Full Bloom

In the spring of 1989 Bacon Department Store of Louisville, Kentucky ran a television ad  hawking the gentle washed pastel florals of Jessica McClintock's designs for Gunne Sax. "Spring is in Full Bloom --- and Little Girls make memories ..." A few years before the commercial ran on Louisville t.v. stations, I was dreamily wafting …

Farm Girls

Women on farms did wear a kind of uniform in the 1930s, during the depression and before the War: print cotton dresses, heeled oxford shoes (Cuban heels, these were called) or sandals, flat little sturdy hats, and very little jewelry. Below are women at a 4H fair, so dressed up a bit "for town". But …

I Resisted

"I resisted all the way: a new thing for me, and a circumstance which greatly strengthened the bad opinion Bessie and Miss Abbot were disposed to entertain of me.  The fact is, I was a trifle beside myself; or rather out of myself, as the French would say: I was conscious that a moment’s mutiny had already …

Caped avengers

For the last several months, I've been longing for this tshirt.  From Universal Standard, it is called "The Volga". I dream of owning it, imagining myself .... imagining what? It's an oddity of the tshirt world, a caped tee.  In my mind, my longing for this shirt is tangled with my anger, my fury, really, …

Summer suffragists

I am reading a lot of news stories about women -- especially white women (more on that distinction in a sec.) -- who woke up after the election devastated with the outcome, in terms of what it meant for women, people of color, gays, the disabled, immigrants.  And more than upset, these are women who …

Bravery on our minds

Andromeda is, according to the erstwhile wikipedia, "she who has bravery on her mind." In the ancient Greek world, Andromeda needed courage when she is sent as sacrifice to a sea monster, only to be saved by the handsome, strong Prince (son of Zeus) Perseus. Andromeda is most empathically female, the root of the western story …

Bell Curves

In 1994 Charles Murray wrote, with a co-author, The Bell Curve, arguing that intelligence was a product of environment and "inherited" factors, that is, good breeding. The chapter presenting this marlarkey of an argument has been largely disproven both in terms of evidence and conclusions (the rest of the book is not as dicey in …

Striking!

Dressing for a protest is nothing new, especially for women. And gaining improvements in the working conditions and pay for women is nothing new -- and having to go on strike, protest, and rally for these rights is nothing new. The garment industry in the first decade of the 20th century ran on women's labor. …

To the fat girls

"Why is it that the makers of the fashions do not give the fat girls a show? The matter is, however, by no means a joke to "the fat girls." Want to guess the date of that complaint by the "fat girls"? Give up? 1882. Yes, in 1882 the unknown columnist of "The Art of …

Game, Blouses (part 2)

Photo from private (that would be my own) collection Game, Blouses is a three-part series. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Our two gals are wearing shirtwaists -- what we today would call blouses. Usually made of fine, thin cotton weave, and often incorporating lace inset or trim, these blouses were made by women of …