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It's time for a little Saturday Style. One of the things that makes this time period so interesting is that the US fashion industry was caught in between two iconic styles. The ostentatious, curvy Gibson Girls were out the door, but the scandalous, androgynous-shaped Flappers weren't on the scene yet. With America at war, acquiring yards upon yards of opulent fabric was difficult and seen as gauche. As you can see in the archival video below from 1917, the Gibson Girl trains, corsets that produced a wasp-like figure, and large, pompadour hair that--as Virginia would say--a family of squirrels could make into a comfortable nest were out. By 1918, hemlines started to rise just as waistlines began to drop. Women still wore corsets, but they weren't the Gibson Girls' iconic S-shape. High society ladies, like the Jacksons, wouldn't dare leave home without all their womanly accoutrements including a handkerchief, gloves, and a hat. In the fall of 1918, during the second deadly wave of the Spanish Flu, ladies had another must-have accessory: a mask. Though gauze masks were too porous to do any good, all Philadelphians were required by law in October 1918 to wear one to help slow the spread of the disease.
Want to learn more about this fascinating time period? Stick around. I have more Behind the Scenes of BREATHE blog posts coming up. Want to order your own copy? Click here for the paperback version and here for the Kindle eBook.