HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1973-10-11, Page 26PAGE 6I3--GODFRICA SLGNAL-STAR, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1973
Fashions for well-dressed women in 1903
By Anne Hopkinson
Fashion! What a mysterious
art! No one can say exactly
where fashion springs from; nor
why, out of'dozens of silhouet-
tes, men and women should
choose to accept one shape at
one particular time. Some
believe that great personalities
and beauties of stag and
societ` set the styles. Others
ascribe Cashion changes to
• stirring e‘ Crit, in history to •a
movie, ballet or some book that
has set things spinning Some
feel that it is the Cashion
designers who dictate how we
shall look
i'n re%iewlug the years
leading- uEi to and including
190:3. it, quite easy to see how
all these factors influenced
women's fashion.
Fashion in America waS' very
greatly influenced by that of
France. and particularly by
Cashion of Britain. In both
countries, the atmosphere
during the early 1900's was
very similar. It was an age of
great co,tentation and ex-
travagance Everything was
modelled to ",nit England's
King Edward's personal
demands. Everything was,
larger than life-size. There was
an avalanche of balls and din-
ners and country house parties.
More money was spent on
clothe, Vlore trod was con-
sumed, more horses were raced.
and more birds were shalt., Also,,
at Thi, time women 'Were,
beconli,.p 'mere emancipated,
people tit ti, , stage were being
recognized as pt •)ole of society
tno' longer cheap - figures).
Society was using the state as
an example. It was also the
beginning of an era of modern
invention; e.g: car, etc. King
Edward's reign, coming at the
end of7the long era of Victorian
might. has often been compared
to the unnarural brightness
which.precedes a sterni. (World
War I and, the Depression in
this case.
Fashion, as always, reflected
the age. Like the King himself,
it favoured the mature woman,
. cool and commanding with a
rather heavy bust. The effect of
this was further emphasized by
the so-called "health" corset,
which, in an effort to prevent a
downward pressure on the ab-
domen, made the hod y rigidly
straight in' front by throwing
forward the bust and throwing
back the hips. I have the
greatest admiration and sym-
pathy for the women that wore
these whaleboned corset. Just
last summer during one of our
coffee breaks at the museum, 1
volunteered to be the model of
one while the other girls were
to rope me into it. It took four
of them to pull and yank to get
it done up -and I assure you
when the job was.c•ornpleted, I
thought my entire rib cage had
collapsed. I couldn't have
stayed in that steel cage any
longer than ten seconds, let
alone ten hours!!
The corset produced the
peculiar S-shaped stance so
characteristic of the period.
The skirts, however full, had to
be carefully fitted smoothly
round the hips, and flared out
towards. the ground in the
shape of a bell.
Fashion, at this time, dealt
mainly with the neat and trim
figure. The upper part of the
shoulders and chest had to be
tree from overly fussy details
which would interfere with the
outline. The waist was to be ex-
tremely petite.
Cascades of lace descended
from the bodice; indeed there
was a passion for lace in every
part of the gown. For those who
could not afford real lace there
was a considerable vogue for
the cheaper Irish crochet. The
Goderich Signal can be quoted
as saying, "No woman is _equip-
ped for the season of 1903
unless she has a -good collection
of the several lace shoulder ad-
juncts now essential to a good
appearance. They give quite
different aspects to the same
gown, enhance the beauty of a
rich one, and give a dressy
aspect to a somber one." _
Along% with lace as
decoration, tucks, frills and
shirred effects were often em-
ployed, However, it is quite ap-
parent that they were not
overused and the emphasis was
not drawn away from the
smooth line of the silhouette.
In the daytime„ the .,whole
body was concealed from the
ears to the feet. Again the
modern woman of 1903 must
have been quite uncomfortable
and restricted in. her
movement. For example, the
little lace collar was kept in
place by boning, the sleeves
were long,and tight -fitting and
if there were no sleeves the
amts were always completely
concealed by long gloves.
This tvvu of suit which was'
very typical of the dressy
daytime wear, was usually
made Out of very sturdy, and
often coarse, materials such as'
linen, canvas, crash, etc.
Colours for older women were.
usually a natural colour or
darkA more somber colours,
such as grey, black, brown and
dark green. However; young
girls wore the sane fashion in
brighter, more appealing
shades (red, pink, blue, etc.)
One sometimes wonders if
the climate'of Europe was very
much better in the early, years
of the century than it has been
since; so many of the clothes of
this year look as if they had
been/ designed for a garden
party. Actually it was during
these first years of the 1900's
that the tea gown or "summer
frock", once merely a means of
"getting into something loose",
was now an artistic creation in
its own right. Ladies seemeil to
put much emphasis on their
summer frocks. One article in
the Signal -Star dealt with how
much a gown of this sort should
weigh -- minimum - i oz.,
preferable -10 oz., maximum -14.
oz. These gowns..,were made of
extremely light' and airy sum
mer 'fabrics, such as chiffon,
organza, gauze, .-lace,---neti -in^..
lovely pastel shades of pink,
blue, yellow, mauve often with
floral embroidery. Because of
the delicateness of the
materials, one could utilize a
good number of yards and still
stay within the accepted weight
clas'sificati.on. It stated that
ladies of society would pay up
to $200 of
such creations. Ac-
tually, I found it quite amusing
that they put so much stress on°
silly details (in this case,
weight of.., the dress) and on
what was accepted. It seemed
that no one would dare be
rebellious and add an extra
ounze oi' two. However, the
amount of sheerlabour .that
went into the making of „one
fashionable gown.- is truly
remarkable.
The tea gowns could. not
have that tight fitting ap-
pearance that the ladies' suits
of the time had. There had to
he enough fullness in the soft,
thin material to do away with
this. Fullness was usually ac- •
complished by the use of yokes,
gatherings, tucks and shirrings.
In general, the tea gown of
1903 was very feminine, very
becoming and certainly a lot
more comfortable than the
suits described earlier.
The contrast between
daytime and evening apparel is
quite puzzling and ironical.
Whereas the modern woman of
1993 is covered solidly 'from
head to `toe during the daytime,
she somehow becomes quite -
bold in the evening with her ex-,
tremely decollete . fashions. I
could not obtain too much in-
formation concerning evening
wear from the Signal, probably "
because the women of this area
did not often require this sort
of dress frequently. However,„of
the evening gowns, I did come
to the conclusion that they
were extremely beautiful, of
luxurious fabrics such as satin,
silk, brocade, lace, much more
decorative than daytime wear,
skirts were much fuller and
bodices much more revealing.'
Naturally, women did not,
even then, live by visiting and
entertaining alone, she had
many household chores to be
done. These naturally were not
measnt to be performed in the
costumes so far described.
_Womm. _...w.gre rather 'plain,
long-sleeved blouses with full
skirts, both made .of sturdy
material for these daily, tasks,,,:
Ladies' duck, linen, pique,
muslin wash skirts sold usually
for $1.50, however, I did notice
that ohe store had them on sale
for 95c!!
The ladies did their hair high
on their heads and the flat pan-
cake hat projected forward as if
to balance the train.
At this time, there was a rage
for feathers; hats being ador-
ned with one or more plumes.
Feather boas were worn round
the neck with evening dresses.
The best boas were made en-
tirely of ostrich plumes and
sometimes cost as much as ten
guineas.
Hats and parasols served two
purposes at this time. One pur-
�
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G.D.C.I. Auditorium
Special Speaker
Dr. Hart Bower
DR. HART Bezner
B.Sc., Ph. D.Physlcs.
Chelrman of the Physlee-Department, Waterloo Lutheran University, founding
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t A
Speaking on
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pose being for adornment, the
second, and more practical, to
shield the face from the sun. (A
suntan in 1903 was considered
very poor taste and -breeding.)
Hats usually had the same
basic form; the crown being
quite small and shallow, the
brim Targe and wide.
The chief identifying factors
of the 1903 parasol are that
they were larger and more
domed in form. Some were
diminutive as to shade and
handle length. Umbrellas were
niade of muslin, lawn,
grosgrain and other relatively
light materials. Medallions,
frills, ruffles were added for
decoration and the handles
were often jewelled for ad-
ditional shimmer with evening
wear.
As far as shoes go, the low
cut shoes were often laced with
wide ribbons. Red ribbon was a
must in a black oxford type
shoe. Strap effects were much
in vogue on high shoes and slip- -
pers. The high shoes could be
fastened with eight or nine of
these straps, Each was or-
namented with a small buckle
in silver, gilt or bronze. These
straps superseded the colonial
buckles on low ties. As always,
buttons were. employed as
decoration as well as for doing
the shoe up.
In studying fashion of this
time, it must be remembered
that very few of. the ladies
bought ready-made dresses.
GD C I History
Seri
Either -they fashioned them are conscioutessed Ts ,
themselves or, if their purses Well,dof
allowed, they had a dressmaker moral side to rebetn�
' s.a
whip up whatever suited their
fancy. I was amazed, needless
to sa ', at the price difference of
yard goods between 1903 and
.1972. Some examples are dress
sateen-8c/yd., "black cheviot-
75c/yd., and black wortifed
serge-75c/yd..
Women of 1903 put great em-
phasis on. dress and ap-
pearance, Perhaps the
following excerpts from the
Signal can give you an insight
into the'
fashion minds of the
1903 women.
"We cannot deny, we
womenkind, that we are hap-
pier, more confident, and better
prepared to face the. world if we
said that we are bewhitsateenri: meetternptatiottself-respectin
anybod and, how,
she is out aP8 �ct herself
shabby. Cmerts a the elbow
modern woy not
studied a n we have
wtedointhe20t ��et
a great testof century,.
breeding n,
much to be fashionablya'"'
carefully array;
From this short passe
can plainly see that through
ages woman has never r.
changed in her attitude tow
fashion and especially not
her excuses for pursuing it
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