"Princess and Semi-Princess Dresses" (The Delineator, June 1909

Fashion turns vertical in 1909, with The Delineator describing these dresses as being on "popular long lines".  They certainly use every trick in the trade to make the wearers look as tall and as slender as possible.  Only the hats add a horizontal note to their ensembles, perching on the tops of their heads like large mushrooms.

... A very pretty design for a princess dress is shown here (3107) which is especially well adapted to development in the softer materials, as foulard, net, and in lawn or batiste... As hand embroidery is to appear on the most stylish garments this Summer, the woman would do well to add a touch of embroidery to this dress between the tucks and in the sleeves.

A design for a semi-princess dress is shown here (3056) which has the popular panel front and back... This design is equally suitable for a wash dress for Summer wear and for the elaborate silk gown every woman wants to have in her wardrobe.

"New Ideas in Jumper Costumes" (McCall's Magazine, April 1908)

 I had something more elaborate planned for today, but Real Life™ stepped in.

In American parlance, a "jumper" or a "jumper" dress is the same as a pinafore dress in British or Australian English—that is, a sleeveless dress made to be worn over a longer sleeved blouse or top.

[Left] This lovely gown is made with a blouse waist of white China silk, with a narrow pointed yoke and and a stock collar of Irish lace.  The sleeves are short, reaching just below the elbows, but long sleeves can be used instead if preferred.  Over this blouse is worn a most attractive over-blouse of the skirt material, a soft shade of pink chiffon broadcloth.  This is edged with narrow black velvet ribbon, set off by a line of soutache braid and trimmed with tiny ball buttons.

[Right]  One of the new princess jumper skirts, worn over a waist of allover lace, is illustrated on the colored plate... A fashionable green and white checked woolen was chosen for the jumper skirt, but the pattern is suited to broadcloth, cheviot, serge, Panama, as well of fancy woolens of all sorts... The waist or slip in our model is of allover Renaissance lace, but any variety of lace, China, taffeta or fancy silk, allover embroidery or lingerie can used for its development if desired.

"The Maternity Outfit" by Eleanor Chalmers (The Delineator, July 1909)

 

"Last year coming home from Europe," writes Mrs Chalmers,

I crossed on the steamer with an attractive young married woman... a lithe, active figure in a well-cut, well-tailored suit in the daytime and radiantly lovely at night in a black chiffon Empire dress that she had had made in London. 

You can imagine my surprise when I met her, several months later, driving in Central Park with a most bewitching baby.  We had sat at the same table, lain in parallel deck chairs and had really seen quite a bit of each other on the way home, and yet, as I told her, I had never suspected it for a moment.

Once upon a time, "baby bumps" were not for showing off, and maternity clothes not only had to allow for expansion, but also conceal the wearer's condition.  The moderns of 1909 thought this was an improvement on the old way of doing things:

The new maternity garments conceal the figure perfectly and allow women to go about in a sane, natural manner.  The old morbid, recluse-like banishment that women used to accept as their common lot is rapidly becoming one of the antiquated ideas that belong to a less enlightened era.

(Imagine how much time Victorian mothers of large families must have spent hiding themselves from public view!

 

Ideally, maternity wear should be healthy as well as concealing.  Mrs Chalmers continues by discussing some of the latest ideas (1909 style) for "healthful" garments and lifestyles:

The first thing that a woman will need is an every-day out-of-doors dress or suit of some kind, for it is most important that she should keep in the open air at least a couple of hours a day.  Most women use a skirt and shirt-waists—a combination that I do not altogether favor, for, as I said before, a complete dress with the weight resting on the shoulders is a far more healthful sort a of garment than one in which the skirt is supported at the waistline.

"I do not advise," the author continues

a skirt of one color, and waists of another.  It draws a sharper line of division in the figure than a one-color scheme carried out as shown in the first illustration...

The waist has a little fulness at the waistline in the back, which should be drawn into a belt tape that you can fasten around the waist, holding the fulness at the front.  The belt tape is much better than the belt stay, which would have to be altered from time to time.

(The illustration above shows the belt tape.) 

  

For a shirt-waist suit the skirt should be cut in the round length—never shorter, unless you are going to use it merely for rainy days.  A short skirt is awkward in a maternity dress and makes a woman look worse than is at all necessary.   The method of making the skirt is the same as for any gored skirt pattern except that there is no need to fit it to the figure over the hips and at the waist.  It is mounted on an elastic band run into a casing—a sort of self-adjustable affair that takes care of itself quite nicely.

Next comes a suit that is really a maternity dress:

While the shirt-waist suit is very neat and practical I lean toward the maternity dress shown in the second illustration.  At first glance it looks quite a little like a semi-tailored suit.  In reality it is a dress consisting of a seven-gored, high-waistline skirt mounted on a French waist-lining, and a coatee that can be of the same material as the skirt if one uses it for an every-day sort of dress, or of dried lace, net soutached tulle, etc., if one wants it for reception or formal occasions.

It's good to know that pregnant Edwardian women (unlike their Victorian counterparts) were allowed to have a social life.  

A proper maternity outfit, however, did not end with a shirt-waist suit and a maternity dress.  For cooler days:

... one should have some sort of a long coat or wrap for traveling, driving, etc.  I should advise a straight slightly fitted coat made with generous overlapping double-breasted fronts.  (Illustration no. 3)  It is an easy thing to move the buttons, and the coat will always look well.  It is a very simple coat to make, for it is very slightly fitted and extremely severe in cut...

The little house dress in Illustration 4 is a pretty thing and can be put to any number of uses.  Décolleté and with short sleeves, it makes a graceful sort of dress for home dinners in any soft material... High necked it makes an excellent day dress... The skirt, I think, for this particular kind of an outfit, is better gathered, as shown in the illustration, than tucked, though it can be used either way.  The gathers are softer and more disguising.

 

 

Illustrations 5 and 6 are excellent types of wrappers and matinées for maternity needs.  The empire styles are far and away one's wisest choice wherever it is possible to use them, not only because they are pretty and protecting to the figure, but because the weight of the garment falls on the shoulders.  I would make the belt of the dressing-sack about six inches longer than the usual size and draw it in on a ribbon.

If you want to read the article in its entirety, the full magazine is available online at the Hathi Trust.

"How A Girl Should Dress" (Girl's Own Paper, January 20 1904)

 The column is addressed to "girls" (or young ladies) but the fashions depicted below seem rather matronly.  This is the result of the fashionably mature figure of the day, achieved where necessary by a combination of padding and corsetry.  The ironic thing was, the "girls" here, dressing like older women, would reach middle age in an era where youth was everything, and matrons tried to dress like girls!

Though it may not be apparent, fashion was becoming more democratic in the early twentieth century.  The author of this column does not entirely approve:

The more I watch the dressing of the highest and the humblest, the more I am amazed at the way both classes contrive to have every article in the latest style.  Shop-girls and servants, clerks and factory girls, one and all manage somehow to have a cheap imitation of the latest accessories of dress of their wealthy sisters.  There are the really poor who, of course, do not think of dress, but let us look just one step higher, and even the flower-sellers on Sundays have the dyed cat-skin round their shoulders made into the latest shape of stole boa.  I must say I cannot see the class of girls who wish to dress plainly and suitably according to their positions and incomes.  There may be an isolated few, but surely if there were more the fashions given in the penny papers would cater to their tastes.  As it is, in the most popular penny papers we see cheap imitations of extravagant elaborate fashions.  I suppose no girl wishes to look poorer than she is, or any woman older than she is, and therefore most people dress beyond their means.  What a contrast the dressing of to-day is, compared to what it was ten years ago!  The same class of girls give to-day twice at least as much for their dresses as they did then.  In everything we are growing more and more luxurious in our lives.

The "good old days" are always at least ten years ago, no matter when you start from!

Suits II (McCall's Magazine, October 1900)

 As we move into a new century the skirt suit is still going strong.  As ever, it is shaped on fashionable lines, but it is noticeably less ornate than the dresses of the same era.

 

 

 

The figure on the left shows a model wearing a jacket made from McCall's Bazaar Pattern no. 6171 and a skirt from Pattern no. 6169.  The two become a suit by being made up in the same material.  The vest is part of the jacket, and is made of the same material as the insertions in the skirt.

At left we have a Misses' Eton Costume.  Except for the length of her skirts this is very like the suits worn by her adult counterparts.  At centre is "an up-to-date coat and skirt costume", the jacket of which "may be composed of material matching the skirt".  At right is a Ladies' costume made of "pebble cheviot in the new gray and black shade".
 

"How To Put On A Corset" (McCall's Magazine, August 1908)

 This one speaks for itself!

National Cloak & Suit Company, 1908

 Much depends on the way in which a corset is put on.  The following hints may be useful:

Fasten the abdominal hooks first, lifting the body, with a long breath, at the same time, and holding the head well back.

After the top of the front is hooked, draw the looped laces from eyelets slightly below the waist, pulling the bottom of the corset much tighter than the top.

Through this simple means healthy breathing is permitted, for bodices are so loose that it is only at the waist and hips the figure needs to be held taut.

To keep the corset in good shape when off the person, many women use a block of wood, round which the corset is wrapped tightly and kept in place on the block with a ribbon or pins.  It is then wrapped in tissue paper to preserve cleanliness, and put away perhaps in a drawer faintly scented with orris-root.  There is no better perfume than orris-root for all the secret matters of woman's dress.

Motoring Modes (The Lady's Realm, February 1904)

 In 1904 "motoring" was still very much a recreation for the well-to-do.  It was also a fairly rugged pastime, as many early automobiles were completely open and roads were mostly unsealed.  Protective clothing was order of the day.  A smart lady motorist would require an all-enveloping dust coat to protect her other clothing—such as this example in moleskin, illustrated in the February 1904 issue of The Lady's Realm.

"Motoring modes have done a great deal for the economical woman who does not motor, for she can avail herself of the cosy fur coats in opossum, pony skin, musquash and several of the lesser furs which have been revived with new and improved dressings, and many of which are quite smart enough for ordinary occasions, as well as for travelling, motoring, driving, etc."

"London and Paris Fashions": The Lady's Realm, December 1904

 

The lady motorist would also need to protect her hair, either with a hood (as illustrated above) or by tying her hat on firmly with a veil (also illustrated above).  

However, problems in staying clean and tidy while motoring apparently had their 'up' side.  An article on the Ladies' Automobile Club appearing in the December 1904 issue of The Lady's Realm actually opined that women were slower and more careful drivers, because "very high speed... destroys a woman's every vestige of beauty and neatness"!

"Serviceable Raincoats" (Philipsborn catalog, Fall-Winter 1909-10)

 

It's raining all down the East coast of Australia, and I've spent the last few days staring out the window waiting for it to stop.  Meanwhile, my mind has turned to raincoats, so here is a selection from 1909.

Though they are cut on fashionable lines, they are slightly less ornamented and more, well, serviceable than ordinary coats of the era.  They are made of "rubberized" materials (from left to right, rubberized mohair, rubberized taffeta, rubberized silk bengaline, Watercress silk moire and rubberized grosgrain moire).  Rubberisation was a method of waterproofing fabrics by coating them with rubber.  First developed by a Scotsman, Charles Macintosh, in 1823, the earliest "macintoshes" were heavy and smelly (reeking of a combination of trapped perspiration and rubber).  They went in and out of fashion quickly—only to regain favour as technical advances made rubberised material lighter and less odorous.

The first raincoats for women were produced in the 1870s, around the time when the kind of women who could afford them were starting to live more active lives.  From the beginning they were designed along simplified but fashionable lines—like the examples above.

"Ladies' Costumes" (Delineator, September 1905)

 Fashions in the Edwardian era were elaborate, impractical and very, very feminine.  The following plates from The Delineator don't depict High Fashion, but the clothes depicted still hint at a life of conspicuous leisure.  Many of the middle-class women who wore costumes like this must have had their work cut out making and maintaining them!

 

"...Simple street costume of primrose drap d'eté with silk pendant trimming around the lace-covered collar..."

"A two-piece costume that will prove serviceable for walking, shopping, etc., is here shown in sage-green panama suiting with braided vest."

 

"This graceful princess dress is of nile-green French voile, with dainty touches of oriental all-over lace and banding on the waist portion.'

"A soft shade of pink eolienne was used for this charming evening costume, and Persian trimming and Brussels lace afforded adornment."

"A combination of coat no. 8633 and skirt no. 8638 produced this stylish street suit of gray chiffon broadcloth with embroidery and lace decoration."

"Black lace is effectively displayed on this smart frock of wheat-colored soft taffeta, a union of waist no. 8629 and skirt no. 8651."

 

"Eight Additional Coat Fashions" from Philipsborn (Fall-Winter 1909)

In my copy of Philipsborn's Fall and Winter catalogue for 1909 is a little four-page supplement advertising "Eight Additional Coat Fashions".  I don't know whether this leaflet was added as an afterthought, or whether it was the result of a printing error in the main catalogue.  However it does provide a capsule summary of what was in fashion in women's outerwear at the end of the first decade of the 20th century.

All the coats appear to be cut princess style, with braid and seaming to emphasise their unbroken length.  The s-bend figure, so fashionable earlier in the decade is well and truly gone and the models are depicted as being (somewhat unrealistically) narrow-hipped.  The sleeves in each coat are gathered at the shoulder and narrow at the wrist, but the the gathers aren't full enough to turn them into leg o' mutton sleeves.

"W13—A REMARKABLY HANDSOME BROADCLOTH COAT, SATIN LINED THROUGHOUT... Semi-fitted back has broad graduated plaits with deep inverted vents at either side.  Single breasted front fastens with large jet buttons..."

"W14—ELEGANT... BLACK OR BLUE, SATIN-LINED BROADCLOTH COAT... Has novel plaited effect below hip line consisting of side and inverted plaiting.  Neatly stitched at top forming  scalloped tailored pockets which in turn are fashionably trimmed..."

"W15—LATEST PAULIERAINE" MODEL IN...GRAY SATIN-LINED BROADCLOTH COAT.  The beautiful model pictured here is a copy of one of the latest creations sent to us by our Parisian connoisseur... Tailor-stitched seams ornament front and back of coat full length, forming a graduated panel in back which is relieved at either side with plaits and folds to correspond... Very chic."

"W16—ANOTHER NEW PARISIAN COAT MODEL.  Good quality broadcloth in black, blue, brown or maroon... Is most handsomely and extravagantly ornamented on collar, cuffs, front, sides and back with richest silk cording, strapping and handsome scroll braid ornaments..."

"W17—VERY ELEGANT AND SWAGGER 56-INCH TAN COVERT OR BLACK BROADCLOTH COAT... This garment is most exquisitely tailored and is fashioned with new Dutch collar, tailor stitched and button trimmed..."

"W18—THIS STUNNING, 54-INCH BLACK BROADCLOTH COAT PORTRAYS ONE OF THE SEASON'S NEWEST MODES.  Is made in semi-fitted style with single-breasted front.  Line throughout with finest quality gray satin.  Has beautiful shawl collar inlaid with silk moire..."

"W11 —EXCEEDINGLY SMART 52-INCH BLACK PRESSED CHEVIOT COAT.  Semi-fitted mode, lined to waist with silk Venetian. ... Fastens in single-breasted style with jet buttons. "

"W12—54-INCH ALL WOOL BROADCLOTH, TAILORED IN THIS SEASON'S MOST FASHIONABLE MODE.  The garment pictured here is a most exceptional value and is made of good quality all-wool broadcloth in black, navy blue, maroon, green or brown.  Lined three-quarter length with good quality satin..."

Tea Gowns (1890s and 1900s)

In 1902 Mrs Eric Pritchard wrote in The Cult of Chiffon:

"And now let us seriously consider the question of the tea-gown from its varying aspects, and see how it is misunderstood and how it can form the ideal of all that is best in dress feminine.  For here we can vanish the practical, and let art have her say without a backward glance at utility.  What I mean is, we cannot trail about the London streets in the flowing garments of beauty; but in our drawing-rooms, when the tea-urn sings at five o'clock, we can don these garments of poetical beauty.

"... Fashion you can cast to the wind if you please, and impart meaning and intention in every fold, in every line of this garment of mystery which can be a very complete reflection of the personality of the wearer."

Tea gowns were loose dresses, usually made without a waist seam, and worn without corsets (or with loosened corsets).  They were closely related to wrappers and kimonos, and shared some of the characteristics of "rational" dress and of artistic styles.  As the quotation above indicates, they were primarily worn at home in the afternoon for relaxing and partaking of tea—but they weren't casual wear.  As the descriptions of the tea gowns below indicate, they could be very dressy garments indeed.

The Delineator, November 1890.  "Ladies Japanese Tea Gown" Figure no. 476L

"The Gown is composed of an under-dress of white India silk and a Kimono or Japanese dress of figured India silk.  The underdress has a full, flowing skirt, which depends from the edge of a fanciful body and is trimmed down the center of the front with a handsome jabot of Italian lace."

The Delineator, May 1896.  Ladies Tea Gown, Pattern no. 8333

"LADIES' TEA-GOWN—The tea-gown is especially handsome in the present combination of black peau de soie bearing large figures in subdued coloring, cream satin and figured maize taffeta, with lace net, lace edging, ribbon and insertion for decoration."

The Delineator, September 1898.  "Ladies Watteau Tea Gown", Pattern no. 1851

"LADIES WATTEAU TEA GOWN—Rich dark plain satin, and plain and figured light satin form the handsome combination here pictured in the tea-gown, and the trimming is original and pleasing, consisting of wide ribbon in a novel bow arrangement and narrower ribbon frilled and edged with lace."

McCall's Magazine March 1901. Tea Gown pattern no. 6442

"LADIES TEA GOWN—White challis patterned with pale blue and green made this artistic tea gown or wrapper.  The pattern is cut with a deep pointed yoke back and front, of pale blue silk entirely covered with white lace insertion, joined by beading run with velvet ribbon, and finished with a deep ruffle of lace... Entirely covering the center closing is a full jabot of white lace."

The Lady's Realm, March 1904

 "At this season of the year the tea-gown holds an important place in the society woman's wardrobe—not the picture frock, which is more or less decolleté, but the warm and cosy wrapper, which is yet smart enough for dining in. Some light, soft fabric, accordion-pleated and made very simply with a big collar or fichu, is charming, and this is a useful garment to wear over a separate slip."

Mrs Eric Pritchard, "London and Paris Fashions", The Lady's Realm, (March 1904)

The Delineator, August 1906, Pattern no. 9412

"9412—A tea-gown for mid-Summer combining daintiness and comfort is here portrayed in embroidered wash voile with lace and ribbon, in linon with German Val insertion and edging, and also in French challis with buttonholed edges."

The Delineator, June 1909.  Pattern no. 3083

"A more elaborate lounging -robe is shown in No. 3083, a ladies' tea-gown or wrapper.  The wrapper may be made in the round length or with the medium sweep and with the high, collarless or open neck.  The body of the wrapper is tucked to the fancy-shaped yoke and falls from the bust in graceful folds.  There are two styles of elbow sleeves, those which are left flowing and those which are gathered into the bands, as well as the full-length leg o' mutton sleeves.  The fancy shaped bolero may be omitted if desired..."

According to my reading, tea gowns were first worn in the 1870s by ladies at country house parties.  At first an informal garment, the tea gown became more elaborate as it moved out of the hostess's boudoir into other parts of the house.  Then in the 1880s it moved out of the country house altogether and down the social scale from the aristocracy to the leisured middle classes.

While tea gowns were worn until the early 1920s, they were at their most fashionable in the last years of the nineteenth century and the first decade of the twentieth.  As women's clothes became less constricted and their lives more active the tea gown fell out of favour.  Other styles took its place, including lounging pyjamas in the 1920s and 1930s and hostess gowns in the 1950s and 1960s.

"New Idea" (May 1903)

Though the captions describing these outfits differ (as, presumably, the occasions on which they were meant to be worn) all are basically alike in shape and structure.  Each model has an out-thrust bosom and buttocks (molded by the 'S' bend corset), a skirt fitting smoothly over the hips that flares out below the knees into a fishtail shaped train, a high neckline, and bishop sleeves billowing out over the wrists.

 

A Young Ladies' Dancing Frock—in two parts with separate skirt and waist.  Though this outfit is described as a "dancing frock" it has a very decorous high neckline.  Lace-trimmed flounces indicate that this was a dress for special occasions.

Summer Fashions—like most of the fashions illustrated here, these two outfits aren't one-piece dresses, but skirts and waists in matching materials combined.  The dress on the right is trimmed with Cluny lace.

Ladies' Street Toilettes—The dress on the left is a "shirt-waist costume" made from a single pattern.  The jacket on the right-hand figure is described as a "jaunty Monte Carlo jacket".  Unfortunately, I'm unable to find out what the term means in this context.
 

Shirt-Waist Suits—Once again the obsolete fashion terminology trips me up: to me a "suit" implies an outfit with a matching skirt and jacket.  However these skirt and blouse outfits look suitably businesslike for a couple of Edwardian "new women: just compare them with the lace and braid trimmed "summer fashions" above!  The costume worn by the woman on the right in this plate is described as being made entirely from linen.

Fashions for Girls from "The Delineator" (August 1906)

Women's fashions of the 1900s were elaborate and impractical—and judging by these plates from The Delineator, so were the fashions worn by little girls.

Here we have costumes for girls aged from around two years old (second from the right, above) into their early teens.  The teenagers' clothes seem to be near copies of their mothers'—from their over-decorated hats, to their bloused and boned bodices, to the tucks, pleats and folds that shape and decorate their garments.  Only the length of their skirts indicate that these clothes are not meant to be worn by adults!

The younger children wear looser and easier fitting dresses (still, I note, heavily ornamented with ribbons and laces).  The youngest wear straight, unfitted frocks that fall to a little below the knees, and shoes and socks rather than stockings and boots.  The slightly older children wear dresses with waists dropped to around the hips.  (I wonder if this fashion influenced the clothes these same children would have worn as adults in the 1920s?)

Impractical and uncomfortable as these clothes look, I'm delighted to report there are patterns for more serviceable girls' clothes tucked away in the back pages of this issue of The Delineator.  The garments here were probably meant for "best", and plainer clothes were worn for school and play.

A History of Blouses - Part 2 (1900s)

"Whatever has been said about the shirt and blouse going out of fashion, it seems to have been a very long-previous announcement; for none of the best tailors or dressmakers will allow that it is true.  The summer blouses are models of beauty in muslin and silk."

"My Clothes Month to Month" in The Girl's Own Paper, April 28th 1900

The new century began where the old one left off: with the blouse as popular as ever, but with fashion pundits predicting its demise.  Need I say that it remained extremely popular well past the end of the decade?

McCall's Magazine, September 1900

Ladies' French Shirt Waist, No. 6153—This stylish novelty is especially intended for combinations of lace and ribbon, striped or tucked materials.  Our model is of light blue satin ribbon and yellow lace insertion.  The pattern is cut with seamless shoulders, the back and front being in one piece, seamed under the arms, thus making the stripes bias in front and almost straight in the back.  The closing is formed under a narrow box-pleat of lace insertion.  The front fulness is pleated into the waist line.  The sleeves are in dress style and are trimmed at the wrists by jaunty flaring cuffs of the material.

As in the previous decade, women's blouses followed the lines of fashionable bodices.  In the 1900s, women's shapes were largely defined by the modish 'S bend' corsets worn under their outer clothing: so-called because it thrust the wearer's bosom forwards while projecting their rears backwards.   (A fashionable woman in profile sometimes looked as if her top and bottom halves had been pushed out of alignment.)   Blouses were usually made with the fabric most full at the front in the form of tucks, gathers and pleats exaggerating the pouter pigeon effect.

McCall's Magazine, March 1901

Ladies' Shirt Waist No. 6466.  Lace insertioned white lawn was used for this remarkably pretty and smart summer shirt waist.  The front has its slight fulness gathered into the neck on either side of the narrow box-plait through which the closing is formed... Lawn, chambray, gingham, all-over lace or insertion, tucked materials, swiss, piqué, linen, silk or flannel are all appropriate fabrics for the development of this design.

Delineator, May 1903

6786—Ladies' Shirt-Waist or Shirt-Blouse.  Stole effects are undoubtedly the most popular of the season's fancies.  A smart example of the present modes is depicted... constructed in white piqué and contrasted with pipings of blue linen...

Delineator, May 1903

6838—Ladies' Tucked Shirt-Waist or Shirt-Blouse.  Dainty new designs in shirt-blouses are constantly appearing, and the one pictured... will prove especially becoming to slender figures.  White organdy was the material selected in this instance, and appliqué was used as the trimming... A body lining in four pieces may be used or not, and a crush ribbon belt is worn.

While the general silhouette didn't change much in the 1900s, the details of garments did.  Fashion went to the sleeves, which evolved each season.  The decade started with them worn long and tight to the wrist.  By 1902 the fashion had changed to bishop sleeves: full on the lower arms, but still gathered in at the wrist.  In 1905 styles in sleeves changed yet again, with the fullness shifting to the top of the arm, rather like the leg o'mutton sleeves of the previous decade.  It was in the second half of the 1900s that we first saw half and three-quarter length sleeves become fashionable for daytime wear.  By 1909 fashion had almost turned full-circle with sleeves being close-fitting once more—although shorter sleeves were still worn in the warmer months.

Delineator, September 1905

Cross-stitch embroidery and a polka-dotted silk girdle are pleasing details of this shirt-waist, no. 8634, of blood-red chiffon taffeta.

A touch of lace in the form of a chemisette-tucker adds to the attractiveness of this waist, no. 8687, of gray louisine shot with green.

This pretty waist, no. 8602, of ivory lansdowne, is simply decorated with a design of hand embroidery and bands and a belt of green velvet.

As a rule, blouses in the first decade of the twentieth century were very feminine, and very, very elaborate.  Even the plainest seemed to be decorated by tucks or a stitch or two of embroidery.


"Starting in the late nineteenth century as a severe shirt blouse... the blouse became a fantasy of lace and embroidery, varying from a costly hand-made creation from a top dressmaker to a home-made effort produced with infinite patient labour.  Lady Diana Cooper recalls a German governess of her childhood who spent all her spare time sewing: 'She worked only at a shell pink blouse for herself with lace insertions, all the two years she was with us, and at making pink flannel nightdresses.'"

Elizabeth Ewing, History of 20th Century Fashion

 

Delineator, August 1906

9452—Ladies' Shirt-waist, with the Fronts Gathered to a Pointed Yoke and Shirt and Shirt Sleeves or Shorter Bishop Sleeves, with or without the Box-Plait or Body Lining.

Odd shapes in the yokes or originality of trimming is the ruling motive in the newest lingerie shirt-waists; and a yoke in fancy outline in the one here shown in a development of foulard with the yoke of Val and Cluny lace, and also in linen with a tailor finish.

McCall's Magazine,  June 1907

No. 1500—This pretty shirt waist is made with a fancy tucked front fastening up the center through a box-pleat of material... Our model is of pale-blue linen with trimmings of allover embroidery and an edging of narrow lace on the cuffs...

No. 1506—White linen made this smart shirt waist, but almost any other wash material, silk or flannel can be used instead if desired.  The front is tucked in a broad box-pleat effect down the center and tucked again in box-pleat style on each side of this...

No. 1511—Allover eyelet embroidery made this pretty waist, but the pattern is also suited to taffeta, foulard, tussah silk, pongee, linen, chambray, madras, etc...

No. 1526—This is a very pretty style for a dressy waist of silk, lace, net, voile or other light woolen fabrics.  It is made with two deep tucks on each side, the outer one trimmed with a Marie Antoinette frill of lace...

McCall's Magazine, April 1908

1608—Ladies' Waist.  This charming spring and summer waist is made of messaline in a pretty shade of lavender.

1551—Ladies' Shirt Waist.  A very novel and pretty waist, tucked in surplice effect, is here shown.

1585—Ladies' Blouse Waist

1784—Ladies' Shirt Waist

1555—Ladies' Over-Blouse with Guimpe.  This waist consists of an over-blouse of silk or light woolen, worn over a guimpe of lingerie material.

1593—Ladies' Blouse Waist.  Silk was used for making this waist, but the pattern is just as appropriate for lingerie materials.

1176—Ladies' Waist.  This stylish waist has a guimpe of of pale-blue China silk and an attractive jumper portion of allover lace...

1773—Ladies' Waist.

If you lacked the skill to sew these elaborately decorated blouses, or the money to employ a dressmaker to do it for you, then help was at hand.  Ready-to-wear versions were available, at surprisingly low cost.

Bellas Hess catalog, Spring-Summer 1909

No. 2x110—Dainty Lingerie Waist, made with three-quarter length sleeves, elaborately designed with pointed insertions and front panel of Baby Irish lace... the pointed yoke has 44 pin tucks.

No. 2x111—Fine Soft Lingerie Waist, made of an extra sheer quality of lingerie, daintily designed, as illustration shows, with insertions of fine Valenciennes lace.

No. 2x112—Our Special Allover Embroidered Waist, with three-quarter length sleeves.

Delineator, June 1909

3055—Developed in white poplin.  Now that the slender woman is having her day, the woman who has a tendency toward stoutness should be doubly careful in the selection of her clothes.  A shirt-waist designed especially for stout women is shown in No. 3085, and may be made as a separate waist or attached to a skirt in semi-princess style.

3102—Realized in a thin batiste.  A very simple blouse-waist is shown in No. 3102, which is especially well adapted to development in the fancy materials, as cotton crépe and net, as well as in the plainer fabrics, as lawn and batiste.  The net waist might be very attractively trimmed with soutache braid, while in the other materials it would be very pretty trimmed with swiss insertion or plain bands embroidered in a color to harmonize with the skirt.

Philipsborn catalog, Fall-Winter 1909-10

1225—Charming Waist of Good Quality White or Ecru Brussels Net over self-colored China silk lining.

1226—Beautifully Tailored Nun's Veiling Waist in White, Navy Blue, Nile Green or Black.Tucking and strapping combined with satin piping...

1227—Shantung "Three in One" Waist of Good Quality Black, Navy, Blue, Light Blue, Nile Green or White Nun's Veiling.  The idea of this waist is it can be worn in three different fashions.

1228—Fine Quality Taffeta Silk Waist in Black Only.  

1229—This Very Fashionable Tailored Waist is Made of Best Quality White, Black, Navy Blue or Nile Green Nun's Veiling.

1230—Very handsome White French Batiste Waist, richly embellished with coronation embroidery done by hand and stylish crochet buttons.

However, the production of cheap ready-to-wear blouses came at a cost—mostly to the women and girls who made them:

...."'[M]any blouses of handsome material and of excellent workmanship are made... by girls who are paid considerably less than 10s. a week.  A silk blouse was shown to one of us for the making of which 10d. had been paid.  Back and front were composed entirely of small tucks and insertions of lace.  The worker, a skilled young woman, could not make two such blouses in a day.'"

Quoted in: Elizabeth Ewing, History of 20th Century Fashion

And so we leave the 1900s blouse.  Next stop the 1910s, when war and social change turned the world of fashion upside-down.

Spring Hats from "New Idea" (May 1903)

It's spring in Australia, so time for some spring hats!

Once upon a time nobody left home without some form of head covering, and what you put on your head and the etiquette of wearing it depended on your class, age and sex.  This plate shows some of the latest styles available to the fashionable woman of 1903.   As you can see, the hats were both large and heavily ornamented—and hats and their trimmings would continue to grow into the early 1910s.

From top left to bottom right:

"This pretty little French sailor is made of alternate rows of rose-colored satin straw-braid and plaited ribbons of the same color.  Four bunches of dwarf rosebuds and foliage are held against the crown at the front, sides and back, by knots of two-inch rose-colored velvet ribbon."

"A fancy turban of black straw.  The brim is draped with white Cluny lace held to position with narrow black velvet ribbon.  A spiked aigrette of heron's feathers is fastened at the left side, and a rosette of black velvet ribbon with falling ends is set at the back."

"An exceedingly smart toque of fancy straw.  The crown is appliqué with a motif of coarse yellow lace in leaf points, which hold two white clipped quills in position.  A knot of black velvet ribbon at the right side is carried to the back through incisions in the straw."

"The "scoop" of an earlier day is to have a revival of popularity.  This is a graceful example of the style.  The hat illustrated is of white French chip, trimmed at the back with sweet peas and foliage and bows of pink and lavender Liberty ribbon."

"A beautiful evening hat of pale-blue Malines.  The form is covered with folds of the tulle, appliqué with medallions of Irish crochet lace.  The brim, formed of the medallions mounted on a backing of Malines, lifts decidedly at the left.  Thick folds of Malines are held to the edge with small lace units.  A bird-of-paradise-feather is fastened to the left side of the crown."

 You may also notice that some of these hats are trimmed with feathers from rare species of birds.  This sparked one the first modern environmental movements of the twentieth century with people working to get the "feather trade" outlawed. 

Fashions from "McCall's Magazine", September 1907

Glancing back at my recent blog entries, I realised that I'd been neglecting the early 1900s.  To make up for it, I'm posting these two plates from McCall's Magazine in September 1907.  The artificial "S Bend" figure that was so fashionable in this decade is clearly on display in these illustrations, with clothing that emphasises the models' thrust-out bosoms and their back-projecting rear ends.

 

"Nos. 1659-1645 [Left]—All the very newest fashions are illustrated in this handsome fall suit of blue satin-faced broadcloth.  The body of the blouse jacket and the sleeves are cut in one and seamed on the shoulders, down the outside of the sleeve and under the arm.  The trimming consists of Hercules braid put on in a very stylish manner... The skirt is cut with seven gores and is box-pleated all around.  It is made of one of the new blue and green plaids, a blue check effect with a green plaid overthread."

"Nos.1647-1648 [Right]—Capes to be decidedly the thing in New York this fall, and this costume shows the new cape wrap, one of the very latest novelties."

 

"No. 1646 [Left]— Princess effects are always extremely stylish and becoming to women of good figure, and for this reason they are introduced into may of the new fall fashions.  The costume illustrated on the opposite page has a Princess front and back and the regular waistline or a corsage effect, if preferred, at the sides.  One of the wine-colored shades of broadcloth was chosen for our model, but cheviot, ladies' cloth, English serge, taffeta, peau de soie or almost any variety of reasonably firm silk can be used instead if preferred."

"Nos. 1675-1677 [Right]—This smart walking suit is a particularly stylish design for fall.  In our model, the jacket is of golden-brown taffeta and the skirt of broadcloth in the same shade, but the entire costume can be made of cloth if preferred.  The jacket is of one of the new Eton effects that will be worn this season.  It is made with a straight, loose front and back, pleated on the shoulders on each side and stitched in narrow tuck effect to yoke depth."