Kathleen Marple Kalb's Blog, page 15
November 2, 2022
FEELING FAINT
They’re probably the only thing used by both Victorian maidens and boxers.
Smelling salts have been around since the Roman era, used to revive dainty ladies with the vapors, and welterweights who’ve taken one punch too many.
The science is the same, whatever the reason for the dizzy spell. Ammonium carbonate, otherwise known as sal ammoniac, or when mixed with alcohol or vinegar, crystalline spirits of ammonia, snaps a fainting person back to consciousness by triggering a “fight or flight” response and a rush of blood to the head.
You can see how helpful that would be for a woozy fighter…and how very dangerous it might be for their long-term brain health. Smelling salts, in a modern ampoule form, are still found today in the boxing ring and the sports trainer’s kit – and many medical experts aren’t very comfortable with the idea, because that fight-or-flight response can mask all kinds of serious problems.
Victorian ladies, though, were not generally dealing with serious brain issues. (We can argue some other day about whether institutionalized sexism qualifies!) Mostly, they were doing one of two things: trying to remain conscious in corsets that made it difficult to breathe or trying to seem like delicate flowers.
Corsets definitely were a significant health issue for some women. While most of the vats of ink spilled over tight-lacing exaggerated the evil effects on women, skeletons and surviving clothing suggest that some ladies did indeed take it far enough to be a problem. If you’re laced in so tightly that your ribs bend…or your whalebone bodice has virtually no flexibility for breathing, you just might feel a bit dizzy.
So some of the 19th century fad for “vinaigrettes,” elaborate little containers for sponges soaked in a vinegar and ammonium carbonate solution, probably was based in a real need.
Most of it, though, was about the Victorian lady’s desire to appear delicate and even sickly. Whipping out the vinaigrette at critical moments was a way to seem dainty and genteel…and quite possibly a useful way to manipulate the people, especially men, around them.
And much of society bought into it. Some British constables carried vinaigrettes because they might have to revive a fainting female. Smelling salts were also standard equipment in early first-aid kits.
They were also a very effective weapon against women as they tried to move into more traditionally male areas of society. The idea that ladies were so delicate that they might faint at the slightest provocation was used to keep women out of everything from the operating room to the jury box…to the voting booth.
Some women, of course, used it for all it was worth, making the protections of the “gentler” sex work for them by quite literally getting away with murder. (One of the reasons Lizzie Borden was acquitted was that not enough people believed she could have administered the infamous “forty whacks” without fainting dead away!)
As it did for so many other things, though, World War I provided a hard stop for many fainting ladies, who left their vinaigrettes at home to become ambulance drivers, volunteer nurses, army clerks, and much more. After that, it was a lot tougher to argue that women should be protected right out of any agency in society…and that they could faint at the slightest difficulty.
So they left the smelling salts to the boxers and football players. There’s some tasty irony there…and you can savor it without the other kind of vinaigrette!
Got a #ThrowbackThursday idea? Drop it in the comments!
Smelling salts have been around since the Roman era, used to revive dainty ladies with the vapors, and welterweights who’ve taken one punch too many.
The science is the same, whatever the reason for the dizzy spell. Ammonium carbonate, otherwise known as sal ammoniac, or when mixed with alcohol or vinegar, crystalline spirits of ammonia, snaps a fainting person back to consciousness by triggering a “fight or flight” response and a rush of blood to the head.
You can see how helpful that would be for a woozy fighter…and how very dangerous it might be for their long-term brain health. Smelling salts, in a modern ampoule form, are still found today in the boxing ring and the sports trainer’s kit – and many medical experts aren’t very comfortable with the idea, because that fight-or-flight response can mask all kinds of serious problems.
Victorian ladies, though, were not generally dealing with serious brain issues. (We can argue some other day about whether institutionalized sexism qualifies!) Mostly, they were doing one of two things: trying to remain conscious in corsets that made it difficult to breathe or trying to seem like delicate flowers.
Corsets definitely were a significant health issue for some women. While most of the vats of ink spilled over tight-lacing exaggerated the evil effects on women, skeletons and surviving clothing suggest that some ladies did indeed take it far enough to be a problem. If you’re laced in so tightly that your ribs bend…or your whalebone bodice has virtually no flexibility for breathing, you just might feel a bit dizzy.
So some of the 19th century fad for “vinaigrettes,” elaborate little containers for sponges soaked in a vinegar and ammonium carbonate solution, probably was based in a real need.
Most of it, though, was about the Victorian lady’s desire to appear delicate and even sickly. Whipping out the vinaigrette at critical moments was a way to seem dainty and genteel…and quite possibly a useful way to manipulate the people, especially men, around them.
And much of society bought into it. Some British constables carried vinaigrettes because they might have to revive a fainting female. Smelling salts were also standard equipment in early first-aid kits.
They were also a very effective weapon against women as they tried to move into more traditionally male areas of society. The idea that ladies were so delicate that they might faint at the slightest provocation was used to keep women out of everything from the operating room to the jury box…to the voting booth.
Some women, of course, used it for all it was worth, making the protections of the “gentler” sex work for them by quite literally getting away with murder. (One of the reasons Lizzie Borden was acquitted was that not enough people believed she could have administered the infamous “forty whacks” without fainting dead away!)
As it did for so many other things, though, World War I provided a hard stop for many fainting ladies, who left their vinaigrettes at home to become ambulance drivers, volunteer nurses, army clerks, and much more. After that, it was a lot tougher to argue that women should be protected right out of any agency in society…and that they could faint at the slightest difficulty.
So they left the smelling salts to the boxers and football players. There’s some tasty irony there…and you can savor it without the other kind of vinaigrette!
Got a #ThrowbackThursday idea? Drop it in the comments!
October 26, 2022
PUT A PIN IN IT
Great-Grandma traveled safely across the ocean from Scotland thanks to one. She gave one to Grandma when she went to work in the big, bad city of Wheeling, West Virginia. Grandma gave it to Mom when she started college.
For generations of women in my family, and many others, a big sharp hatpin was the best and most easily-concealed defensive weapon they could get.
A little background: women have been using various kinds of pins to hold their headdresses in place for centuries. Except for bonnets, most female toppers had to be held in place somehow.
So pins had been around for a very long time.
But they hadn’t been this big.
Early 20th century hats were absolutely enormous. They could easily be as wide as a woman’s shoulders and the brim, feathers, and flourishes could sweep several inches past the top of her head. That wonderful shot of Kate Winslet and her hat at the start of TITANIC is not an exaggeration for effect.
More, hats were heavy. The ones that weren’t tightly-woven straw were fabric stretched over a wire armature, and all were piled with embellishments, from wax fruit to a whole stuffed bird.
And the whole assembly had to rest on a big knot of slippery hair.
The only way to keep something that large in place was with an equally large pin. Size wasn’t enough, either. The pins had to be sharp enough to go through all the layers of fabric and hair to the other side.
They weren’t designed as weapons, but resourceful women quickly figured out that they made excellent ones.
A girl from Kansas made headlines when she fended off a “masher” on a Manhattan train in 1903. Newspapers in New York – and worldwide – loved it.
Soon enough, though, the heroine defending her virtue with a convenient weapon became the menacing suffragette deliberately threatening poor innocent men. The tales of maidenly self-defense gave way to lurid screeds about evil women randomly hat-pinning harmless straphangers in the brain.
Most are probably urban legends, but people use the weapons they have, after all, and there’s no doubt that women did resort to hat-pinnery on occasion. A crowd of hatpin-brandishing factory girls stopped NYPD officers from arresting a couple of their colleagues who were accused of being anarchists.
And then there’s the time a Chicago-area wife and her husband’s mistress dueled over him, with hatpins instead of pistols.
By 1910, Chicago banned hatpins over nine inches…and many other cities in the U.S. and overseas considered or passed similar measures – over the often loud objections of women. In Sydney, Australia, sixty women even went to jail instead of paying hatpin fines.
Of course, there was a lot of cultural subtext here. More than a few of the fellas (and they were all fellas!) who were grousing about hatpins also observed that women wouldn’t need defensive weapons if they’d stay home, dress modestly, and skip the rouge. Sound familiar?
World War I put an end to big hats and big hair, and most of the panic about hatpins. But plenty of women still kept them around, passed on from mother to daughter, because they really were a great security measure to have in your pocket or purse.
My pepper spray isn’t nearly as fun.
Got a #ThrowbackThursday idea? Drop it in the comments!
For generations of women in my family, and many others, a big sharp hatpin was the best and most easily-concealed defensive weapon they could get.
A little background: women have been using various kinds of pins to hold their headdresses in place for centuries. Except for bonnets, most female toppers had to be held in place somehow.
So pins had been around for a very long time.
But they hadn’t been this big.
Early 20th century hats were absolutely enormous. They could easily be as wide as a woman’s shoulders and the brim, feathers, and flourishes could sweep several inches past the top of her head. That wonderful shot of Kate Winslet and her hat at the start of TITANIC is not an exaggeration for effect.
More, hats were heavy. The ones that weren’t tightly-woven straw were fabric stretched over a wire armature, and all were piled with embellishments, from wax fruit to a whole stuffed bird.
And the whole assembly had to rest on a big knot of slippery hair.
The only way to keep something that large in place was with an equally large pin. Size wasn’t enough, either. The pins had to be sharp enough to go through all the layers of fabric and hair to the other side.
They weren’t designed as weapons, but resourceful women quickly figured out that they made excellent ones.
A girl from Kansas made headlines when she fended off a “masher” on a Manhattan train in 1903. Newspapers in New York – and worldwide – loved it.
Soon enough, though, the heroine defending her virtue with a convenient weapon became the menacing suffragette deliberately threatening poor innocent men. The tales of maidenly self-defense gave way to lurid screeds about evil women randomly hat-pinning harmless straphangers in the brain.
Most are probably urban legends, but people use the weapons they have, after all, and there’s no doubt that women did resort to hat-pinnery on occasion. A crowd of hatpin-brandishing factory girls stopped NYPD officers from arresting a couple of their colleagues who were accused of being anarchists.
And then there’s the time a Chicago-area wife and her husband’s mistress dueled over him, with hatpins instead of pistols.
By 1910, Chicago banned hatpins over nine inches…and many other cities in the U.S. and overseas considered or passed similar measures – over the often loud objections of women. In Sydney, Australia, sixty women even went to jail instead of paying hatpin fines.
Of course, there was a lot of cultural subtext here. More than a few of the fellas (and they were all fellas!) who were grousing about hatpins also observed that women wouldn’t need defensive weapons if they’d stay home, dress modestly, and skip the rouge. Sound familiar?
World War I put an end to big hats and big hair, and most of the panic about hatpins. But plenty of women still kept them around, passed on from mother to daughter, because they really were a great security measure to have in your pocket or purse.
My pepper spray isn’t nearly as fun.
Got a #ThrowbackThursday idea? Drop it in the comments!
October 19, 2022
WRAP IT UP
Shawls are another one of those accessories that have been around basically forever.
You don’t have to be a curator at the Met costume collection to know that people have been wrapping themselves in an extra layer of fabric ever since they’ve had fabric.
A fashion for fancy print shawls that started in the late 18th century, though, is a little different – and still with us today.
As early as the 13th century, people in India were wearing soft, beautifully patterned Kashmir shawls as status symbols. Slowly, trade opened with Western Europe, and the shawls started making their way to fashionable females there.
The trend really gathered steam as the French, and especially the English, increased their presence in India. The elaborate shawls were given as gifts, and quickly became a very sought-after piece in a lady’s wardrobe.
And no wonder. They were truly gorgeous, elaborate, multicolored, sometimes embroidered, or beaded, designs incorporating classic Eastern motifs that seemed incredibly exotic to their European wearers. From a craft standpoint, they were incredible, too, with the intricate woven-in designs and careful embellishments.
By the mid-19th century, the shawls weren’t just fashion statements, but family heirlooms. Writers of the time encouraged the idea that they were a precious piece given to a girl on her wedding day and cherished until it was time to pass it on to the next generation.
The interesting twist here is that the shawls were often worn by men in India, so the British men who brought them back apparently thought they were making some kind of statement about power and cultural dominance. The women who wore the shawls mostly ignored that. For them, it was mostly about the bonds between women – mothers and daughters and granddaughters who wore and loved the pieces.
But only married daughters and granddaughters. Single women were discouraged from wearing the highly-valuable shawls because it suggested a “love of luxury” that might make it tough to find a husband.
An awful lot going on with one pretty piece of fabric!
By the 1870s, the exotic cachet was fading, and there were a lot of paisley shawls around, loomed not in India, but Paisley, Scotland. Elegant late-Victorian and Edwardian ladies didn’t particularly want to swathe themselves in shawls that were – or looked like – Grandma’s, so the real ones often ended up as decorations on pianos.
And there they stayed for a century.
Just about the turn of the 21st century, though, beautiful “pashmina” shawls started showing up on the red carpet, and in First Class as part of the kit for stars and socialites. This version was usually a luscious solid color, and significantly smaller and easier to wear and carry than the older ones. Fashion moved a bit faster than it had in the 18th century, too, and by the early aughts, a fuzzy cashmere (or wool or rayon) shawl/scarf was a wardrobe basic.
They still are.
They’re still special, too. Since they often go with a dressy outfit, and they’re so useful for traveling, many of us associate ours with moments and memories. I still have the bright-pink one I carried on my honeymoon…and maybe I’ll get to give it to a granddaughter one day!
Got a #ThrowbackThursday idea? Drop it in the comments!
You don’t have to be a curator at the Met costume collection to know that people have been wrapping themselves in an extra layer of fabric ever since they’ve had fabric.
A fashion for fancy print shawls that started in the late 18th century, though, is a little different – and still with us today.
As early as the 13th century, people in India were wearing soft, beautifully patterned Kashmir shawls as status symbols. Slowly, trade opened with Western Europe, and the shawls started making their way to fashionable females there.
The trend really gathered steam as the French, and especially the English, increased their presence in India. The elaborate shawls were given as gifts, and quickly became a very sought-after piece in a lady’s wardrobe.
And no wonder. They were truly gorgeous, elaborate, multicolored, sometimes embroidered, or beaded, designs incorporating classic Eastern motifs that seemed incredibly exotic to their European wearers. From a craft standpoint, they were incredible, too, with the intricate woven-in designs and careful embellishments.
By the mid-19th century, the shawls weren’t just fashion statements, but family heirlooms. Writers of the time encouraged the idea that they were a precious piece given to a girl on her wedding day and cherished until it was time to pass it on to the next generation.
The interesting twist here is that the shawls were often worn by men in India, so the British men who brought them back apparently thought they were making some kind of statement about power and cultural dominance. The women who wore the shawls mostly ignored that. For them, it was mostly about the bonds between women – mothers and daughters and granddaughters who wore and loved the pieces.
But only married daughters and granddaughters. Single women were discouraged from wearing the highly-valuable shawls because it suggested a “love of luxury” that might make it tough to find a husband.
An awful lot going on with one pretty piece of fabric!
By the 1870s, the exotic cachet was fading, and there were a lot of paisley shawls around, loomed not in India, but Paisley, Scotland. Elegant late-Victorian and Edwardian ladies didn’t particularly want to swathe themselves in shawls that were – or looked like – Grandma’s, so the real ones often ended up as decorations on pianos.
And there they stayed for a century.
Just about the turn of the 21st century, though, beautiful “pashmina” shawls started showing up on the red carpet, and in First Class as part of the kit for stars and socialites. This version was usually a luscious solid color, and significantly smaller and easier to wear and carry than the older ones. Fashion moved a bit faster than it had in the 18th century, too, and by the early aughts, a fuzzy cashmere (or wool or rayon) shawl/scarf was a wardrobe basic.
They still are.
They’re still special, too. Since they often go with a dressy outfit, and they’re so useful for traveling, many of us associate ours with moments and memories. I still have the bright-pink one I carried on my honeymoon…and maybe I’ll get to give it to a granddaughter one day!
Got a #ThrowbackThursday idea? Drop it in the comments!
October 12, 2022
A NICE SCARF
You know it’s fall in New York when the scarves come out.
Whether artsy crochet, street-vendor pretend pashmina, or insanely expensive status pieces, every woman has her favorite way to keep the chill off her neck, and not incidentally add some personality to her outfit.
Warm scarves have probably been around since the first cave person grabbed an animal skin on a cold day, but the knitted and crocheted variety became quite a thing during the Victorian Era, and they’re still a thing for some people. Like other forms of fancy-work, women created beautiful pieces for themselves and their loved ones, and they became prized possessions, not just for their looks and style, but for the feeling that went into their creation.
If you’re lucky enough to be a fiber artist – or have one in your life – you have all the statement scarves you need. (I know -- my mother is an ace knitter!)
But there’s another kind of statement scarf that also goes way back: the status scarf.
Queen Nefertiti was apparently the first to sport one, at a time when silk was incredibly rare and expensive outside China. Silk scarves appear in images of the queen and her court – and her young relative, King Tutankhamun was buried with one.
Silk scarves were around in high-status circles for centuries; Roman commanders wore then to signify their rank, and no less than Eleanor of Aquitaine had a nice collection of filmy lengths of silk to cover her hair or fly off the pointy end of her headdress. (It was called a hennin, and probably every bit as uncomfortable as it looked!)
While the scarves were a known part of the upper-class wardrobe, they didn’t really come into their own as status items until the late 19th and early 20th centuries. High-end outfitters and design houses like Burberry and Hermes began making elegant, showy silk pieces with immediately recognizable prints.
By the 1950s, the Hermes scarf was such a thing that they were seen on Princess Grace of Monaco, Queen Elizabeth II, Jacqueline Kennedy and Audrey Hepburn…probably the only style point on which those ladies would agree! Other houses made scarves, but the Hermes scarf was the top of the tree.
Not that women who couldn’t afford Hermes were left completely in the cold.
While stylish ladies aspired to an Hermes piece, those who were unable – or unwilling – to spend breathtaking amounts of money on a simple bit of silk could still follow the trend without breaking their budgets. Several big names took over the department-store space, and vintage pieces still get snapped right up online. Echo was one of the biggest – if you get a chance to browse Grandma’s scarf drawer, take a very good look!
Thanks to icons like the Queen and Jackie, the scarf fashion went pretty much all the way up and down the economic spectrum. Women who couldn’t afford department-store silk could still get serviceable rayon pieces, some of which still looked pretty good, if not Hermes.
While functional, warm scarves and all kinds of wraps are still a big part of streetwear, status scarves haven’t been as visible in recent years. It’s probably another side effect of the pandemic – it’s tough to style one with a WFH hoodie. But they’re still stylish, versatile, and status-y…so don’t be surprised to see them marching down the runway – and the street – again soon!
Got a #ThrowbackThursday idea? Drop it in the comments!
Whether artsy crochet, street-vendor pretend pashmina, or insanely expensive status pieces, every woman has her favorite way to keep the chill off her neck, and not incidentally add some personality to her outfit.
Warm scarves have probably been around since the first cave person grabbed an animal skin on a cold day, but the knitted and crocheted variety became quite a thing during the Victorian Era, and they’re still a thing for some people. Like other forms of fancy-work, women created beautiful pieces for themselves and their loved ones, and they became prized possessions, not just for their looks and style, but for the feeling that went into their creation.
If you’re lucky enough to be a fiber artist – or have one in your life – you have all the statement scarves you need. (I know -- my mother is an ace knitter!)
But there’s another kind of statement scarf that also goes way back: the status scarf.
Queen Nefertiti was apparently the first to sport one, at a time when silk was incredibly rare and expensive outside China. Silk scarves appear in images of the queen and her court – and her young relative, King Tutankhamun was buried with one.
Silk scarves were around in high-status circles for centuries; Roman commanders wore then to signify their rank, and no less than Eleanor of Aquitaine had a nice collection of filmy lengths of silk to cover her hair or fly off the pointy end of her headdress. (It was called a hennin, and probably every bit as uncomfortable as it looked!)
While the scarves were a known part of the upper-class wardrobe, they didn’t really come into their own as status items until the late 19th and early 20th centuries. High-end outfitters and design houses like Burberry and Hermes began making elegant, showy silk pieces with immediately recognizable prints.
By the 1950s, the Hermes scarf was such a thing that they were seen on Princess Grace of Monaco, Queen Elizabeth II, Jacqueline Kennedy and Audrey Hepburn…probably the only style point on which those ladies would agree! Other houses made scarves, but the Hermes scarf was the top of the tree.
Not that women who couldn’t afford Hermes were left completely in the cold.
While stylish ladies aspired to an Hermes piece, those who were unable – or unwilling – to spend breathtaking amounts of money on a simple bit of silk could still follow the trend without breaking their budgets. Several big names took over the department-store space, and vintage pieces still get snapped right up online. Echo was one of the biggest – if you get a chance to browse Grandma’s scarf drawer, take a very good look!
Thanks to icons like the Queen and Jackie, the scarf fashion went pretty much all the way up and down the economic spectrum. Women who couldn’t afford department-store silk could still get serviceable rayon pieces, some of which still looked pretty good, if not Hermes.
While functional, warm scarves and all kinds of wraps are still a big part of streetwear, status scarves haven’t been as visible in recent years. It’s probably another side effect of the pandemic – it’s tough to style one with a WFH hoodie. But they’re still stylish, versatile, and status-y…so don’t be surprised to see them marching down the runway – and the street – again soon!
Got a #ThrowbackThursday idea? Drop it in the comments!
October 5, 2022
PUT ON A SWEATER
We call it sweater weather, and in cooler climates, there are very few people of any gender who don’t have at least one favorite fuzzy piece that they look forward to bringing out when the temperature dips. But sweaters weren’t always a beloved wardrobe piece, especially for women.
Knitted garments are nothing new; archaeologists have found them in Ancient Egyptian tombs. But the first real, recognizable sweaters date from the fifteenth century, in the English Channel islands of Guernsey and Jersey. Initially, fishermen’s wives knitted sweaters to keep their men warm while they worked.
It’s no surprise that the garments, which looked a lot like the Irish Aran sweaters we see to this day, gradually spread though the cool parts of Europe: they’re practical and very, very warm. Also no surprise that people started calling them “Guernseys,” or “Jerseys.” Even now, “jersey” is still a British term for sweater, though “jumper” is more common.
From fishermen, it was a short jump to sailors, and Lord Nelson made the Guernsey standard equipment in the British Navy in the early 19th century. From the navy, they spread to the rowing sculls and the sports fields, as favored warm-up gear. When they arrived in the States, they got a new name, referring to their use: sweaters.
All of these sweaters, of course, are big, heavy, masculine affairs of thick wool.
Women started borrowing them in the late 19th century, just as they borrowed other male sports gear, and for a while, women only wore sweaters for outdoor activities requiring serious warmth. Adorable Victorian prints show women in heavy sweaters with coordinating hats and scarves ice-skating or throwing snowballs.
Women didn’t really start making the sweater their own until the turn of the 20th century and beyond. The first couture sweater was made by Lanvin in 1926, but Coco Chanel is far better known for making them a key part of her clean, modern style.
By the 1930s, the “twin set” that we know and love was invented. The combination of short-sleeve or sleeveless shell and cardigan was an almost instant classic. Simple, comfortable, and versatile, it was a look that went with just about anything. Better, it could be made in expensive cashmere, serviceable wool, or something in between, so it was within reach for many, if not most, women.
During World War II, more women made their own sweaters because of wartime rationing, and they often needed them to stay warm! After the war, though, ladies’ sweaters blossomed with the prosperity, and girly femininity of the time. This was the era of beads and bows and sequins. If your grandmother was kind enough to leave hers to you, treat them well and save them forever – they are quite literally priceless now.
Sweaters went through Pop Art and bohemian phases in the 1960s and 1970s, and the less said about 1980s neon the better…but they were very definitely here to stay. Whether it’s the classic cashmere twinset (your own or Grandma’s!) or the fuzzy house sweater that got you through the lockdown, everybody has their favorite. And some of us are even skilled enough to knit our own – or lucky enough to have a loved one who does.
And I’m wearing my favorite one right now!
Got a #ThrowbackThursday idea? Drop it in the comments!
Knitted garments are nothing new; archaeologists have found them in Ancient Egyptian tombs. But the first real, recognizable sweaters date from the fifteenth century, in the English Channel islands of Guernsey and Jersey. Initially, fishermen’s wives knitted sweaters to keep their men warm while they worked.
It’s no surprise that the garments, which looked a lot like the Irish Aran sweaters we see to this day, gradually spread though the cool parts of Europe: they’re practical and very, very warm. Also no surprise that people started calling them “Guernseys,” or “Jerseys.” Even now, “jersey” is still a British term for sweater, though “jumper” is more common.
From fishermen, it was a short jump to sailors, and Lord Nelson made the Guernsey standard equipment in the British Navy in the early 19th century. From the navy, they spread to the rowing sculls and the sports fields, as favored warm-up gear. When they arrived in the States, they got a new name, referring to their use: sweaters.
All of these sweaters, of course, are big, heavy, masculine affairs of thick wool.
Women started borrowing them in the late 19th century, just as they borrowed other male sports gear, and for a while, women only wore sweaters for outdoor activities requiring serious warmth. Adorable Victorian prints show women in heavy sweaters with coordinating hats and scarves ice-skating or throwing snowballs.
Women didn’t really start making the sweater their own until the turn of the 20th century and beyond. The first couture sweater was made by Lanvin in 1926, but Coco Chanel is far better known for making them a key part of her clean, modern style.
By the 1930s, the “twin set” that we know and love was invented. The combination of short-sleeve or sleeveless shell and cardigan was an almost instant classic. Simple, comfortable, and versatile, it was a look that went with just about anything. Better, it could be made in expensive cashmere, serviceable wool, or something in between, so it was within reach for many, if not most, women.
During World War II, more women made their own sweaters because of wartime rationing, and they often needed them to stay warm! After the war, though, ladies’ sweaters blossomed with the prosperity, and girly femininity of the time. This was the era of beads and bows and sequins. If your grandmother was kind enough to leave hers to you, treat them well and save them forever – they are quite literally priceless now.
Sweaters went through Pop Art and bohemian phases in the 1960s and 1970s, and the less said about 1980s neon the better…but they were very definitely here to stay. Whether it’s the classic cashmere twinset (your own or Grandma’s!) or the fuzzy house sweater that got you through the lockdown, everybody has their favorite. And some of us are even skilled enough to knit our own – or lucky enough to have a loved one who does.
And I’m wearing my favorite one right now!
Got a #ThrowbackThursday idea? Drop it in the comments!
September 28, 2022
A SWEET NEW YEAR
L’Shana Tovah!
Since the 1650s, Jews have been sharing that Rosh Hashanah greeting in New York, and celebrating the holiest time of their calendar.
It means “a good year,” and – at least in my corner of the world – it’s a great way to greet friends and family who celebrate the High Holy Days.
The eight-day period begins with a celebration and ends in solemn reflection, with plenty of traditions along the way. If you’ve been doing something for five thousand years (Happy 5783!) you come up with plenty of good ways to celebrate.
Family meals (usually dinner) are a big part of this holiday, as for most Jewish celebrations. This time, there will almost certainly be honey and apples in some form; they symbolize a sweet New Year, so they’re a prominent part of the meal. Some people just dip apples in the honey – while others like apple cakes, pies and other treats. Or all of the above!
It’s also the time to bring out old traditional foods you don’t see the rest of the year. That’s how I ended up eating gefiltefish at my first Rosh Hashanah dinner with my husband’s relatives. Apparently, in the right hands, it’s sort of like a salmon croquette. This particular version, though, was both sweet and crunchy – and after the meal, my husband told me that nobody but one very elderly relative actually eats it!
I got points for being a good sport, at least.
As well as the private family events, there are religious services throughout the eight days – more services for the more observant, of course. Another popular observance is “Taslich,” the washing away of sins: people go to a lake or river and thrown in stones or bread to symbolize spiritual cleansing. In some parts of New York, people have seen their neighbors doing that for decades – or even centuries.
New York has had organized Jewish congregations since 1680 – and by the early 1800s, there were several large and visible groups. For a long time, though, the services were held in the style of the first group who arrived: Sephardic (Spanish and Middle Eastern) Jews, despite the fact that most of the congregants were Eastern European Ashkenazi Jews.
Whatever kind of service they went to, the congregation probably looked pretty sharp. New clothes for a new year are part of many families’ tradition, much as Christians buy new outfits for Easter. Dressing up for an important holiday is a pretty common human impulse, after all.
The High Holy Days end with Yom Kippur, a solemn day of religious atonement and reflection. Even less-observant families (mine!) will often take the day off work and disconnect from social media so they can spend the time fasting, contemplating, and making things right for the next year.
That’s not just getting right in the religious sense -- it’s also about getting right with the people around you. If you’ve wronged anyone, you’re expected to do your best to fix it.
By the way, if you’re wondering what to say to a friend who’s marking Yom Kippur, it’s better to wish them “a blessed atonement” than to wish them a happy one. It shows understanding and support on what is a very solemn day…and isn’t that exactly what a true friend wants to do?
Got a #Throwback Thursday idea? Drop it in the comments.
Since the 1650s, Jews have been sharing that Rosh Hashanah greeting in New York, and celebrating the holiest time of their calendar.
It means “a good year,” and – at least in my corner of the world – it’s a great way to greet friends and family who celebrate the High Holy Days.
The eight-day period begins with a celebration and ends in solemn reflection, with plenty of traditions along the way. If you’ve been doing something for five thousand years (Happy 5783!) you come up with plenty of good ways to celebrate.
Family meals (usually dinner) are a big part of this holiday, as for most Jewish celebrations. This time, there will almost certainly be honey and apples in some form; they symbolize a sweet New Year, so they’re a prominent part of the meal. Some people just dip apples in the honey – while others like apple cakes, pies and other treats. Or all of the above!
It’s also the time to bring out old traditional foods you don’t see the rest of the year. That’s how I ended up eating gefiltefish at my first Rosh Hashanah dinner with my husband’s relatives. Apparently, in the right hands, it’s sort of like a salmon croquette. This particular version, though, was both sweet and crunchy – and after the meal, my husband told me that nobody but one very elderly relative actually eats it!
I got points for being a good sport, at least.
As well as the private family events, there are religious services throughout the eight days – more services for the more observant, of course. Another popular observance is “Taslich,” the washing away of sins: people go to a lake or river and thrown in stones or bread to symbolize spiritual cleansing. In some parts of New York, people have seen their neighbors doing that for decades – or even centuries.
New York has had organized Jewish congregations since 1680 – and by the early 1800s, there were several large and visible groups. For a long time, though, the services were held in the style of the first group who arrived: Sephardic (Spanish and Middle Eastern) Jews, despite the fact that most of the congregants were Eastern European Ashkenazi Jews.
Whatever kind of service they went to, the congregation probably looked pretty sharp. New clothes for a new year are part of many families’ tradition, much as Christians buy new outfits for Easter. Dressing up for an important holiday is a pretty common human impulse, after all.
The High Holy Days end with Yom Kippur, a solemn day of religious atonement and reflection. Even less-observant families (mine!) will often take the day off work and disconnect from social media so they can spend the time fasting, contemplating, and making things right for the next year.
That’s not just getting right in the religious sense -- it’s also about getting right with the people around you. If you’ve wronged anyone, you’re expected to do your best to fix it.
By the way, if you’re wondering what to say to a friend who’s marking Yom Kippur, it’s better to wish them “a blessed atonement” than to wish them a happy one. It shows understanding and support on what is a very solemn day…and isn’t that exactly what a true friend wants to do?
Got a #Throwback Thursday idea? Drop it in the comments.
September 21, 2022
ALL IN BLACK
Queen Victoria didn’t invent royal mourning clothes, but she sure raised them to an art form.
It’s true, as many writers have observed during the official mourning for Queen Elizabeth II, that Victoria spent much of her life draped in black in memory of Prince Albert. But she was far from the first – and even she didn’t follow all the rules.
Black wasn’t always the color of royal mourning. Royal account books suggest it was actually blue in the late 15th and early 16th century. Widowed French queens – like, say, Mary, Queen of Scots after her first marriage – wore white for their first few weeks. White, in fact, was almost always an acceptable mourning alternative for royal women; in the 20th century, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, wore all-white for a tour in France after her mother’s death.
Victoria’s real influence was in making mourning dress a big deal across society.
By the time Albert died in 1861, the Industrial Revolution was well underway, and the rising middle class in the West was very concerned with being “correct.” Victoria’s choice of unrelenting black was mostly about personal grief, but many of those who followed her had their eyes squarely on the etiquette books.
With more people able to afford a full mourning wardrobe, or at least some items of one, mourning exploded across society. And the etiquette authorities were happy to make a living explaining what was worn when.
Widows faced the strictest and longest mourning rules. They were expected to wear plain black with crape (dull black, usually silk, fabric) borders, veils and no ornaments other than their wedding rings and special mourning jewelry for the initial period – usually at least a year. In the second year, they were allowed to switch to “half-mourning,” white, gray, and purple or lavender, which was still a public announcement of loss.
And, if a widow wanted to wear black for the rest of her life, she was certainly allowed to do that.
For other losses, there was a whole chart of who you wore mourning for, and how long. Just like the widow’s black, it started with the royals and upper classes, and moved down the social strata.
Mourning was big business. Historians say the first department stores began when merchants wanted to offer all the black in one place. And don’t forget, in a time where people had far fewer clothes than we do now, being able to go into full black when needed was a definite sign of prosperity.
So was a half-mourning wardrobe – which, as we can still see in museums, often included absolutely gorgeous ballgowns in the appropriate shades.
Mourning jewelry is a whole category (and post!) of its own. Usually jet, often incorporating locks of the late lamented’s hair – eek! – it was the only appropriate accessory with full mourning. Some people, like Queen Victoria, continued to wear their mourning jewels forever.
Long, full, mourning for a constellation of relatives was one of the many social codes destroyed by World War I. You couldn’t keep going into black and easing into lilac every time a second cousin fell at the front. More, with wartime shortages, most people just couldn’t afford or manage the wardrobe shifts.
But some of the details survive in funeral attire today: black ties and armbands for men. Plain black dresses and pearls for women, topped with veiled hats.
But even the woman who raised it to an art form didn’t follow the rules all the time. Yes, Queen Victoria wore black dresses to the end of her life. In her later years, though, she happily accessorized them with a crown, diamond stars, and long necklaces of diamonds. When you’re the queen you make your own rules!
Got a #ThrowbackThursday idea? Drop it in the comments!
It’s true, as many writers have observed during the official mourning for Queen Elizabeth II, that Victoria spent much of her life draped in black in memory of Prince Albert. But she was far from the first – and even she didn’t follow all the rules.
Black wasn’t always the color of royal mourning. Royal account books suggest it was actually blue in the late 15th and early 16th century. Widowed French queens – like, say, Mary, Queen of Scots after her first marriage – wore white for their first few weeks. White, in fact, was almost always an acceptable mourning alternative for royal women; in the 20th century, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, wore all-white for a tour in France after her mother’s death.
Victoria’s real influence was in making mourning dress a big deal across society.
By the time Albert died in 1861, the Industrial Revolution was well underway, and the rising middle class in the West was very concerned with being “correct.” Victoria’s choice of unrelenting black was mostly about personal grief, but many of those who followed her had their eyes squarely on the etiquette books.
With more people able to afford a full mourning wardrobe, or at least some items of one, mourning exploded across society. And the etiquette authorities were happy to make a living explaining what was worn when.
Widows faced the strictest and longest mourning rules. They were expected to wear plain black with crape (dull black, usually silk, fabric) borders, veils and no ornaments other than their wedding rings and special mourning jewelry for the initial period – usually at least a year. In the second year, they were allowed to switch to “half-mourning,” white, gray, and purple or lavender, which was still a public announcement of loss.
And, if a widow wanted to wear black for the rest of her life, she was certainly allowed to do that.
For other losses, there was a whole chart of who you wore mourning for, and how long. Just like the widow’s black, it started with the royals and upper classes, and moved down the social strata.
Mourning was big business. Historians say the first department stores began when merchants wanted to offer all the black in one place. And don’t forget, in a time where people had far fewer clothes than we do now, being able to go into full black when needed was a definite sign of prosperity.
So was a half-mourning wardrobe – which, as we can still see in museums, often included absolutely gorgeous ballgowns in the appropriate shades.
Mourning jewelry is a whole category (and post!) of its own. Usually jet, often incorporating locks of the late lamented’s hair – eek! – it was the only appropriate accessory with full mourning. Some people, like Queen Victoria, continued to wear their mourning jewels forever.
Long, full, mourning for a constellation of relatives was one of the many social codes destroyed by World War I. You couldn’t keep going into black and easing into lilac every time a second cousin fell at the front. More, with wartime shortages, most people just couldn’t afford or manage the wardrobe shifts.
But some of the details survive in funeral attire today: black ties and armbands for men. Plain black dresses and pearls for women, topped with veiled hats.
But even the woman who raised it to an art form didn’t follow the rules all the time. Yes, Queen Victoria wore black dresses to the end of her life. In her later years, though, she happily accessorized them with a crown, diamond stars, and long necklaces of diamonds. When you’re the queen you make your own rules!
Got a #ThrowbackThursday idea? Drop it in the comments!
September 14, 2022
ROYALS 101
If you’ve been following the amazing pomp and pageantry associated with Queen Elizabeth II's death and finding it both impressive and a bit confusing, you’re not the only one. This hasn’t happened in 70 years, and even serious royal watchers aren’t sure of everything.
Let’s start with the basics. When the Queen died, her eldest son, Charles, automatically became King. He chose to reign under his own name, just as his mother did (remember, fans of The Crown?) and will be known as Charles the Third.
In due time, Charles will be succeeded by his son William. That’s thanks to what’s called “male-preference primogeniture,” meaning the eldest son gets everything. The law was changed to plain – non-sexist – primogeniture for William and Kate’s children, so their oldest, who happens to be a boy, George, will be next. His sister Charlotte follows him, and then baby bro Louis.
Let’s move on to the Queen Consort, which for some reason is really throwing people off. I spent a good twenty minutes yelling at the TV as a Very Important Cable Anchor tried and failed to wrap his brain around what’s actually a very easy thing. “Consort” means spouse, so essentially, “Queen Consort” means “Mrs. King.”
There’s drama here because of Princess Diana, of course. For a long time, the palace promised that Charles’s second wife Camilla wouldn’t be crowned Queen to placate the Diana fans who didn’t want to see that homewrecker on the throne. No one was really sure how that would go, but Princess Consort was thrown around as a possible title.
In the last few months of her life, the Queen settled things, ruling that she wanted Camilla crowned beside Charles, apparently acknowledging the former homewrecker’s hard work at being a good royal.
So Camilla is Queen Consort.
Part of the problem here is that they keep calling her “Queen Consort” instead of just “Queen Camilla.” I suspect it’s a deliberate effort to distinguish her from the late queen, who was a Queen Regnant (meaning she ruled in her own right) and the beloved Queen Mum, formally Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, late mother of Elizabeth II. Not to mention those decades of tabloid headlines about Camilla.
I’m guessing she’s going to stay “Queen Consort.”
Now, about the pomp and circumstance. You’ll have figured out by now that it’s all carefully choregraphed, with each person following in the spot to which they were born or elevated. You don’t need to know the appropriate way to address a Marquess, but you might like to know that when the Peers (titled, usually male, people) proceed, they go in order: Duke, Marquess, Earl, Viscount, Baron, and Baronet.
Since these are very serious and solemn religious observances, in addition to everything else, we’re also seeing a lot of the Church of England clergy, usually in rich and bright vestments. They, and the royals allowed to wear military uniforms, add a lot of color to the proceedings.
Those who aren’t in uniform or vestments will be in black, and it’s probably the best opportunity we’ll ever have to see modern formal mourning clothes. Many of us have a dark suit or black dress that we wear for funerals, but there’s a whole elaborate etiquette to mourning dress.
Speaking of dress, most of the gold, jewels, and robes that you’re going to see have been in families or churches for generations. Some things will be new – the King’s initials will be embroidered in prominent places – but many will be family treasures.
And it’s all in memory of one woman. There’s a whole discussion to be had about how and even whether to honor Elizabeth II, but it does no harm to remember that a real human has died and spare a thought for her and her family – as we would for anyone else.
More royal questions? Drop ‘em in the comments – if I can help I will!
Let’s start with the basics. When the Queen died, her eldest son, Charles, automatically became King. He chose to reign under his own name, just as his mother did (remember, fans of The Crown?) and will be known as Charles the Third.
In due time, Charles will be succeeded by his son William. That’s thanks to what’s called “male-preference primogeniture,” meaning the eldest son gets everything. The law was changed to plain – non-sexist – primogeniture for William and Kate’s children, so their oldest, who happens to be a boy, George, will be next. His sister Charlotte follows him, and then baby bro Louis.
Let’s move on to the Queen Consort, which for some reason is really throwing people off. I spent a good twenty minutes yelling at the TV as a Very Important Cable Anchor tried and failed to wrap his brain around what’s actually a very easy thing. “Consort” means spouse, so essentially, “Queen Consort” means “Mrs. King.”
There’s drama here because of Princess Diana, of course. For a long time, the palace promised that Charles’s second wife Camilla wouldn’t be crowned Queen to placate the Diana fans who didn’t want to see that homewrecker on the throne. No one was really sure how that would go, but Princess Consort was thrown around as a possible title.
In the last few months of her life, the Queen settled things, ruling that she wanted Camilla crowned beside Charles, apparently acknowledging the former homewrecker’s hard work at being a good royal.
So Camilla is Queen Consort.
Part of the problem here is that they keep calling her “Queen Consort” instead of just “Queen Camilla.” I suspect it’s a deliberate effort to distinguish her from the late queen, who was a Queen Regnant (meaning she ruled in her own right) and the beloved Queen Mum, formally Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, late mother of Elizabeth II. Not to mention those decades of tabloid headlines about Camilla.
I’m guessing she’s going to stay “Queen Consort.”
Now, about the pomp and circumstance. You’ll have figured out by now that it’s all carefully choregraphed, with each person following in the spot to which they were born or elevated. You don’t need to know the appropriate way to address a Marquess, but you might like to know that when the Peers (titled, usually male, people) proceed, they go in order: Duke, Marquess, Earl, Viscount, Baron, and Baronet.
Since these are very serious and solemn religious observances, in addition to everything else, we’re also seeing a lot of the Church of England clergy, usually in rich and bright vestments. They, and the royals allowed to wear military uniforms, add a lot of color to the proceedings.
Those who aren’t in uniform or vestments will be in black, and it’s probably the best opportunity we’ll ever have to see modern formal mourning clothes. Many of us have a dark suit or black dress that we wear for funerals, but there’s a whole elaborate etiquette to mourning dress.
Speaking of dress, most of the gold, jewels, and robes that you’re going to see have been in families or churches for generations. Some things will be new – the King’s initials will be embroidered in prominent places – but many will be family treasures.
And it’s all in memory of one woman. There’s a whole discussion to be had about how and even whether to honor Elizabeth II, but it does no harm to remember that a real human has died and spare a thought for her and her family – as we would for anyone else.
More royal questions? Drop ‘em in the comments – if I can help I will!
September 7, 2022
SCHOOL DAZE
Grandpa may or may not have walked three miles through the snow to school…but he probably didn’t do it so he could be free for farm work.
It’s conventional wisdom that the school calendar was set up in the 19th century so children would be free to work in the fields all summer. But while it makes sense, it’s not the whole story.
Free basic public education for everyone was a key component of citizenship from the beginning of the new United States of America. But it didn’t work the same way everywhere, and schools evolved differently in different places.
Plenty of rural kids sure did spend the summer doing whatever kind of work their family needed them to do…and they had a shorter school year that was designed around growing seasons. That meant more class time in the winter. (So Grandpa may indeed have had a snowy walk to that one-room schoolhouse!)
But urban kids weren’t taking the train out to the countryside to hoe the fields.
They had a longer school year, and sometimes a shorter day, so they could do piecework, factory work, or any of the hundreds of little jobs children took to bring in a few pennies. Remember, in the 19th century, children often started work very young to help support the family.
Originally, schools in New York and some other cities were close to year-round. But while that may have initially seemed like a good idea, packing kids into brick buildings in city summers before air conditioning wasn’t. So the urban districts ultimately ended up cancelling classes in the hottest part of the year.
Toward the end of the 19th century, school reformers started pushing for more consistency in education across the country. One of the big goals was a similar school year, leading the city and country leaders to strike a compromise that created our modern summer vacation.
In the days before folks gave much thought to the achievement gap, the summer slide, and what poor kids would do without free school lunches, the compromise seemed like a great idea. Teachers got time to prepare, children got a break – whether for factory work, odd urban jobs, or yes, farming – and everyone returned to their places with bright shiny faces.
Or at least that was the theory.
Farming was only one reason for the summer break, but it played so nicely into the idea of “the good old days” that it stuck. Even now, you’ll see sometimes people asking why kids need a summer vacation when we don’t need them at home in the fields.
No surprise. The story is just too good.
Kind of like Grandpa’s three-mile walk.
Oh, about that? Since neighborhood schools have always been a priority in most communities, whatever calendar they followed, it’s unlikely that Grandpa really had to walk three whole miles. And unless he started before 1886 (when the first horse-drawn school buses began running in the U.S.) he probably could have caught a ride!
You might give him a freebie on the barefoot in a blizzard part, though!
Got a #ThrowbackThursday idea? Drop it in the comments!
It’s conventional wisdom that the school calendar was set up in the 19th century so children would be free to work in the fields all summer. But while it makes sense, it’s not the whole story.
Free basic public education for everyone was a key component of citizenship from the beginning of the new United States of America. But it didn’t work the same way everywhere, and schools evolved differently in different places.
Plenty of rural kids sure did spend the summer doing whatever kind of work their family needed them to do…and they had a shorter school year that was designed around growing seasons. That meant more class time in the winter. (So Grandpa may indeed have had a snowy walk to that one-room schoolhouse!)
But urban kids weren’t taking the train out to the countryside to hoe the fields.
They had a longer school year, and sometimes a shorter day, so they could do piecework, factory work, or any of the hundreds of little jobs children took to bring in a few pennies. Remember, in the 19th century, children often started work very young to help support the family.
Originally, schools in New York and some other cities were close to year-round. But while that may have initially seemed like a good idea, packing kids into brick buildings in city summers before air conditioning wasn’t. So the urban districts ultimately ended up cancelling classes in the hottest part of the year.
Toward the end of the 19th century, school reformers started pushing for more consistency in education across the country. One of the big goals was a similar school year, leading the city and country leaders to strike a compromise that created our modern summer vacation.
In the days before folks gave much thought to the achievement gap, the summer slide, and what poor kids would do without free school lunches, the compromise seemed like a great idea. Teachers got time to prepare, children got a break – whether for factory work, odd urban jobs, or yes, farming – and everyone returned to their places with bright shiny faces.
Or at least that was the theory.
Farming was only one reason for the summer break, but it played so nicely into the idea of “the good old days” that it stuck. Even now, you’ll see sometimes people asking why kids need a summer vacation when we don’t need them at home in the fields.
No surprise. The story is just too good.
Kind of like Grandpa’s three-mile walk.
Oh, about that? Since neighborhood schools have always been a priority in most communities, whatever calendar they followed, it’s unlikely that Grandpa really had to walk three whole miles. And unless he started before 1886 (when the first horse-drawn school buses began running in the U.S.) he probably could have caught a ride!
You might give him a freebie on the barefoot in a blizzard part, though!
Got a #ThrowbackThursday idea? Drop it in the comments!
August 31, 2022
A RIDE IN THE BATHING MACHINE
Going for a swim is one of the few things in our world that is still pretty simple. You just put on a swimsuit and walk down to the water, slowly wading in until you’re comfortable with the temperature, maybe splashing around a bit with the partner, friends and/or kids, and eventually going in as deep as you like.
It was a whole lot more elaborate in the nineteenth century. If you were an even relatively respectable lady, you were taking a bathing machine into the water. Queen Victoria’s bathing machine went on display a few years ago, and they’ve turned up in a lot of recent historical productions. They sound elaborate, because they were: little shacks on wheels where ladies (and sometimes gentlemen) took off their street clothes and put on bathing suits, if any, before the machine was wheeled out into the deeper water.
Once you were out there, you took the little steps from the back down into the water. Well, unless you happened to have a particularly unkind “dipper.” Basically the matron of the bathing machine, she was responsible for getting you safely and modestly into the water and back to dry land and respectability. Some of them weren’t above giving shy ladies a healthy shove into the water.
Which would NOT have felt good. We’re talking about the ocean or a big lake, remember, not the lovely heated indoor pools that modern wimps like me prefer. If you’ve ever jumped or been thrown into a natural body of water, it’s pretty chilly, even on a really hot day. There’s a pond at the dam in my Western Pennsylvania hometown that pretty much explains why I vastly prefer man-made swimming holes, thank you!
But our respectable ladies had no real choice. If you wanted to enjoy the health benefits (not to mention the fun) of sea-bathing, you were stuck with the machine and the dipper…and hope she was in a good mood. Once in the water up to your neck you could paddle around to your heart’s content. If you were at a ladies’ only beach, you didn’t even have to worry about the boys roughhousing, the way they’ve done since the first two cavemen wandered into the water together.
Speaking of the fellows. I bet you’re still wondering about that “bathing suit, if any” comment back there. Yup. For a long time, the guys bathed in their birthday suits, and by themselves. Ladies, of course, didn’t want to look at that (or so they’d have you believe) and stayed delicately away, leaving the boys their own beaches for naked frolics of whatever sort.
Eventually, somebody figured out that it might be fun for everybody to share the beach, and the boys decided that they were willing to put on a few clothes for the privilege of enjoying some female companionship with their surf and sand. That was the beginning of the end of the bathing machine. If you’re willing to allow a man to see you in the water, you’re probably not going to care much longer about whether he sees you getting into it.
Besides, people of all genders were starting to realize that swimsuits were comfortable and fun…and that a lot of their fellow bathers are pretty nice to look at, even in a few layers of wet cotton and wool. Still are!
Got a Throwback Thursday idea? Drop it in the comments!
It was a whole lot more elaborate in the nineteenth century. If you were an even relatively respectable lady, you were taking a bathing machine into the water. Queen Victoria’s bathing machine went on display a few years ago, and they’ve turned up in a lot of recent historical productions. They sound elaborate, because they were: little shacks on wheels where ladies (and sometimes gentlemen) took off their street clothes and put on bathing suits, if any, before the machine was wheeled out into the deeper water.
Once you were out there, you took the little steps from the back down into the water. Well, unless you happened to have a particularly unkind “dipper.” Basically the matron of the bathing machine, she was responsible for getting you safely and modestly into the water and back to dry land and respectability. Some of them weren’t above giving shy ladies a healthy shove into the water.
Which would NOT have felt good. We’re talking about the ocean or a big lake, remember, not the lovely heated indoor pools that modern wimps like me prefer. If you’ve ever jumped or been thrown into a natural body of water, it’s pretty chilly, even on a really hot day. There’s a pond at the dam in my Western Pennsylvania hometown that pretty much explains why I vastly prefer man-made swimming holes, thank you!
But our respectable ladies had no real choice. If you wanted to enjoy the health benefits (not to mention the fun) of sea-bathing, you were stuck with the machine and the dipper…and hope she was in a good mood. Once in the water up to your neck you could paddle around to your heart’s content. If you were at a ladies’ only beach, you didn’t even have to worry about the boys roughhousing, the way they’ve done since the first two cavemen wandered into the water together.
Speaking of the fellows. I bet you’re still wondering about that “bathing suit, if any” comment back there. Yup. For a long time, the guys bathed in their birthday suits, and by themselves. Ladies, of course, didn’t want to look at that (or so they’d have you believe) and stayed delicately away, leaving the boys their own beaches for naked frolics of whatever sort.
Eventually, somebody figured out that it might be fun for everybody to share the beach, and the boys decided that they were willing to put on a few clothes for the privilege of enjoying some female companionship with their surf and sand. That was the beginning of the end of the bathing machine. If you’re willing to allow a man to see you in the water, you’re probably not going to care much longer about whether he sees you getting into it.
Besides, people of all genders were starting to realize that swimsuits were comfortable and fun…and that a lot of their fellow bathers are pretty nice to look at, even in a few layers of wet cotton and wool. Still are!
Got a Throwback Thursday idea? Drop it in the comments!
