Warning, time sink!

There are so many things I like about the way those dresses look, but so many reasons I would never want to wear them! Thanks for posting this it was neat to look.

Michelle Giordano

Thank you Beverly ,, Due tothe Loss of most of my family in the Holocaust we don`t have many family photos, but i have a few and one or two look like that Miss Sara Holmes [?] photo . i look at them mostly unknown ghosts, lost for ever . Thank you for this delightful pictures i have a some books with Cotumes from ages ago ,,, mirjam

I am astonished at the amount of detail in women's styles of that era. All the pleats, tucks, ruffles, flounces, drapes, .....

Makes me tired just thinking about it.

Beverly

I wonder if any of those fantastic garments were for "ordinary" women, or just for those with "domestic help." I don't think most of my ancestors were in that category, and if I lived in those times, I wouldn't have been. Ordinary people's clothing got worn out, cut up, remade, passed down, and isn't extant and available to be displayed in museums. Neither was it depicted in Gody's Lady's Book or any other publication of the time. Pleats, tucks, ruffles, flounces and drapes were indicative of wealth. The owner had enough money to use cloth for no other reason than ornamentation. Ordinary folk probably wore the same basic garment without the ornamentation. Just a guess -- maybe some of our textile experts could say for sure.

I loved looking at these. Weren't they listed as "Paris Fashions?" I don't wear too many "Paris Fashions" myself, though I have occasionally worn a flapper dress my grandmother bought in Paris. The details of these dresses were probably copied in simpler ways.

We have many clothes now. When most people had very few clothes, they may have been able to put more time and effort into each item.

--Betsy

Joanne you are correct , the clothes we saw in those drawings were for the Middle class , Other people were not only restricted by their economical position, but also by `traditions `, and even laws [sometimes social sometimes official ] , as to what they could or could not wear. there was a lot of Hand downs , cotas were started for the Men of the house than turned and ornamented for the lady, than mooved either to children or stuff... mirjam

In those times , [like in others] Everybody wanted to be More elegant ,, So if you could say Paris you said Chic . some Seamstress and tailors had this Gift for looking at a drawing and cut something similar , I heard a story from a friend who was born in Cairo [Egypt ] , to a very wealthy family . Once or twice a year her fatther went on Business to France , to buy cloth and look for dresses , which her mother than cleverly , copied and made for herself and her sisters , and all other ladies copied from them .... mirjam