Comments on: More From Philip Mernick’s Collection

By: Linda Levitan

Linda Levitan — Tue, 10 Mar 2015 13:44:03 +0000

Mourning buttons were made of carved jet (and were probably as elaborate as the family could afford) . . . and I agree . . . those Victorian and Edwardian buttons must have been lovely!

By: Jean Ann Moores

Jean Ann Moores — Tue, 10 Mar 2015 03:37:08 +0000

What a treasure to see all these fashionable ladies, their dresses, shoes (0nly one photo), hats and hair styles. My only lament is that I couldn’t get a close up of the buttons the garments touted.

By: Linda Levitan

Linda Levitan — Mon, 09 Mar 2015 21:48:56 +0000

While fashion was decreeing that women wear ferociously tight corsets and heavily-upholstered dresses over them, there were protests and pleas from those who wanted to reform dress. But women who ventured out in public wearing “sensible”or “reform” garb—bloomers (harem pants, as worn by the performer in William Whiffin’s 1910 photo)—with a belted, knee-length tunic, were subjected to harassment—pelted with rotten fruit, stones, and manure. Bloomers didn’t really catch on until the invention of the safety bicycle (a happy day for women!); they were also popularized for gymwear. The right to wear the free-and-easy clothing we take for granted was gained bit by bit, and not without struggle. But the fashions of the 1890s and 1910-20s are attractive enough to collect, reproduce, and adapt. Edwardian tea dresses are especially pretty. (If you can fit into them!) Let’s heave a collective sigh of gratitude for our modern pajamas, trousers, shorts . . . and harem pants!

By: cate

cate — Sun, 01 Mar 2015 04:17:48 +0000

Is it just me, or is the one captioned “1890s” and holding what looks like a fan made of feathers clearly a man?

By: Annie

Annie — Wed, 25 Feb 2015 17:46:16 +0000

Clothes of 1880s were possibly the ugliest ever. So tight and so unbecoming. And they wonder why women died so young, why they weren’t Prime Minister, why they weren’t running the world. Corsets. The curse of womankind.

By: L. Granfield

L. Granfield — Wed, 25 Feb 2015 17:05:13 +0000

Yes, that girl on the bike is a welcome sight! I don’t have to fuss with discomfort all day, worry about every hair in place, or wear black clothing/jewelry/hats for years after a relative dies. What liberation!

By: Marsha Horwath

Marsha Horwath — Wed, 25 Feb 2015 14:46:12 +0000

Everytime I see pictures of women dressed in their finest. I thank heaven for being born a baby boomer. Can’t imagine being squeezed in a corset. Give praise to whoever discovered perma press!

By: Peter Holford

Peter Holford — Wed, 25 Feb 2015 14:24:47 +0000

Some scary ladies – I wonder if any of them are in my family tree.

By: Ellen in NEW England

Ellen in NEW England — Wed, 25 Feb 2015 13:35:44 +0000

OH! The millinery, and the hair styles and the fancy work on the clothing. What a lot of work. I remember in the Narnia books, or maybe E. L. Nesbit, remarks about the uncomfortableness of clothing, with all the rough elastic and wool next to the skin. Hooray for cotton.

By: Jude

Jude — Wed, 25 Feb 2015 12:02:56 +0000

My thoughts similar to above about restrictive the clothes were. I have very little in the way of old family photos and wish my ancestors had been able to afford to go to the studios. I have been given a copy of a pic of my mother’s cousin and these dresses with dates have given me help in deciding the date of it. Thank you!