Summer is here and it is sure to be the best many of us have ever had. It will certainly be a lot more carefree than last year, and that means a lot of time outdoors with loved ones. Last summer I did a fun series on the history of beach culture in America and [...]
You might think that you can purchase any and all things you might be able to think of through your Amazon Prime app. A hundred a fifty years ago this is what people were thinking as they turned the pages of the recent Sears catalog. But instead of a few taps, sought-after items were requested [...]
The trees have all sorts of blossoms adorning them here in Denver. It is one of the things I love most about living in an area that has all four seasons the way that this city does. Spring can bring to mind so many memories and nostalgia, can’t it? One thing that apple blossoms brings [...]
How useful is a painting for deciding whether or not to buy a dress? Or to describe today’s fashion trends? I’d say, it probably wouldn’t be all that effective. For many centuries women have favored multi-dimensional images over flat paintings or drawings for viewing clothing. From the 1300s to the 1800s the elite throughout Europe [...]
The long-awaited summer has me thinking about trips to Golden, CO, exploring new mountain towns, and being outdoors. And because of my other interests, it got me thinking about Wild West shows, especially that of Buffalo Bill, given that his museum and grave are in nearby Golden. As a performer, what he accomplished was impressive. [...]
The 1950s was the final decade with fairly prescribed clothing. Once 1960 hit things got a lot less complicated as far as women’s clothing was concerned, and it got there quickly. But looking back, fashion really held onto things during that decade. 1950s accessories were expected, were vast in their variety, and required for completing [...]
Last week I wrote about what I believe is the unrecognized fashion gem of the 1950s: the housedress. I find it so interesting that women placed so much emphasis on having new, pressed, stylish dresses to wear around the house and for errands each day, yet we often leave it out when discussing the fashion [...]
If you look for information online about the fashions of the 1950s, you will be bombarded with blog posts and photographs about Dior’s iconic “New Look” and black and white images from high fashion magazines. What is harder to locate is information about what I consider to be a jewel of fashion history: clothing worn [...]
Revolutionary War fashion was a bit of an outlier when it comes to Western fashion trends. We see styles embraced during this time that are really only seen during the years shortly before the war. When the war ended in 1783, there was a rapid move to adopt French fashions and also to invite more [...]