Time Period: Late 19th century, Early 20th century
Clothing Innovations:
· Throughout the ages, making clothing was the responsibility of the housewife, who sewed her family’s garments at home
· The clothing industry was originally characterized by small custom tailoring (“bespoke”) shops geared primarily to clothing for gentlemen
· In the 1830s, ready-to-wear manufacturers started to set up shop in both Britain and the United States
· In the United States they supplied clothes for slaves in the South or seamen in the North.
· The Civil War and its demand for uniforms sped up the process; most American men’s clothing was “off-the-rack,” that was factory made; most uniforms were custom-made in workers' homes under government contract
· As the war continued, however, manufacturers started to build factories that could quickly and efficiently meet the growing demands of the military.
Union soldier wearing astandard-size Army uniform
· Interesting Fact: Brooks Brothers, for example, started out in the whaling port of New Bedford, Massachusetts, precisely to meet the sailors’ needs for clothes.
· The invention of the sewing machine by Elias Howe in 1846 and Isaac Singer’s improved model four years later paved the way for volume production of clothing in factories
-First Version (left)
-Improved Version (right)
· Social Effects of the Sewing Machine (Pros & Cons):
Pros:
- moved from homes and small shops into large
- Production increased and prices fell
- greater efficiency of the sewing machine saved housewives much time and effort
- made it possible for an enterprising housewife to "take in sewing" for extra money
Cons:
- machine-controlled environments dominated by impersonal managements
- workers suffered loss of independence, lower wages, and sometimes harsh working conditions
· Two types of production arose:
The factory- where the production process broke down the garment into parts; permitting division of labor and the use of workers less skilled than the tailor artisan
The fashion-oriented sectors-which grew with the rise of ready-made women’s wear, a system emerged that was something between handicraft trade and factory production; the division of labor was based on crafts of producing the clothing—cutting, machine sewing, hand finishing, and pressing
· The mass production of women's clothing developed more slowly
· Women's outfits generally continued to be custom-made well into the 1920s
· Around that time, factors such as the development of industrial production techniques, the rise of the advertising industry, the growth of an urban professional class, and the development of national markets accessed through chain stores and mail order catalogs, contributed to the success of the women's ready-made apparel industry
· Ready-made articles of clothing were portrayed as modern and fashionable during this time when the new consumer industries were rapidly redefining the way Americans viewed mass-manufactured goods
· Instead of seeing the purchase of mass-produced clothing as entailing a loss of individuality, American women began to accept the pieces of ready-made merchandise as convenient, affordable, and up-to-date fashion items that could be replaced easily as styles changed
· Style Changes overtime:
-Various women'sfashions from the early to middle 1800's (Left)
-A page from a fictitious mail order catalog shows various women’s fashions from the 1920’s (Right)
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pwG-kRi0-Y&feature=related
A page from a fictitious mail-order catalog shows various women’s fashions from the 1940’s
· Video: Predicting Fashion in the year 2000; made in 1930’s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9eAiy0IGBI
· Mass production of uniforms necessitated the development of standard sizes
· Measurements taken of the soldiers revealed that certain sets of measurements tended to recur with predictable regularity
· After the war, these military measurements were used to create the first commercial sizing scales for men
· During 1939 and 1940, about 15,000 American women participated in a national survey conducted by the National Bureau of Home Economics of the U.S. Department of Agriculture
· It was the first large-scale scientific study of women's body measurements ever recorded - A technician took 59 measurements of each volunteer, who was dressed only in underwear.
- Women volunteers had about 57 different body measurements taken by a technician, while the women stood behind curtains wearing a pair of panties and a cotton bandeau.
- The results of the study were published in 1941 in USDA Miscellaneous Publication 454, Women's Measurements for Garment and Pattern Construction
- The purpose of the survey was to discover key measurements of the female body - that is the important measurements from which other measurements could best be predicted - and then to propose a sizing system based on this discovery.
- Interesting Fact: Models were paid a nominal fee, which during the Great Depression provided food money for many of them. That situation may have skewed the data toward underweight body types.
· A set of the shortest possible, useful size notations for garments, which would accommodate the greatest number of female consumers without alterations was accepted by the industry in 1957.
Beginnings of the Department Store:
· 1838 - Aristide Boucicault started the Bon Marche store in Paris that evolved into the first department store by 1852, displaying a wide variety of goods in "departments" under one roof at a fixed price, no haggling or bargaining, with a "money-back guarantee" allowing exchanges and refunds, employing up to 4000 with daily sales of $300,000.
Video: Beginnings of Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel as popular fashion icon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pwG-kRi0-Y&feature=related
· 1858 - Rowland Hussey Macy was a Nantucket Quaker and whaler who failed several times as a store owner until he founded a "fancy dry goods" store in New York City on 6th Avenue near 14th Street
· He began selling at a fixed price for cash, discounted and advertised his merchandise
· By 1977 Macy's was the nation's 5th largest department store chain with 76 stores, sale over $1.6 billion, and full ownership of 5 regional shopping centers and 50% interest in 3 other centers
· 1872 - Lyman and Joseph Bloomingdale opened their first store in 1872 at 938 Third Avenue in New York, one of the first uptown department stores
References:
http://www.kyrene.k12.az.us/schools/brisas/sunda/decade/1900.htm#daily%20life
http://history.sandiego.edu/GEN/soc/shoppingcenter4.html
http://web.bryant.edu/~ehu/h364proj/sprg_99/cox/sew_mach.htm
http://www.moah.org/exhibits/virtual/sewing.html
http://www.ircounselors.org/irconcepts/2003summerb.html
Clothing Innovations:
· Throughout the ages, making clothing was the responsibility of the housewife, who sewed her family’s garments at home
· The clothing industry was originally characterized by small custom tailoring (“bespoke”) shops geared primarily to clothing for gentlemen
· In the 1830s, ready-to-wear manufacturers started to set up shop in both Britain and the United States
· In the United States they supplied clothes for slaves in the South or seamen in the North.
· The Civil War and its demand for uniforms sped up the process; most American men’s clothing was “off-the-rack,” that was factory made; most uniforms were custom-made in workers' homes under government contract
· As the war continued, however, manufacturers started to build factories that could quickly and efficiently meet the growing demands of the military.
Union soldier wearing astandard-size Army uniform
· Interesting Fact: Brooks Brothers, for example, started out in the whaling port of New Bedford, Massachusetts, precisely to meet the sailors’ needs for clothes.
· The invention of the sewing machine by Elias Howe in 1846 and Isaac Singer’s improved model four years later paved the way for volume production of clothing in factories
-First Version (left)
-Improved Version (right)
· Social Effects of the Sewing Machine (Pros & Cons):
Pros:
- moved from homes and small shops into large
- Production increased and prices fell
- greater efficiency of the sewing machine saved housewives much time and effort
- made it possible for an enterprising housewife to "take in sewing" for extra money
Cons:
- machine-controlled environments dominated by impersonal managements
- workers suffered loss of independence, lower wages, and sometimes harsh working conditions
· Two types of production arose:
The factory- where the production process broke down the garment into parts; permitting division of labor and the use of workers less skilled than the tailor artisan
The fashion-oriented sectors-which grew with the rise of ready-made women’s wear, a system emerged that was something between handicraft trade and factory production; the division of labor was based on crafts of producing the clothing—cutting, machine sewing, hand finishing, and pressing
· The mass production of women's clothing developed more slowly
· Women's outfits generally continued to be custom-made well into the 1920s
· Around that time, factors such as the development of industrial production techniques, the rise of the advertising industry, the growth of an urban professional class, and the development of national markets accessed through chain stores and mail order catalogs, contributed to the success of the women's ready-made apparel industry
· Ready-made articles of clothing were portrayed as modern and fashionable during this time when the new consumer industries were rapidly redefining the way Americans viewed mass-manufactured goods
· Instead of seeing the purchase of mass-produced clothing as entailing a loss of individuality, American women began to accept the pieces of ready-made merchandise as convenient, affordable, and up-to-date fashion items that could be replaced easily as styles changed
· Style Changes overtime:
-Various women'sfashions from the early to middle 1800's (Left)
-A page from a fictitious mail order catalog shows various women’s fashions from the 1920’s (Right)
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pwG-kRi0-Y&feature=related
A page from a fictitious mail-order catalog shows various women’s fashions from the 1940’s
· Video: Predicting Fashion in the year 2000; made in 1930’s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9eAiy0IGBI
· Mass production of uniforms necessitated the development of standard sizes
· Measurements taken of the soldiers revealed that certain sets of measurements tended to recur with predictable regularity
· After the war, these military measurements were used to create the first commercial sizing scales for men
· During 1939 and 1940, about 15,000 American women participated in a national survey conducted by the National Bureau of Home Economics of the U.S. Department of Agriculture
· It was the first large-scale scientific study of women's body measurements ever recorded - A technician took 59 measurements of each volunteer, who was dressed only in underwear.
- Women volunteers had about 57 different body measurements taken by a technician, while the women stood behind curtains wearing a pair of panties and a cotton bandeau.
- The results of the study were published in 1941 in USDA Miscellaneous Publication 454, Women's Measurements for Garment and Pattern Construction
- The purpose of the survey was to discover key measurements of the female body - that is the important measurements from which other measurements could best be predicted - and then to propose a sizing system based on this discovery.
- Interesting Fact: Models were paid a nominal fee, which during the Great Depression provided food money for many of them. That situation may have skewed the data toward underweight body types.
· A set of the shortest possible, useful size notations for garments, which would accommodate the greatest number of female consumers without alterations was accepted by the industry in 1957.
Beginnings of the Department Store:
· 1838 - Aristide Boucicault started the Bon Marche store in Paris that evolved into the first department store by 1852, displaying a wide variety of goods in "departments" under one roof at a fixed price, no haggling or bargaining, with a "money-back guarantee" allowing exchanges and refunds, employing up to 4000 with daily sales of $300,000.
Video: Beginnings of Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel as popular fashion icon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pwG-kRi0-Y&feature=related
· 1858 - Rowland Hussey Macy was a Nantucket Quaker and whaler who failed several times as a store owner until he founded a "fancy dry goods" store in New York City on 6th Avenue near 14th Street
· He began selling at a fixed price for cash, discounted and advertised his merchandise
· By 1977 Macy's was the nation's 5th largest department store chain with 76 stores, sale over $1.6 billion, and full ownership of 5 regional shopping centers and 50% interest in 3 other centers
· 1872 - Lyman and Joseph Bloomingdale opened their first store in 1872 at 938 Third Avenue in New York, one of the first uptown department stores
References:
http://www.kyrene.k12.az.us/schools/brisas/sunda/decade/1900.htm#daily%20life
http://history.sandiego.edu/GEN/soc/shoppingcenter4.html
http://web.bryant.edu/~ehu/h364proj/sprg_99/cox/sew_mach.htm
http://www.moah.org/exhibits/virtual/sewing.html
http://www.ircounselors.org/irconcepts/2003summerb.html
Brittany Conlin-Fashion and Department Stores
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