4 November 1955 “Questions and Answers Part Three of Three”

  Well, back to the remainder of my questions I answered for a reader of mine for a paper she is doing. This is the last of them, so hopefully you enjoy them.

• Do you prefer the life of the 1950’s housewife, or do you prefer the life of the modern women? Why is this?

I have come to find, through my project, that there are many ‘modern’ women who are in fact housewives/homemakers. My personal experience is different in my wardrobe and various household appliances being vintage and trying to allow myself only access to 1955 literature, movies, tv, magazines etc. So, there is an element of the ‘housewife’ still about. So with that said, I think I would have to say without a doubt, and I didn’t think this would have been the case when I started this project, that I prefer the life of the 1950’s housewife.

Perhaps I should clarify that: I prefer my VERSION of a 1950’s housewife. I realize as a modern woman and one who is trying to ‘recreate’ a time past, that I have a certain perspective and options that the ‘real deal’ 1955 homemaker may not have had. I have that advantage over her. Yet, she had at her disposal an arsenal of training that would have been expected of her. Years at mother and grandmother’s knee learning skills. These same skills would have been studied further in Home Ec at both High School and College level. Something I have come to believe is important now at the  High School level.

I was amazed at my own lack of very basic skills and it was not only me, but many in my generation and earlier and later generations have a great gap in their ‘practical home based’ knowledge. There appears to be almost no emphasis on  basic cooking knowledge, cleaning and scheduling your day, finance and money management. It’s odd to me that so many young people are going to be expected to hop on the “student loan” train and almost nothing is taught to them about options or how this debt could impact their lives or how frugal living or doing for yourself could ease that same burden. But, I digress…

So, with that said, I think this version of my own present mingled with a ‘studied’ 1950’s past is preferable to what I had before the project. I have, this year, been living in a sort of ‘time bubble’ of the past, but still affected somewhat by the present. This, however, has been a great tool to allow be to view, side by side, the two eras and how we got from point A to point B. This compare/contrast lifestyle has really opened my eyes to my world, my country, and where we are currently in terms of economy and interpersonal relationships.

The level of skill I feel I am attaining mingled with the increased feeling of self-reliance has me not wanting to turn back to the more ‘lazy’ ways of the 21st century. There is still so much I want to learn and do that is in the vein of the 1950’s that I cannot let it go at the end of this year and the project. I feel my future life will eventually become my own version of modernity and 1950s. I could never turn back into that person I was in 2008. I DON’T want too!

• What does your typical day in 1955 involve? (provide as much detail as you see fit).

I am up with the alarm. I grab my dressing gown, sometimes I am in curlers from the night before so I don a scarf or my hair is still ‘set enough’ to give it touch ups later. I go into the kitchen and immediately set my ‘modern electric percolator’ (it is from the 1950’s and cost me all of a dollar I believe at a local sale, makes wonderful coffee and looks pretty on the table).

Next I begin breakfast. This is usually a full breakfast. It can be pancakes or waffles (both homemade completely and I have a vintage waffle iron that is actually from the late 1930’s and works wonderfully)eggs, bacon or sausage, toast, homemade jam etc. Grapefruit sliced with cherry is a summer time treat, but in the winter it is more hot cereal with dried fruit. But, we are both egg lovers and they often feature in the breakfast, rather simply fried or scrambled or my specialty, Eggs Benedict ( I am particularly proud of my Hollandaise sauce, also homemade.)

Then, while breakfast is on, I begin packing my husbands lunch. We save quite a bit in our budget by my doing this and I enjoy it. It often consists of leftovers from the previous day’s meal. I sometimes plan on cooking a little extra or will eat a little less (which will help with the waistline) to have leftovers for this purpose. Or, if there is a roast going or leftover chicken I will make sandwiches with that or egg salad etc. NO store bought lunchmeat for us. It is too expensive and doesn’t taste as good. Of course I do use tuna or salmon in a can sometimes.

Next, after lunch is packed, breakfast is done and plated and put in the oven on warm. I set the table: linen napkins, full silverware, glasses for Orange Juice and Milk, coffee cups. There is a pitcher of cream for coffee, one for milk if there is cereal. I stopped putting the container the cream or milk comes in, as it seems an ugly presence with my china. As the eating at table evolved, the presentation just became normal and now I expect and enjoy a table well set without the distraction of ‘store-bought’ packaging.  By the time I have finished all this, my husband is usually dressed and shaved and we sit down to breakfast. As I am writing this I realize how normal this all seems to me now, but a year ago it would never happen. There was getting up whenever, rushing about, maybe grabbing a bowl of cold cereal. What I love about our breakfasts now, is it is such a great start to the day. We can sit civilized, enjoy a great breakfast (if I do say so myself) and actually have a conversation before we start our day. We often discuss what we both need to get done with our days of ‘work’ and then try to remember anything that needs to get done, but we also end up discussing interesting things, politics, the books we are reading, etc. I can’t imagine our ever NOT doing this anymore. Even on day’s off, we do this. We rarely go out to breakfast anymore and I often find myself not actually enjoying it as much as being at home. The modern world often talks of ‘you deserve it, pamper yourself’ which of course always means going someplace and spending money to have other people, who don’t care about you, take care of you. Yet, simple inexpensive things such as setting your table with nice dishes (also does not have to be expensive, my vintage china set was very inexpensive) sometimes dressing for dinner, sitting in the dining room at a table to discuss your life. These are things I now find important to my day and that I deserve to live thus. I don’t want to have to ‘get away’ from my daily life, I want to enjoy it as if I AM being pampered, even if much of it comes from my own hand.

After breakfast in a very 1950’s style, hubby gets his packed lunch, vintage thermos of coffee and a kiss and he is off. Then my day really begins.

Most of my days have a certain structure to them every week and then ‘extras’ get filled in as things come up. For example, Monday is Wash Day, Tuesday is Ironing Day, Wednesdays are the Floors (vacuuming and mopping etc of course through out the week I will vacuum as needed, but this is the day furniture gets moved, the stairs get done, corners really get the dust mop). Fridays are the bathrooms as well as Mondays. But this is just the general skeleton of my week, there is marketing and errands thrown in as well and those are dealt out for the day by a few minutes in my little sitting room with my cup of coffee from breakfast and my little notepad.

I also write my blog usually in the morning after Hubby has left for work or at least get it started. Though I don’t post every day, I am writing or researching a post everyday. It is very much a part of my ‘work day’. I have found this year’s schedule the best thing to getting things done. It is hard to procrastinate when you have so much to do! And you find little time to regret your day, when only getting half of your list done still surpasses what I might have done in a week in my past.

Yesterday, for example, was ironing day. So, as I turned on the radio (a radio repro that looks old but I play old music and old radio station on cd.) and began my ironing, I will also work on other things. I have been needing to get back to my sewing, so I might take  a few minutes and look through my patterns and yesterday was a good day to cut out a dress. It is even better to actually sew on ironing day, as you often need to ‘press seams and hems’ as you sew and having everything out and ready is always helpful. Right now I have to turn the dinning room into my sewing room/ironing room, but I am lucky to have an out building that I plan to convert to my studio/workroom. There I can revel in having places specifically for sewing/ironing/artwork etc. It will aide my in my housework immensely.

Now, I also always give myself a lunch break. As I have been wanting to shed pounds, lately this has been cottage cheese and pineapple on toast or something along those lines and I always make a pot of tea to sip. I will settle into a corner with my tea and usually peruse my vintage magazines. Making notes of things for posts or ideas for my home, such as noting page numbers and month of magazine so I can find it later. And it is a time that I go through my various vintage cookbooks for ideas for menus, things I would like to try in the future. This is important as this affects my marketing for the coming week. Yesterday, for example, I decided next week I am going to try a week of ‘one dish meals’ I found in one of my cookbooks. So, I went through and jotted down anything special I might not already have stocked, so it can be adjusted into my weekly grocery budget.

This is a very important time, I feel, because it allows me to recharge and it really lets me appreciate the joy of being a homemaker. It also says to me: This IS a job.  Making one’s own schedule and working out the day can be harder than people think. It would be rather easy to become lazy, but as you challenge yourself and realize what you can do, your days open up to you full of promise and you can’t imagine sitting and not doing something for too long. Or when you do relax, you can feel pride in what you have accomplished and dream of what you would like to challenge yourself with next.

Then round about 4 0r 5 I will begin preparing dinner. I usually have a rough idea of what I am going to cook each day, as it helps in my shopping, but the kitchen and I are such old friends now that I feel, much as I have in the past in my art studio, that it is such a natural place to be, often just walking in will inspire me to cook this or that. I usually have a dessert going and this is usually done twice a week. I try to have dessert day coincide with an easy meal, so yesterday I wanted to make a cake and frosting, so dinner was a simple meatloaf with a baked rice and vegtable side dish. This was easy to throw together ahead of time, pop in the fridge and then I could work on my cake. Then while the cake was cooling, the oven was hot and in went dinner. When you are as involved in your weekly meals as being a homemaker allows you to be, the concept of waste and leftovers is greatly changed. Meatloaf, for example, is a great vehicle to use up old bread crusts etc. I have a shelf in my fridge that holds ‘waiting leftovers’ to become ingredients in other meals. You will find, too, that you will try things on a whim, as opposed to only following recipes, to discover what works and what doesn’t. This sort of feels as if you have gone to the next level of food prep in that you are creating your own recipe.

Then I go about and try to do a good cleanup so the house is not all sixes and sevens when hubby gets home. I used to laugh at the old homemakers manuals saying, “Make sure the house is nice for hubby when he gets there” and my modern response was, “Yeah, why doesn’t he do it!” But now, I realize how hard it is to go out and work a job, I have done it myself, even run my own business, so I appreciate his hard day at work enough to say ‘thank you’ by not coming home to a messy house. We probably talk and have more together time now because of this lifestyle. When he comes home we can have time to have a cocktail or glass of wine while dinner is finishing (I may have already set the table or I will do it while he tells me about his day) and then we sit down and eat a full homemade meal at a nicely set table and discuss our day. This one simple thing, meal at a table, makes such a difference from the ‘modern version’ of eating in front of the TV.

Afterwards, he often goes to his study to read and write a bit (he collects and uses antique typewriters) while I clean up. It would have been normal for a husband to help the wife with dishes at this time, but as I have the luxury of a dishwasher , des rigueur in 1955, I find it easier to do this alone. I actually prefer to have the kitchen be my province and my husband rarely even needs to go in there unless he wants to snack from the fridge, which he rarely does.

After the kitchen is cleaned and table wiped up, I go into my little sitting room off our little kitchen and work more on my blog posts. Later in the evening we come together and sit and read or talk or sometimes watch TV ( I have vintage shows on dvd such as Father Knows Best etc). I might even try my needlepoint or work on the hem of a dress. Then every evening we usually read an hour or so in bed and then lights out and it starts all over again.

I rather like this life. The old modern me HATED wiht a passion routine. I didn’t mind working that much, but was never happy. Even when I tried my hand at being a business owner, I never felt ‘satisfied or fulfilled’. We have moved a lot and done various things and yet I find being a homemaker the most rewarding. Perhaps it is because it entails SO much, creativity, imagination, hard work,  always learning new skills and pushing your existing skills to the limit, the list goes on. It is a good life.

Can you tell me a story of an incident that has occurred during this time? (perhaps an incident with the public, with getting the girdles on etc)

I have thought about this one and there are so many incidences that I have written about in my blog. They are rather longwinded, but my encounters in public have run the gamut from being sniggered at in a Mall by teens (who were wearing what would be considered basically ‘Hobo Costumes’ in 1955) as I strolled by in veiled hat, white gloves and seamed stockings and full ‘New Look’ dress to an elderly gentleman in an antique store almost tearing up and thanking me for ‘looking so well turned out’. It made him smile and then I too smiled.

My most recent encounter was a trip to our local antique store. I was dressed as usual and it happened to be a Sunday. I had Gussie in tow with me as well and she was also dressed 1950’s that day. The woman asked if I was involved in a fashion show, to which I replied, “My life is a fashion show”. She laughed.

I once, early on, was at a 1950’s Diner we frequent with friends when I became rather ill feeling. I was not yet used to the more restrictive Girdle I had on that day so I had to excuse myself to the Ladies room and remove it, roll it carefully with my stockings (as they would not work without the attached garters and I was not wearing a garter belt that day, as the girdle had the attached garters)into the pocket of my swing coat. Thank goodness it was cold enough to have my large coat. We laughed about it later and I have a variety of Girdles I wear now, some more ‘freer’ than others. It depends on what I am wearing and the occasion. I find if I need to wear the Merry Widow it is to make a nicer dress fit well and I then eat less and am less hungry. It is the most like a corset (and I have worn Victorian Corsets in the past so I know!)

But, for the most part I would say I have received positive responses from people. Many strangers will comment on my ‘style’. I think in our modern homogenized plugged in world a bit of uniqueness really affects other people. 

• How has it been adapting to the way of life of the 50’s? What has been the hardest and the easiest aspects?

In the beginning there was a rush of excitement. I know look back and see it was another outlet for the modern “consumer me”. I was able to find vintage appliances and clothes, decorative items. IT was fun, but I look back now and still see that as the very modern me. Not that I should not have fun furnishing my home, but my concept of a ‘new time’ meant, “what could I buy”?

After that settled in, I was also lucky to have a close friend who was very into it with me. This allowed us to go crazy with girdle shopping etc and having someone else be a part of it helped me ease my way into it. I think one of the hardest parts was later learning this friend, whom I thought was close with me, actually felt a sudden need to distance herself. That was the hardest. I think the more I really realized how much our modern world is so made up of consuming and how much I felt lied to by the very modern attitude of shopping is good vs. making do is bad, made me feel more distanced from the modern world. I felt less connected with people because of it. I couldn’t relate in a way, because if I expressed my own feelings of how I felt doing this or that was bad, I felt it was misconstrued as if I was “trying to tell people how to live”.  It was an odd place to be in. This friend and I are now becoming close again.

It was funny that it wasn’t hats with veils and white gloves and puffy skirts that made me feel disconnected to the world, but the very realization of what the world had become and the way we viewed the 1950’s was so off from what was actually going on. It made me sad because there is so much promise in the 1950s and somewhere along the line we missed the right path and that just made me feel very disconnected and sad, often wanting to quite literally really get into a time machine and go to the actual 1955.

What made it easier and bearable in that aspect was my blog. I have so many wonderful followers and we have become such a community, that it has made the whole experience superb! In fact, because of the people who read and comment on my blog and their own desire to want to learn or improve on their own homemaking skills, it has really given me the hope of my modern times. I know, through our technology, we can grow and make a change where early on I felt powerless and sad, now I feel plugged in and happy to see just what the new Vintage can mean for all of us. It has given my life a scope and direction I never would have thought possible a year ago.

I think one of the hardest  things for me with this project was realizing how my past years seem almost wasted to me in their little endeavors. Of course, I am glad for the journey I have taken to get where I am, but I wish I was realizing the importance of the skills I am now working to gain at say 16 or 20. Of course, perhaps at that age I would have merely scoffed at them, yet given the choice to NOT do it at that age most of us have chosen not to, and in a way, though it would mean ‘forcing it’ upon young people, when you become older you would be thankful for it.

I think sometimes Freedom gets mixed up with Not Caring what you do. I think those are two different sides of the same coin. Freedom is knowing you are equal among others and now you have the right to make your own choices, but there should still be a level of expected responsibility. We should want to be a productive part of the whole. That doesn’t mean conformity, it can also mean being an expressive artist or great musician, but you can’t be either of those things without discipline and if you can’t discipline yourself to clean your home, organize your finances, make your own food, than how will you ever tackle the sometimes insurmountable hills of greatness? “The longest journey DOES begin with the first step” and I think, much of homemaking is an important first step that can than lead down any path. I feel like in my past which was the ‘future’ I was sold short on what the realities of life actually were. We are always told “you can do anything, reach for the stars” schools spend more time, it seems, trying to sell a philosophy of ‘good feeling and positive thinking’ more than the actual skills and knowledge you NEED to try and reach the stars.

 

• Have you noticed a change in any aspect of your life - relationships, stress levels, habits? Have these changes been for the better or the worse?

I would have to say that honestly almost every aspect of my life seems to have changed this year. I know that sounds unbelievable, but quite honestly the very core of my beliefs, how I view myself and my place in the world, how the world currently is run, and my relationship to other people is so drastically different to my ‘old self’ that I sometimes almost think of her as if in a dream.

Early on in the project, I would often find myself doing something and think, “Would the 1955 me, do this?” In a sense, she became almost a separate identity to myself. I lived a sort of ‘forced multiple personality disorder’. There was the ME, which was the modern version and the OTHER ME which was my 1955 persona. What I found has happened is over the stretch of this year, one has converged on the other.

I was just thinking about this today and wondered, “Had one won out or conquered the other?” And I have decided that I feel the two have converged. My basic personality and likes have remained, but I have changed in a way that I feel more adult and yet in many ways feel a freedom I more often associated with childhood.

I recall often wondering, as I grew older, when would I be a ‘grown up’? When would I feel that magical moment when it would happen? Oft times my friends and I would discuss this very topic and it seemed no matter how many responsibilities, mortgages, finishing our education etc, we never quite felt like a ‘grown up’. I have come to see that this evolution, this year, has been a composite of what most young people in the ‘old times’ must have just gone through naturally. There are endless films shown to youngsters and teens in this time and earlier and books and things all about ‘growing up’. Parents, though even if thought ‘square’ were still the ultimate goal:the grown up. Girls looked forward to emulating the styles and responsibilities of ‘grown up women’. Boys, too, looked to the days of responsibility and attitudes of the adult men in their life. This today seems to be almost non-existent. Now, the older people want to be ‘cool’ and try as hard as they can to by young. Mothers are more ‘friends’ to their children than parents. The ultimate search for Youth culture is in full swing.

This incessant need for youth and coolness is the perfect state to be in to become an increasingly consumer culture, for we do NOT get younger and to appear so we must buy products. Clothing styles must be hip and up to date; faces must bewrinkleless, so Botox, surgery the list goes on. We are more concerned about appearing cool and young to younger people than to learning to care for our homes, raising children and making ‘grown up’ decisions about our community. Perhaps if we were more concerned about our minds and responsibilities and making a grown up life, then the younger generation would eventually aspire to it through our example. Somehow along the way ,that concept seems to be lost. How can generations learn to be adults when their own parents don’t understand how to save, handle finances, organize days, make their own food and entertain themselves?

So, here I am feeling more ‘grown up’ and yet my stress level has gone down. To feel one’s place in the world can have a calming affect. I think there is such a culture of ‘Celebrity’ worship today, that most people are more concerned about what those people do and how to become one of them, that their lives are passing them by. To clean a house or be proud of a stack of ironing or well prepared meal is silly, but having an anxious feeling of needing to always be ‘trying to reach the brass ring’ though the rings definition is so vague and the path to it rather impossible, that many people lose out on the simple pure joy of living. SO, to feel plugged into that elusive world of ‘celebrity’ there is the reality show. Watch other people doing and having what you think you should have and then emulate them as best as you can. Of course, being unaware that all of this is simply one large advertisement made to coerce you more into spending and buying.

Simple, middle class life, work and tasks, joy and friends, and the responsibility and real tasks and level of skill that can accompany that can really fill a life with happiness and contentment. But, this is not cool, or fun, or so we think. But, working endless days at jobs we hate to pay off the debt to buy things we couldn’t afford to make our life more bearable because we have to work to earn more to buy more…You can see the sad hamster wheel the modern world has put us on.

When I think of the old ME I feel almost anxious. As if I was always struggling towards some unclear goal without any focus and no real feeling of place. Today, though it might seem boring or to be scoffed at, at the end of a day, if I have a stack of ironing done, meals made, dresses I have made myself and a quiet night with tea, my needlepoint and those I love around me, how could that ever be bad? Certainly, people should struggle and work towards goals that might mean they are very important and celebrity, but for many it won’t happen. There are many potential Happy Homemakers out there that don’t even know it and given a chance might find them self in the most rewarding work ever. And homemaking, the stay at home woman of the 1950s, her position was so elastic. It could become anything she chose.

We are shown or taught that the 1950s smiling wife waiting at home was repressed and stifled, and though that might have been true for some, those with imagination and personal drive that does not need the gratification of others, were very happy and talented. These were women who, with limited budgets, decorated homes, had wonderful wardrobes, happy friends, nights out dancing, bridge parties, ladies teas. They were artists, philosophizers, repairmen, nurses, writers, chefs, the list goes on. There was a reason that image of the woman smiling in the pretty dress and apron with the cocktail waiting for her husband existed. It showed a goal and believe you me, those hours at home, especially without tv and computer all day, are exciting and challenging and fun. There is frustration and problems, of course, but you must work it out, puzzle it away, and that is often more challenging and rewarding than working out of the house.

I find it funny now that we view the housewife of the 1950s as oppressed and bored when you think of the endless chances each of their days could bring to them; the creativity and skill and the sky was the limit for their personal growth, while their husbands often has to do boring tedious work in offices day after day.

Again, that skill set of the homemaker, even if you do not want to become a homemaker, is so important, that it should be taught and discovered. I am happy now, as well, to be a part of learning and teaching that goes on in my blog and know that the learning and sharing can continue on and is exciting AND rewarding. I have never felt oppressed nor put upon. It is true that I have chosen this path, but it IS modern times and women should be show this as an OPTION for them to CHOOSE, not just fed a lie about oppression and mindlessness so instead they watch tv for hours, go out to clubs, and get deeper into dept at college with no real focus. How is THAT not oppression?

So, I would have to say emphatically that the changes wrought by this years project and the lessons of the past have changed my life completely and for the better.

• Will you maintain any of the lifestyle changes once the year ends?

At this point I think most of my changes will stay the same. I will return to reading modern fiction and news, of course, more purposefully, but will most likely find it hard to go back to modern magazines which now seem silly ads for products with no real teaching value. I will see modern movies, of course and those type of things.

However, I feel my clothes will stay the same. I am finding that to choose an area, such as the 1950’s, and to then build a wardrobe by my own hand as well as vintage finds, is so rewarding that I do not want to give it up. Nor, will I ever feel ‘out of style’ if my style is that. This way I can spend less and not need to throw away, but only mend and add to an ongoing style. Why do you think fashion changes? To make money after all it IS a business. But, we modern women now live in a world that doesn’t tell us what length our skirt has to be or etc, so we should USE that and choose an era or style of clothes we like and then focus on that. Think of the wardrobe you would eventually have and the money you would save by never having to get rid of it because the style changed. Basically, every original clothing idea has already been made. You can pick and choose what you like, but then stick with it and evolve within it. This is truly what being chic is all about, I think. My hair, as well, which is now short with bangs is so easy to maintain and so fun to curl, that will continue on after this project. I understand now why very old women from this time often still have their original hair cuts/sets.

My role of homemaker, though uncertain of it’s path in 1 January 1955, I think will continue on. The more modern aspect of my life will be the continued use of the computer but to learn programming that will allow me to now run a website that coincides with my blog so I can go further with revising and showing the Homemaking skills. I want to grow in my own local community as well as continue to grow my online community. I feel we women should share and celebrate our history of homemaking.

Things like modern fast food, chips and junk food, I have found I do not want to return to. The more I learn to make my own things the more I realize how horrid modern processed manufactured foods actually taste. The more I find that has been ‘hidden’ by greed and government about ‘store-bought’ foods, the more I want to make my own things. My hubby told me about the sweetener splenda, which had been turned down by the FDA for years until Donald Rumsfeld, who was  involved in it, was appointed to a political position. That combined with lobbyists throwing money at our politicians allowed them to approve something they knew unsafe. I used that product as a sweetener and bought products containing it up until this year. It was even found out that it tricks the body into thinking it has actual sugar so your body produces the level of insulin it would need to process the actual sugar calories which is dangerous to your body. A very unsafe result and it also makes you more hungry in the end. I feel used in such a way by news like that. I feel no more than a wallet to our government in ways like that and it just has me wanting to be more in control of the parts of my life that I can, such as my own food preparation, which I have also come to find enjoyable.

So, with the exception of a few things relating to news and modern movies and culture, I will most likely remain the same. It has become to me so much my LIFE and less a costume or artistic performance piece, that I am not even sure if I really could ‘return to the present’ wholeheartedly.

What I don’t want to do, however, is to live disconnected and feel that I am locking myself away in a fantasy world of untruth, but in fact a new kind of Modern is born in me. I feel more than ever that I want to become involved in my community and to share and learn such skills as I have with others. I can’t ever be again the norm of current modern, but in a way I almost will feel ultra modern in a way that is taking things from the past but challenging the ideals and ideas of my day. It is funny to think the norm today would be a tattooed pierced consumer while the ‘subversive’ is the lady in the petticoat hat and gloves, talking about baking for her local community.  Is Homemaking the NEW Counterculture? Perhaps corporations will make school films showing why not to give in to the subversive lifestyle of the homemaker!

 

• How have you found the clothing of the 50’s? Has it been an effort to prepare yourself like a 50’s women each day? (corsets, girdles etc)

I have found the fashions to be fun and flattering. I do wear a girdle, but when I am at home working or in the height of summer I did not. My stockings and garter belt were only worn in the summer to more ‘formal’ or a ‘city occasion’. It was perfectly appropriate for me to wear a summer cotton dress without hose as I live in a summer resort area.

At first the girdle was a little odd to wear, but I now know why many older ladies hold onto their girdles. They are comfortable and hold you in and make your clothes fit is a way that makes you feel good. But, really, the new SPANX product today is merely a girdle. Women want to look beautiful, I think.

I think the hardest for me is keeping up with my nails. I am always cleaning and washing and in the summer in the garden, so I need to be more diligent about my gloves. Ladies wore gloves not only in the summer as part of their fashion, but to clean and garden (thus rubber and gardening gloves). Keeping your nails covered and therefore only needing to touch them up throughout the week seems to allude me, but I do wish to do a better job of it. I also don’t feel any less intelligent or smart in caring for my appearance. I have come to see that we, as women, can look beautiful and feel pretty and still discuss politics and literature. I think not trying to do both is a sort of let down to our predecessors. One does not get smarter the dingier one gets.

We are  after all, creatures of habit, so even my wardrobe has become so normal to me, that I am not sure I could or would go back to jeans and t’s. I would feel underdressed or more ‘uncomfortable’ not having my hat and gloves or wearing a dress to go out shopping/dinner.

It is interesting, as many people may not think that fashion matters to them, but with this experiment I have found that what you wear can be as important to your emotional level as what you read/watch/ think about. The 1955 woman may have felt she only had limited choices in the fashion, such as the New Look lengths, but within that ‘safe harbor’ of skirt lengths and what to wear when, was left open your interpretation of the outcome. You could accessorize and create your own style within that framework. And, beside feeling good or uplifted in nice clothes with your hair done and the right accessories, when you are with a group of women who are doing something similar (as sometimes happens when I coerce my friends into a gathering in vintage garb such as my recent Birthday tea) it has a feeling of wonderful fairytale quality. You feel as if you are playing dress up/grown up and then realize you are the grown up. So, on a psychological level, clothes really seem to be an important part of the psyche to adult hood.

I think part of the current  state of  our all being great grown babies and not adults, may lie in the clothes as well. It is easy to slouch, be mindless and watch tv in ‘comfy clothes’ but get together with friends in nicer clothes and you want to sit up straight, hold your tea cup and saucer, balance your plate carefully upon your napkin upon your knee, ankles crossed. It is great that we CAN act as we choose, but in that choice I just wish we would CHOOSE SOMETIMES to act grownups. Perhaps I am just an anachronism now, but I do know that I am happy and content with the pattern of my life. Though I may be the odd ball in the room in a petticoat and white gloves, I feel better and happier, so that is a part I don’t want to lose sight of. Clothes can matter and affect your life. It is the outward expression of who or what we want to be. I don’t want to be a lazy runner in a track suit watching tv, so I won’t dress that part. It is no harder to put on a dress and zip it up than to wear old jeans and t’s and yet the resulting feeling you get and the positive result you often get from others can make your day go from gray to blue. I know that sounds trite, but I also know it is true.

• Have you ever felt you wanted to stop the project? Or have you adopted it wholeheartedly?

In the beginning, after the first rush of a month or so, I felt as if I wondered if I should stop. I really felt my very psyche, the core of who the “I” or “ME” was, being questioned. I began to also feel cut off and longed for a time in which I didn’t live. I would often spend some time watching old 1950’s family films that my hubby had found for me on YouTube and feeling rather sad.

Then I began to see that what I was missing was not a past I had never experienced, but all the skills and sense of place and community that once existed. Once I figured that out I pretty much went full tilt into the project and slid into the role easier than any other I have ever tried.

• Would you like to add anything else?

I think my final words should be that never would I have thought, a year ago, something viewed with such disdain could be so rewarding. I think the home arts are such an integral part of womanhood and our history that it is a shame they are falling on the wayside. Even if you would never yourself want to be a homemaker, to not at least study and know of what it entails and what is meant is a disservice to your own sex. As History was being made and nations built, women were there cooking, mending, sewing, creating, challenging, raising children, creating homes in every aspect. I hope that all women could see the relevance and importance this part of our history has to us, as women, and to our future sisters. I don’t think an advanced people can ever truly move forward without first looking back.

2 November 1955 “Happy Birthday To Me”

Well, today is my birthday. Being a lady it is my prerogative to not say WHICH birthday it is.

Although I am celebrating this evening at a restaurant with a group of friends and family, yesterday I was lucky to have a lovely Ladies Vintage Birthday Tea! Though my hubby was there and my friends fiancé  showed up later to keep him company, we were mostly ladies.

When I first had the idea my friends mentioned to me if I would rather go out to tea, instead of my having to plan and prepare the majority of it myself. I considered this and realized, much of the fun for me is the planning and preparing. I love to try new recipes and of course to entertain in my home, so why not throw my own tea for my birthday.

I had such fun! It was a High Tea in the sense that we had it at 4:00. I made a spread that consisted of both sweet and savory. Here I am, happily aproned showing off my spread.I had my first go at Petits fours and was quite pleased with the result. It was white cake baked in a sheet pan. Then I sliced it into long strips splitting those in half. In between the layers I put a butter cream frosting with almond flavoring and then they were individually drizzled with the icing of confectioners sugar, almond flavoring and cream. I had to drizzle it three times, but could have done many layers to give it a more ‘finished look’. I was happy with them and they were wonderful with the tea. Sweet and melt in your mouth goodness. My friends fiancé said, when he showed up later for ‘cocktail hour’ that they were like eating sweet snow, in that they melted in your mouth. I took this to be a compliment. Here is a close up of them. One of my gifts from Gussie, besides a lovely pair of new gloves ( a gal can never have enough!) was the last of the fresh raspberries from the farm where she works. They were a perfect touch. I also used a single chocolate square and coconut to garnish the rest.

I also tried my hand at coconut macaroons, which were so easy, and I dipped them in Lindt Chocolate melted with sweetened condensed milk. Really good.Here is the recipe if you would like to try them.

Quick Coconut Macaroons

1 1/2 cups flaked coconut

1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk

Dash of salt

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp almond extract

Combine all ingredients and mix well. Drop from teaspoon 1 inch apart on greased baking sheet and press down ends of coconut with back of spoon. Bake in moderate oven (350 degrees F) for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. (I had to bake mine longer, as I like them golden with  a crisp outside and soft inside. These are also wonderful with chopped almonds or an almond on top covered in chocolate. Easy AND a crowd pleaser!

There was also my now famous chocolate chip cookies with coconut (coconut themed, as you can see). I had a bread pudding I made with the leftover white cake form my petit for and leftover icing. I just broke up the cake, spooned in the leftover confectioners sugar icing, mixed in the leftover egg yolks from my white cake (I only needed the whites as it was a ‘true’ white cake) and sprinkled it with cinnamon and nutmeg. Very sweet, but a great pudding with a strong black tea.

Then for savories, I made little tea sandwiches. There were cucumber and butter, cucumber and dill mayonnaise. I also had deviled ham with sweet relish and chicken salad with sweet relish sandwiches and smoked salmon and cream cheese sandwiches. And various relish and pickles and olives and a cheese ball mixed with wine and coated in walnuts. Such a spread of little finger foods is really quite filling, and we merely used little dessert plates and then could mingle and nibble throughout the night as it went from dainty tea party to cocktail hour.

One of my friends gave as a gift a darling little pair of gold needlepoint scissors and a needlepoint set containing a threader, a magnetic needle case and an ingenius little pin you wear that is magnetic to keep track of your needles. Another friend gave me four jars of her homemade jam (Cranberry chutney, pineapple honey, blueberry, and strawberry).

We had such a lovely time.Here are some friends laughing over tea. I am not sure if you can see my hat in this picture, but it has a darling little veil which I wore early on, but raise later.Sandwiches and fun! My table clothes are both vintage. The white linen cloth was my mothers and the flowered one over that is also vintage. I love the colors of this cloth as it mingles the red and the aqua I love and felt it complimented my everyday china and plate. I could have used my fine china, but since it was a casual affair for the most part and I liked the color combination with my table cloth, I went with my everyday. It does get much love.

We took time to enjoy the warmer fall weather outside. Here we are in the grips of a funny story. The dress I am wearing (I am on the far left) I had just finished the day before. It is of a darling little plaid of black, navy, and green. I am well petticoated as you can see. I have one very FULL petticoat that I can only really wear with a heavier material skirt and it worked great with the weight of this wool. Very comfortable dress. The waistline was individually pleated and took some time, but was well worth it.

    We took time to be silly, too, of course.

Here I am playing the chanteuse by the piano. I adore these shoes, they are one of my favorite pair and though they have a high heel, are so comfortable. They are truly a mid 50’s shoe as they have a rounded tow and a thicker heel, the stiletto and point will not be truly around until the end of the decade. 

Now, my tea party was yesterday, but today, the 2nd, is my actual birthday. I was awoken by hubby this morning with hot coffee in bed and some gifts. I recieved an old first edition of a fiction book taking place on Cape Cod. A vintage 1950’s edition on how to repair, build, maintain historic homes from the 1700’s New England. I was very excited about this because in the sections on ‘modern kitchens’ that can fit with your antique home, it has 1950’s versions of colonial/modern. I got various assortments of teas to restock the tea cabinet and my favorite gift was this wonderful vintage mixer.This is it in my kitchen here in our ‘new’ house just taken this morning. I just mentioned, maybe once, that I really needed a good vintage stand mixer but I wanted one that did juice AND had an attachment for meat grinding. I had no idea my hubby would have thought of this nor been able to find such a great condition one with all the original parts. And the color looks lovely with the red in my kitchen. Look how it sets off the curtains! All in all, a great birthday in a great year.

We had planned on going out to breakfast this morning, but I thought about it and considered our leftover salmon and homemade bread and thought I would rather eat at home, in comfort. I told hubby, no thanks, I think I would rather make our breakfast.

So, as I watched the eggs scramble and prepared the smoked salmon I really got to thinking. Here it was my birthday and normally it would see the thing to do was to go out and celebrate. A day OUT of the kitchen and yet I really wanted to be in there. I really felt, why spend the money and do something because it seems like I should, when I honestly would rather be in here doing it myself, eating of my own china in my dining room in comfort. This really made me realize how this year has shown the simplicity of life and its inherent luxury. The joy in my own creation and skill. Why take a break from what you really love because it is your birthday? And, here I am, at the end of this year 1955, genuinely in love with my ‘career’ and overall my life.

This made me feel very good, to say the least and of course more charged to continue learning and growing and to hopefully inspire maybe others who would never think they COULD enjoy such a life, but may find out it is the perfect fit for them.

This has been a good year and today a good birthday. I am so happy to have shared it thus far with all of you, my readers. Thank you so much for coming along for the ride with me. I truly feel we ARE a community and look forward to all your comments, opinions, thoughts, and ideas. I hope we can continue to grow and learn together.

Oh, and for fun, I wanted to share black and white versions of the above photos, as I thought they really do look vintage. I wanted some to have color so you could see our dresses and hats, but in black and white, I am amazed at how ‘authentic’ they look.

Have a wonderful day, Apron Revolutionaries!

31 October 1955 “Happy Halloween!”

 

 

I still have more Questions I have answered that I will post, but I had to do a Halloween post.

Here are some Teresa Brewer songs in the vein of Halloween. So fun!

Hubby and I were talking this morning about how different tricks or treats have become from when even we were younger. We were allowed to go in the dark and going at ‘the mall’ was not heard of. How much an example of our consumer economy when the ‘neighborhood’ for tricks or treats is replaced with the mall!

Though the ‘downtown’ neighborhood of my little cape town couldn’t be MORE out of a 1940/50’s movie. The old colonial and antique houses set together on crooked streets with great old trees pushing their way through side walked paths. I wonder how many children will trick or treat there? Most like many will encounter the mall instead. I am curious to find out.

Then we began talking about the freedoms of children today. How restricted they are. We found a product for toddlers that is a helmet and knee pads so it doesn’t hurt itself during the toddler years!

There is so much sensationalism on TV and news that sets fear into parents hearts even though nation wide since the mid 90’s crime has been going down. I also found this interesting, parents drive their kids everywhere due to the fear of their being kidnapped or attacked, but the number one cause of children's’ deaths IS auto accidents. And the statistic is that a child is 40% more likely to be hurt or killed in the car on the way home from school than just walking!

I then began to think about all the horrible CSI and shows of there ilk, that show dead bodies cut up, decomposing, etc. are there for any kid to see.  The type of death that is shown to children today is something that is very rare and one they may never encounter, yet actual death, that which we all face, is hidden. Old people, who are closer to death, are put in homes in great groups, separate from the young. I Remember my mother once told me back when she was little in the 30’s they still had the body of the dead relative in the front parlor as part of the funeral process. A kid today may seen endless images of bodies cut up, hurt, destroyed in movies and on TV, yet the actual natural state of the old and their death is mostly kept from them. The very natural process we all face is kept hidden away, the machine moves us further from our own natural states, in a way.

I guess, it just seems we isolate children and teens more and more from the realities of the world and then wonder at their ‘not growing up’. They have an odd mixture of over coddling and protecting mixed with insane amounts of over sexualized media. It is a very odd mix. I wonder what will their off spring be like?

I also know that costumes, though available to buy in 1955, were still predominately made. If your mother did not sew, than old clothes and make up were used to make you a pirate or a princess or a hobo. Today, SO many costumes, cheaply made of plastic and fabric sold for one night and then tossed away. What does that teach our children? If you need something for a night of creativity, go buy it and then throw it out when you are done. How about, use your imagination and with what we have around see what great costume you can make. The more I think about children today the more I see how we honestly are raising up our little consumers with no fear of making more garbage and buying their little lives into debt.

I just remember as a child the fun of getting to stumble about in the dark to do trick or treating. You would have a parent with you, but you would beg to get to run ahead and go to the next house, while they waited on the sidewalk. I am sure generations before me, they were allowed to go without the parents. I know that the world has more people and more cars since then, but it is another example of the consumer culture we live in when we drive our children in cars to their bus stop to be picked up.

Again, I am not judging as I have no children and I would be worried to death with my own children, I am sure, but I find it odd that parents are over protective in some ways and then in malls and large stores they just let them run off, where they should be watched. I just sometimes have those moments that I am in a movie and look around and wonder at all the crazy things going on around me. But, then again, perhaps it is I who am crazy, who knows?

Now, back to Halloween. There seems to be so many cards from 1900’s featuring Halloween. It must have been the custom to give cards for this holiday then. It seems there were parties and soaping windows and pranks were more a part of the night then getting candy from neighbors as evidenced by this cute card.The little devils are getting toted away after a night of shenanigans!

  This is a very early Halloween photo from around 1900. It has an almost ‘modern sinister’ appearance to it, but that makes me wonder at my own lost innocence when I view things.

So, were I truly a homemaker and a mother in 1955, I could count on my my mother having enjoyed these types of Halloween at the turn of the century. Of course, their own fun and costume ideas could have been imparted onto the children of the 1950s, but at this time, the TV was a major staple and with comic books, the kids most likely didn’t care about grandma’s Halloween and just wanted to be superhero’s and cowboys and get candy.

So, no matter how you celebrate, have a great Halloween and a fine All Souls Day tomorrow.

I forgot about this scene in “Meet Me in St. Louis” which is suppose to take place at the turn of the century around 1900 or so.

And just for fun, I love this song from that movie, though nothing to do with Halloween.

30 October 1955 “Questions and Answers: Part Two of Three”

Here is the second installment of my questions and answers. I really found, going through these questions, how much I have changed and really studied this year. I hope you enjoy it and please, though they are my answers, chime in with your own ideas!

• How completely have you changed your lifestyle to accommodate the 1950’s way of life.

I changed as much was/is possible and still functional. Obviously, the use of my computer was important in order to document my project. I have found, however, that computer (though once used for entertainment) now serves as a combination typewriter/reference library.

My dress is completely vintage. I wear girdle and stockings  (no panty hose) and mainly dresses and skirts. I have one pair of dungarees (blue jeans) that I wear for work around the yard or sometimes house work. These are high waisted and I can’t believe how much MORE comfortable they are than the modern ‘low rise’ jeans.  Hats and gloves, pocket books, and hankies, all  of these are of the period and many authentic when possible. Although,  my wardrobe of handmade dresses is growing, using vintage repro patterns. I am to the point where I am trying to take a very basic bodice pattern that fits me and then I ‘make up’ the rest of the pattern. If I see a ‘style’ I like in a movie or vintage Vogue, I want to be able to copy in a way that it feels ‘inspired’ by it. I think a sewing homemaker would have most likely ventured into her own pattern making. In fact, I am sure in High School and College level Home Economics, she would have learned pattern making. 

• Where did you source your 1950’s clothing and décor from?

A mixture of local antique/thrift stores and church sales. I also found many things on ebay (my vintage cone bra for example).

• Has your husband joined in with the 1950’s theme?

As I said, my husband is very easy going and never wonders at what I might do next. He takes it all in stride. He is rather 1950’s in many ways, already, such as his manner of dress. He owns one pair of jeans which he rarely wears. He wears mostly ‘dress slacks’ and even cotton pants for working in the yard. He wears ties, sweater vests etc and has a very 1950’s haircut. He does not wear tennis shoes except to go running, so really he blends right in. He is also a pipe smoker and collects and uses antique typewriters, so it was rather a nice fit. We seem to find ourselves very ‘at home’ in the 1955 role of breadwinner husband and homemaker wife both in clothing and attitudes.

I think our attitudes as two educated middle class people, we are very similar to our counterparts. Though I love vintage clothes and can get rather excited about talking about petticoats and things, we have very real political discussions concerning the period, much the way I think our 1955 counterparts would have.

• What is your knowledge on Dior’s ‘New Look’ that came out in 1947, following WWII?

Considering Dior grew up in a fairly wealthy household and had memories of his mother and female family in the luxury of the Belle Epoch, his New Look (so dubbed by the then editor of Harper’s Bazaar, Carmel Snow who exclaimed, “It’s such a new look”) seems to be his response to what he fondly recalled and what was needed after the war. The New Look.

I think fashion will always look back before it looks forward. Any true innovation of fashion always has some nod to the past. In the Regency Period, for example, the look of the classical Greek and Roman statues were copied into the Empire waist.  Napoleon, feeling akin to the Roman Emperors, affected such changes himself.

The idea of copying a previous time period you are fascinated with is not an new idea at all. Even the colors, sleeves and necklines of the 1870’s Victorian period were a direct nod to the French era of Marie Antoinette.   And so Dior, after the war, wanted to give back to the world some of the beauty and femininity of the world that had been lost in the war. A world he most likely could remember in the tactile sense of youth; the rustle of the petticoat, the sway of full fabric from a small sashed waist. And I really do think that the New Look was a way to bring back some of the good that was lost after the world changed in an almost innocent way. We could leave the ideals of privilege and class in the past, but let there be beauty and femininity again. In a very simple manner he gave back a sense of luxury and innocence that had been lost.

With the restriction of fabric during the war, the look of the 1930s (which was returning to a longer skirt) certainly directed the look. There was only so much fabric.  A new silhouette was really needed in the fashion world. The hard military shoulders and knee length skirts of the war couldn’t be further away from the New Look, with its yards of full skirt, soft sloped shoulders and nipped in  waist.

What I find interesting is at this time and really only until the late 1960’s, what the fashion houses dictated as fashion would affect most people. Even if you were not wealthy, if the ‘fashion’ was a full skirt to mid calf that meant the wealthy in New York would wear a Dior original, but also the young wife in Idaho also would follow suit. That was why there was such an outrage against it by those who wanted the freedom and sensuality of the shorter skirt. When, in reality, they could have simply just worn what they liked. And THAT is the big difference in our two worlds. Today, a woman wears what she likes. And to that, I am happy. Yet, I do wish there was a return to the idea of a ‘style’ that could be set and then copied by those in their own way. Somehow it almost seems as if that allows more originality. Because, it seems when we are given the option to wear anything, we always revert back to jeans and T’s. That is fine if you choose that and it doesn’t choose you, yet I hear from women all the time how they WISH they could wear vintage, or have the nerve to wear hats. It is odd that given MORE freedom we somehow feel more restricted, odd isn’t it.

Now, I am not saying I want to put holds on anyone’s freedoms, but what I am saying, ladies, is that for those of you who long and pine for the days of beauty in clothes, you have the choice our grandmothers DID NOT! So, watch some old movies or read old vogue, look at Edith Head designs and get to sewing! The world around you can be changed. You might be the woman brave enough to wear that veiled 1950’s hat and gloves to the store, party or church and other women will think, “Oh, my, how adorable”. We always do. No matter how removed we can pretend to be from fashion as women, let’s face it, fashion has existed BECAUSE of us. Again, another powerful part of our woman’s history. We WORE the corsets and bustles and farthingales. Men may have manufactured them, but WE gave them life! Embrace it! Sometimes I feel that we as women are so powerful, but we feel the need to hide or suppress it. If it takes nerve to wear a full on 1950s outfit down to the girdle or even an 1850’s, then we can do it! You might affect the style in your own town and honestly wouldn’t you rather be thought of as having your own style than not thought of at all?

Well, I got off topic a little, I am sorry, that bit was more for my post, back to Dior and the New Look.

I have often wondered if Dior was also influenced by a very small trend that occurred right after WWI started. Many fashions then were needed to become practical. . The idea that women would suddenly need, en masse, to take over male roles of work was beyond comprehension up to this point, though we often forget that there was always a class of woman who worked hard physical labor, servants. Their role certainly became easier as fashion became less complicated, but then they slowly were done away with as the century progressed. But, fashion was for the wealthy and then the copiers of fashion, the middle class.  That is why I think the “War Crinoline” look became popular that spring of 1915. We had not yet realized what the new roles for women would entail. The fashions had become rather mannish and stark and this was a response to a need for the feminine form. When you see the fashion plates, you can easily see the new look. Particularly in this image, the navy dress and the pink dress with an overlay could probably have simply had a tight belt at the waist and been worn in 1949 as Dior’s New Look.

In the spring of 1915, however, fashion changed radically with the introduction of an outline known at the time as the 'war crinoline.' Hemlines crept upward and the skirt was now very full and bell-shaped, with wide collars and sloping shoulders.

So, this odd year of overtly feminized form of course was quickly replaced with the more practical war clothes of WWI.

So, having both grown up with ladies of high society in lush exuberant gowns and having living in Paris during the stark years of the war as well as the severe silhouette of Chanel in the 1920’s, this was really a groundbreaking look. Yet, and I am sure he was aware of it, it was highly influenced by the past. And, even the ‘war crinoline’ of 1915 is merely a reinterpretation of the 1840s-1860s Victorian period of full skirts culminating in wasp waist full skirt and sloped shoulders.

I think, much as I have found with my own project, we can and should look to the past for inspiration and ideas. In a way, those who have already lived have had to make mistakes and it is silly for us not to learn from them. Dior saw a need in both Fashion and probably in his own heart, after the devastation of the war, to a return of gentler more comforting times. The era where ladies had small waists, milled about in full gowns and sat daintily sipping tea under large hats, and thus the NEW LOOK was born. That, anyway, is how I see it.

 

• What do you think of this style of clothing, with the 8-inch waist and 25 meters of material in one skirt alone?

For myself, I adore Dior’s look. I am tall and can carry a full skirt mid-calf fairly well. I do recall there being a backlash from women at the New Look because they had to cover their legs after the freedoms of the War and certainly for a shorter frame it might not be as complimentary.

Since I am living in 1955, the New Look is not so new any more. My skirts, for the most part, are very full. I actually prefer a full skirt with petticoat over the pencil skirt, though I do wear those as well. My full skirts tend to run a little closer to the knee, as would be happening now in 1955, and by 1962 you would still have that silhouette but the skirt would be just at the knee, also very flattering. Compared to the later 1960’s short straight A-ling dresses, I think the New Look is a woman’s best friend. There are many ways to hide ‘flaws’ in the New Look, while the mini dresses of the 1960’s bared all.

There is something supremely feminine in the New Look. The fall of the skirt, the way it moves and the sound of the petticoat and crinoline. Even my housedresses that I clean in are full skirted, though often worn without my petticoat, they are a joy to clean in, as I can move about freely, are very comfortable in the summer (when my girdle was only worn ‘out in public’ as I was told my ladies of the time that was correct).

What I can say to any of you who have not worn the New Look, you must try it at least once. There is something etheral about walking into a room feeling the movement of your skirt and the way it falls as you sit. It gives a lovely look, and I have to say, in it’s suit form, is very smart. I love the looks of other time periods, say the 1920’s, but if you are fuller figured, the New Look is for you!

• What do you think this meant for women? Did you find this a form of oppression and push for conformity for women, or did you find this luxurious and ‘housewife’ ideal appropriate?

I think any intentional form of ‘oppression’ through clothes upon women is rather a modern ideal. Perhaps, other than Poiret’s hobble skirt of the teens, which literally restricted movement of the legs, fashion on women was never ‘inflicted’ in my opinion.

There were certainly those who may have suffered with the corset, probably Victorian servants in upper class households for example, but for the majority of it’s existence it was no more oppressive than a modern bra. In fact, I don’t believe it was until later Victorian (1870s-1900) that the ‘tight lacing’ of the wasp waist was really a infliction on your body.  A corset of say the Regency Period or even Victorian around 1840 was more about holding a shape to conform to the fashion. Now, I am not saying I want us to have to wear corsets or girdles, but I am saying that in the past society lived in a more patterned way. Really, any woman could have stopped wearing her corset, she was not literally being ‘forced’ into it everyday. But the moral fiber and laws of society themselves required you, if you wanted to participate, to follow those rules. Do I think those rules were set only by men, no. This is something that I think really needs further study. I am sure, for every one woman who despised her corset, there were ten ladies reveling in it. This concept that men, until the 1960’s, held us in an iron clawed grip is, to me, a farse. We have more freedoms now and I am glad for it, but we have always had the potential for those, but we chose, collectively, to focus on other aspects of our society. Women, by nature, are nurturers biologically. You have only to look at other mammals to know that. So, we tend to be the ones who quietly allow there to be serenity, to make a comfortable home to live in. What we need to realize now is that equality is not about FORGETTING or throwing away anything we think, as modern women, is servitude: such as homemaking skills! We really do a disservice to our own history in so doing.

I think there were definitely women who had tasted the freedom of the workforce during the war and did not want to go back. Certainly they would prefer a different look and actually the office look at the time was more streamlines, with fitted jackets and pencil skirts, but for the women who did want to return home, it must have been a luxury. As I said, there were many women who actually protested the New Look, but it had nothing to do with ‘men’s oppression’ and in fact most men, had they had the choice, would have not wanted it either, because really the look of the war showed much more leg! And that is another thing I have noticed about modern times. Men obviously like to see women. The new look was more about how we felt as women in being pretty. It covered us up more, but we didn’t care as we were pleasing ourselves not the men. Today, fashion seems to be akin to strippers and lingerie models. Somehow the ideal has become to be as sexy for men as possible. Now, that seems more degrading to me than getting to wear pretty dresses with frou frou and fun, which many women DO enjoy rather men do or not.

So, I can only really speculate what was really felt by the common homemaker. For me, coming from a world of jeans and very few dresses being seen except for ‘nice dinners out and parties’ it was like the joy of a little girl getting to play in her dress up box or her mother’s closet. I would think that must have been true for some women, especially war brides as I would have been. If you are lucky enough to have your husband return home, the thought of making that home, raising children, decorating, going out and looking beautiful meant a great deal to them. Even in my experiment I cannot ever fully know how it must have felt to go from your world exploding around you and the constant fear of death to the reality that you could dress up and be pretty and have parties in your new home with new things and color everywhere! It must have seemed, for many, a magical time.

• What are your thoughts on women’s role during this era?

I think one of the main elements of my project was to see, was the primary role of women of the time as homemaker (and mother, though I do not have children) a good or bad one?  Though certainly after the war, women were expected to give up their jobs to the men and become wives, many did not or they continued working while being married.

I think what I have found is that one of the main roles of women throughout recorded history has been that of Homemaker in one way or another. It is only after this year that I am beginning to see what a treasure and important aspect this is to Women’s History. Rather we feel, by modern standards, that it was ‘enforced’ upon women, I am afraid that we are now too quick to judge. I have found that the attitude “Oh, Just a Housewife” slaps the face of all our fore sisters in the face. Our role of nurturer, nester, and all that has become homemaking is riddled with skill and accomplishment. I think now that women have CHOICES that Homemaker should still be a valid one. I also feel much of Homemaking skills should be taught to both boys and girls at a young age, as to care for oneself, to be self-sufficient in this way is important. Rather you have a husband making the income or you are single, such skills as cooking/baking, mending clothes, being budget wise, familiar with the working of appliances, making clothes etc, all these are important elements.

So, though we see the 1950’s primarily as a time that woman was a Homemaker or a nurse or schoolteacher, the children of these women were open to more careers. There were also women doctors and engineers etc. I do feel, however, that the role of woman in this era as a Homemaker should be taken more seriously. I feel that role and all it entailed could even help today in our economy and planetary crisis. The green movement could be greatly improved by following the rules of the old homemakers household, where things were reused, repaired and garbage was considered reusable, before becoming garbage. Even the ability to make more things from simple stock ingredients reduces the amount of garbage we make with packaging. I always laugh, particularly now, at bottled water. If we were to time travel to 1955 and tell them that you would have to pay for water in a bottle, I am sure they would have laughed at us. But, we aren’t laughing, we are buying it by the truckloads and many other pre-packaged things and clothing and cheap furniture and the list goes on. I think much of what we make fun of as the role of the homemaker may prove to be a solution for all if we want to seriously restrict our garbage, but unfortunately, our consumer culture does not want that, because then we will buy less, but that also means more savings for us. We really will begin to see the Homemaker’s skills as a remedy for the ills of our current economy and nation.