Book Review: The Thoughtful Dresser by Linda Grant

Posted on May 19, 2012 by Lynn

If you have not yet discovered the novels of British writer Linda Grant, seek them out.  They are a treat for anyone interested in how clothes express character in fiction. Her Booker Prize nominated The Clothes on their Backs is all about the transformative power of dress.  It’s not surprising, then, that Grant has written a fascinating non-fiction book on clothing with an informative subtitle “The Art of Adornment, the Pleasures of Shopping, and Why Clothes Matter.”

Since Grant is a woman of a certain age, born in 1951, a big topic in this book is what women should wear as they age.  She notes that her mother’s generation still had clear rules on how to dress: “[A woman] must reach eighteen before she could wear her hair up. After thirty it was no longer permissible to have long hair at all.  A lady wore gloves.  She always wore stockings.  She never left the house without putting her face on. At fifty, if she was rich, the reaching of middle age would reward her, in compensation for the loss of her youth and the privileges that went alongside it, with a mink coat and diamonds.”  Maybe these rules held for the British upper middle class, but my own Illinois-born mother had already thrown them out along the way by the time she was fifty.

Grant deplores the fashion advice that older women should stick to the classics in dress. While elegant on some, these styles make her feel invisible.  Nor does she want to dress like an eccentric. “To be a glamorous eccentric one requires not just glamour but also eccentricity, which is not a condition of being well-dressed, but an essential aspect of one’s identity. I would not call myself an eccentric.”

What then does Linda Grant want to wear?  “I have come to reject the classic charms of the beige trench coat in favor of glamour, or at least clothes with attitude.  Not the girlish charms of the sprigged tea dress or jeans, but old-school in-your-face, sock-it-to-me-Mamma high heels and a hint of cleavage.”  You won’t see me in low cut dresses or high heels, but my orange-loving soul adores this bit of advice:  “Never go beige into that good night, there will be more than enough time for neutrals in the darkness of the grave.”

This book is a philosophy of dress, with attitude.  I guarantee a good read.

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Elka Ostrovsky in a Track Suit

Posted on May 16, 2012 by Lynn

The storied actress Betty White, now in her nineties, stars in the TV sitcom Hot in Cleveland.  Here’s the back story:  Three forty plus women from Los Angeles get stuck in Cleveland on their way to Paris.  They decide to stay because they discover that they have much better chances of finding men there than back home in California.  As luck would have it, a big beautiful, cheap house is available for them to rent.  The only catch is that the octogenarian caretaker, Polish immigrant Elka Ostrovsky, is part of the deal.  She is played with deadpan humor by Betty White.

While the three younger stars wear varieties of age inappropriate dress—too tight, too short, too low—Elka is mainly pictured in track suits during the day.  She doesn’t stick to any one color.  In several episodes from season one she appears in bright blue, pink, yellow, and turquoise.  Some had rhinestone bling and some did not.  In one episode, she is shown applying rhinestones to her track suit herself with an implement called a Bedazzeler.  (This is new to me—where have I been?)  In her words, “These track suits don’t just bedazzle themselves, you know.”

When asked about the appeal of track suits for the older crowd, White/Ostrovsky tells us, “Well, it’s simple: in your twenties you dress for men, in your forties you dress for success, in your eighties you dress for a bathroom.”

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Eunice Johnson—Fashion Leader and Activist

Posted on May 14, 2012 by Lynn

Johnson with Yves Saint Laurent, Ebony August 1977

If you are not yet convinced that fashion is an inseparable part of social and political life, take a look at the long and influential career of Eunice W. Johnson, 1916-2010. Born in Selma Alabama, she moved to Chicago for a Master’s Degree in Social Work. With her husband, she started Johnson Publishing, with its influential magazine Ebony.  Her keen interest in clothing (she was an expert seamstress herself) inspired her to write a column on fashion for the magazine.

Johnson began the Ebony Fashion Fair in 1958, which she used to raise money for charity and to interest African American women in high fashion.  She personally picked out the fashions for the show, using her influence to help to launch the careers of black designers like Stephen Burrows and models like Pat Cleveland.  According to one story, she told then rising designer Valentino that she would not feature his designs unless he used black models.  Out of frustration with convention makeup lines, she also began Fashion Fair makeup formulated for black skin.  The money raised from the fashion shows went to fund causes like the United Negro College Fund.  In the words of the Washington Post fashion writer Robin Givhan, “Fashion Fair was engaged in racial uplift through personal style.”

Johnson at the Ebony Fashion Fair, 1991

Johnson was well known for her own sense of style.  Her contributions to the world of fashion were recently honored at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. A collection of clothes from the Fashion Fair went on exhibit at selected Macy’s stores in a national tour called “For the Love of Color” in 2011—now how did I miss that?

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Pauline Trigere on Pant Suits

Posted on May 12, 2012 by Lynn

The French born American designer Pauline Trigère was known for clothes with a meticulous, even austere cut.  She was also a great advocate of the pant suit.  When asked in a 1978 interview how a woman should start collecting her clothes, she advised to begin with this basic ensemble: “I tell her to get a pants suit—if mine is too expensive, she should get someone else’s. But nothing is more useful for a woman who is busy, who travels a lot.”  She believed that women’s clothes should have the same long life as men’s.  She despaired when people commented that they had seen her in the same outfit before. “That’s when I find it difficult being a woman.  They wouldn’t say that to Bill Blass.”

Although some people sneer at pant suits as uniform-like and unfeminine, I think Trigère captures their appeal.  They are versatile and work in many situations.  Ideally they have the longevity of a man’s suit, a relief for women who do not want to follow every shift in fashion while still staying current.  And for older women, it is a way to cover up the legs and arms while still looking put together.

This photo shows Trigère in a pant suit at age 92—she died a year later.  Read more about her here and here.  For the interview, see Barbara Walz and Bernadine Morris, The Fashion Makers.

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Lillian Russell–An Older Icon for the 1910s

Posted on May 9, 2012 by Lynn

Lillian Russell in 1914

Although she all but is forgotten today, Lillian Russell was a big star of the American stage, music hall, and vaudeville circuit at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries. Called “America’s Beauty” for decades of her life, she embodied the full chested, slim waisted, big hipped ideal of the female form at the turn of the century. Through periodic reinventions, and a real skill at media manipulation, she managed to stay in the spotlight for over thirty years.

When Russell turned fifty in 1911, she started a sideline business as a beauty adviser to  women, with a special focus on older women. This included a lucrative stint as a newspaper columnist offering her “beauty secrets” (although the actual writing was done by her sister and heavily edited by writers on the women’s page.) Here’s a quick summary: eat well, sleep well, exercise a lot, don’t worry, and don’t flirt. As an advocate of physical fitness, she gave public demonstrations of her exercise routines, which included rigorous bouts with a punching bag and free weights.  When she went on national tours, her private Pullman coach was equipped with a gym.

Since dressing well on stage was an essential part of Russell’s job, she made annual trips to France to buy dresses from Charles Worth, the most influential couturier of her day.  Her clothes were news, as we can see in this 1913 report of one of her lectures: “Miss Russell came upon the stage, beautifully gowned in a creation of apricot colored charmeuse, draped with filmy lace and with a net tunic.” While embracing French designers, Russell often recommended that the styles be modified for American tastes.  For example, she felt the slimmer styles that emerged in France around 1908 needed more leg room for American women used to walking.  Most of all, she advised women to look at their bodies before they adopted the latest styles.

In her fifties and sixties, Russell was a full figured woman in a time when slimness was taking over as the new feminine ideal.  She tried to give advice and comfort to those like herself who did not conform to the new trends.  As she counseled women to eat less, exercise more, and avoid pastry, she also assured them that “a certain amount of healthy flesh is normal for a woman.”

If you are interested in learning more, take a look at Armond Fields’ excellent book, Lillian Russell: A  Biography of ‘America’s Beauty.’

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Czech Emigres in Pennsylvania

Posted on May 7, 2012 by Lynn

The women in this photo, the grandmother and great aunt of my college roommate, were émigrés from Bohemia (now the Czech Republic) at the end of the nineteenth century.  My friend Beth believes the photo was taken in the 1940s; if so, the women had kept the longer skirts of the previous decade.  They are both wearing lace up sensible shoes so common to older women throughout the first part of the twentieth century.

Although the two women are of a similar age and background, their clothing styles are very different—proof again that there was never just one “old lady” style.  Beth’s grandmother on the left has a fuller figure and is wearing a loosely fitted dress and over blouse in a small floral print. (Beth recalls that she always wore very loose clothing.)  The lace collar and small print are features often favored by older women. Her great aunt on the right has an angular figure and her dress, what we can see of it at least, is fitted more closely to her body. Although the dress has contrasting buttons and trim, it is without the fills of her sister-in-law’s outfit.  I wonder if this isn’t the fundamental divide in women’s clothing—between the flowing and the fitted.

 

Posted in 1930s, 1940s | Tagged , | 1 Comment

A Sportswoman from the Sixties

Posted on May 5, 2012 by Lynn

Life, January 1965

Although Ann Bonfoey Taylor was interested in fashion all of her life, and even designed her own line of ski clothes in the 1940s, it was only in the 1960s that she achieved national status as fashion taste maker. Vogue, Life, and Town and Country did features on her wardrobe choices and she was selected as one of the One Hundred Great Beauties of the World by Harper’s Bazaar in 1967. Two interesting things stand out in this coverage.  First of all Mrs. Taylor, born in 1910, did not gain great notoriety until she was well into her fifties.  Second, she was most often featured in sports clothes, even though she had a very impressive wardrobe of haute couture dresses by the likes of Balenciaga and Givenchy.

Taylor was an avid skier, so it is not surprising that she was best known for her ski outfits.  Her own line from the 1940s included chunky sweaters, fur coats, and stretch pants.  She is credited with inventing the fanny pack, which she used to carry her makeup.  As she aged she added items that she collected on world travels with her real estate mogul husband, who was one of the principle developers of Vail Colorado.  These included an Arabian headdress, a Scottish sporran (a kind of decorated purse that clips to a belt), and military hats and helmets from all around the world.  In this photo from Life magazine she is wearing the bottom part of an Evzone military outfit from Greece together with ski pants.

Many pictures show her weather worn skin—the result of a life out of doors—and the traces of tan marks from her sunglasses.  She wore false eyelashes and pale lipstick; she favored the color green for evening wear. Here are some of the fashion tips she gave to her granddaughter:

  • Military always, but motorcycle never
  • Polka dots and subtle prints are permissible, but never animal prints
  • Big earrings
  • Large cuff bracelets
  • Pink lipstick is good, red is not

If you are interested in learning more, take a look at the wonderful catalog produced for the Phoenix Art Museum’s show, Fashion Independent: The Original Style of Ann Bonfoey Taylor.

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Pant Suits and the Older Woman, 1983

Posted on May 1, 2012 by americanagefashionco

From Calisphere

It is often said that older women are more conservative dressers than their younger counterparts.  Many don’t feel the pressure to stay up on trends, and some simply might not have the money to do so.  However, once we find a style that works, we tend to keep it. While the older set might have taken a little longer to embrace the pant suit–the first example I have in my collection is from 1975–once accepted it became a favorite.  It’s easy to understand the appeal.  The pant suit can offer a neat appearance while covering up a lot of problem areas—loose upper arms, less than slim legs, a thicker waist.  Very thin women can also use the style for camouflage.

In this 1983 photo of a women’s club meeting in Albany, California (near Berkeley), we see women in all kinds of clothing, including many dresses.  One of the oldest in the picture, at the center right, wears a  pant suit. She has covered herself from chin to ankle, including a high necked frilly shirt that hides her neck. I wish I knew the color—maybe a medium blue?

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What to Wear on an Airplane, 1957

Posted on April 27, 2012 by Lynn

From Calisphere

These women from Kern County, part of California’s agricultural heartland, are dressed up for a trip to Hawaii.  According to Calisphere, they were part of a delegation from the Kern County business women’s organization.  Look at their clothes!  Not only are they in suits and dresses, but their outfits include hats and gloves.  Even within this trio, however, there is a range of clothing styles. The woman on the far right is the most casually dressed, without a hat or coat (although she might be holding both.)  The one in the middle could easily be transplanted to a wedding reception with her fancy, put-together outfit.  Her stylish suit anticipates the sleeker lines of the 1960s

Today you can see almost any kind of clothing at the airport, from business suits to blue jeans to what appear to be pyjamas.  I don’t think that the explanation is simply that clothing in general has gotten more casual, although of course it has.  We have also radically altered our sense of what constitutes a “special occasion.”  In 1957, going on an airplane trip was a huge event for most people, one that deserved to be marked with special clothes.  Obviously that is no longer the case.

What rises to the level of a special event these days?  When and where do you wear your special clothes?  I save my best outfits for the theater and the rare wedding invitation, but the difference between casual and special in my wardrobe is not that wide.

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Bi-Partisan Dressing: Posing with Big Bird

Posted on April 24, 2012 by Lynn

From the US National Archives

On the US National Archive’s Flikr site, there is a folder of photographs of “notable  women,” a fairly random selection of important American women.  It’s no surprise that First Ladies form the bulk of those chosen, and that they are most often captured in contexts dealing with children. I liked these two of Pat Nixon and Hillary Clinton posing with Big Bird, the famous character from the children’s show Sesame Street.  Nixon is photographed at a reception with children in the White House; Clinton is on the set.

While they are both in suits, the cut and color of their jackets are different.  In 1970, Nixon’s double breasted suit has the man-styled cut of the coming dress for success era.  Clinton’s jacket from 1993 has a softer, more feminine collar and the bigger shoulders of the period.  Don’t you wonder if she had on pants below the jacket?

Differences aside, there are also many similarities here.  Both wear solid colored jewel tones in what looks to be a similar fabric—maybe wool crepe.  Both have colored their hair and are wearing hair styles of the moment.  While Pat Nixon has a pin as a subtle highlight, Hillary Clinton has an even more fabulous accessory—the muppet Rosita, who even matches her outfit.

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