I open my Twitter feed.

But what is really disappointing is how many of my own generation seem to have forgotten what the 1960s and early 70s were really like. When you chant “Make America Great Again” are you thinking about Watergate, or Kent State, or Mỹ Lai, or Medgar Evers?

As Stephen Sills put it, “Nobody’s right, if everybody’s wrong.” It’s time to rethink all the online shouting, of “Hooray for our side.”

 

Vintage Miscellany – June 4, 2017

In case you think “fat shaming” is a new thing, here’s proof that it’s over 100 years old.

The interesting thing about this photo is the woman on the left.  Yes, I think she looks like a man too, but I’m sure that is due to the low quality of this print.  In any case, she is not wearing stockings, which at the time this photo was taken, the late nineteenth century, was a big no-no, at least in the USA. Such a rebel!

And now for some news. Since I was gone most of the past two weeks, I’m most grateful to reader Nann for supplying me with quite a few very interesting articles.

•  Knitting as spy tool?  It’s a real thing.
•  The Association of Dress Historians has put the first issue of The Journal of Dress History online and it is free to view.
•  When I visited Ash Lawn-Highland, the home of President James Monroe, nine years ago, I was struck by how un-presidential the house was.  As it turns out, I was right.
• Here’s another story about how museums can use social media to help find answers to questions about artifacts.
• I somehow thought that Mister Rogers wore the same sweater over and over. Was I ever wrong!
•  Can the Anne Klein label be revived? 
•  How should cultural appropriation be addressed in fashion exhibitions?
•  The School of Historical Dress is organizing and cataloging the extensive archive of fashion historian Janet Arnold.
•  The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum has doubled the reward to $10 million for return of art works stolen in 1990. I think it is a lost cause.
•  Here’s a great new spin on the night at the museum idea. 

Vintage Miscellany – May 21, 2017

Here’s a little something for the upcoming Memorial Day holiday. It looks like these little flag-wavers are off to a patriotic parade or party, but they don’t look too happy about it, do they? I’m guessing they are too hot with the stockings, and on the older girl, long sleeves. Still, how could one not be happy with a fantastic hat like that?

And now for some news…

•   Will innovation carry the future? Well, of course it will. All nationalistic desires aside, it’s time to face the future without the rose-colored glasses.
•   For one thing, life was not always great in the past.  We need to study all material culture, not just the cheery ads showing the prosperous middle class White family enjoying the pleasures of the postwar boom.
•   And yes, we are appalled at the working conditions and low pay in Asian factories, but we tend to forget that these conditions were once common in American factories.
• As companies refuse to do the right thing to increase pay, we as consumers are spoiled rotten by the low cost of imported clothing and textile products.
• Yes, clothing production can return to the USA, but do we really want people working in factories like the ones in which my aunts labored in the 1940s through the 1970s, getting paid minimum wage and risking brown lung disease and other dangers? The answer on so many levels is that we are going to have to buy less, but pay more for what we buy. 
• Lecture over.
• On the lighter side, maybe what the guys of the world need is a good $95 romper.
• Or the women can spring for a jumpsuit repurposed from cast-off Ivanka duds.
•  Can every woman or man expect respectful treatment in a designer emporium? What about a celebrity?
•  The Atkinson Galleries in Southport, UK, have a great-sounding exhibition going through August 28, 2017, Golf and Glamour: Fashion on the Fairway from the Nineteenth Century to Today. Thanks Christina for the link.

Vintage Miscellany – May 8, 2017

April, 1946, Lansing, Michigan. Sailor boyfriend/brother/husband’s cap duly appropriated. Fun ensues.

And now for the news…

•   There were two overwhelming themes in the past two weeks in fashion news.  One was the opening of Rei Kawakubo: Art of the In-Between at the Met.  The best of the dozens of articles: The Atlantic, Freize.com, and for a look at the work behind the exhibition, Vogue.
•  Another common theme was the complexity of the manufacturing system, and how it allows all kinds of problems to be masked.  First, we need to completely lay to rest the idea that production in the USA means that workers are safe. Yes, we do have laws and protections, but this article at Racked shows just how easily these laws are circumvented.
• “How can brand-name clothing companies, highly valued in the market for their ability to control all manner of production challenges, not know where their products are being made?” The problems intensify as the sewing factories are further removed from the brand.
•  And if there are marketing problems with a brand, the parent company merely replaces labels with something less problematic, as in the case of Ivanka Trump clothing being relabeled as Adrienne Vittadini.
• The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts has opened an exhibition on Yves Saint Laurent.
•  Tim Gunn talks Disco.
•   Is nostalgia dangerous?
•  This last article has nothing to do with clothing, but as a collector, I found the story of this looter and destroyer of history to be highly disturbing.

Vintage Miscellany – April 23, 2017

The woman in today’s photograph is not identified, but I can tell you the photo was developed in Keokuk, Iowa. It’s the early 1930s, and she is dressed in a slender dress, possibly knit.  Her gauntlets, handbag, and hat are all white, and while we can’t see them, I’d be willing to bet her shoes are as well. The only contrast is the dark bit on her wrist. I can’t tell if it is a handbag strap or a bracelet. She quite matchy, but I think she is quite chic.

And now for the news…

•   Is “fashion” running out of ideas?
•   Love art?  Have lots of money?  Then the Jeff Koons/Louis Vuitton bags might just be for you.
•   A fur coat worn by Mabel Bennett has sold for  £150,000.  Stewardess Bennett was wearing the coat when she escaped from the sinking Titanic.
•  A sewing needle that is at least 50,000 years old has been discovered in a cave in Siberia. thanks to Nann for the link
•   The new Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia is now open. This is not your grandpa’s museum, as you can read in this great review.
•   Winterthur has a great sounding new exhibition, Treasures on Trial: The Art and Science of Detecting Fakes.
•   The Harris Tweed Authority has hired a monitoring service to keep an eye out for fakes.
•   The Secret Life of Textiles: Synthetic Materials at the Met, illustrates many of the problems one encounters in trying to preserve a collection of plastic materials.
•   Amazon has been awarded a patent for a manufacturing system designed to quickly produce clothing after a customer orders it.
•   Sensitivity readers are a thing.