If you intend to tarry on the links dressed in knickers, or plus fours, you will be needing a sturdy pair of ‘Scotch wool’ stockings in which to pull the look off; and should the assembled golf ruffians jeer at you from the comfort of the nineteenth hole, you can bludgeon them with your very smart, pleated golf gloves, circa 1915.
Fashion, like all empires, has it’s slaves. The slaves are treated cruelly but, strangely, they never seem to mind; they do what ever is required of them. Many are the examples of fashion’s tyranny: in the past it has demanded that it’s slaves wear cowboy boots, although none could rope a steer, and it has demanded of it’s slaves that they wear uniforms, although none could fight. In fashion’s name the slaves have removed ribs and teeth, reduced or enlarged body parts, dyed hair cross-dressed and tattooed themselves like jail-birds. The slaves do it all and there seems to be no limit to fashion’s fickle whims that will ever make them say, no.
To illustrate this point, you can read this beautifully illustrated Vogue magazine article from 1919 in which the beast demands perfectly healthy young women to walk with canes.
This advertisement was placed in an American veteran’s magazine as an attempt to produce some profit from the vast surplus of uniform items that remained in all the combatant nations at war’s end. Puttees, unlike other uniform items, enjoyed a brief moment in fashion’s spotlight during the late teens and much the twenties as an accessory for those who enjoyed camping and hunting (or simply wished to affect the look).
Also included is a fashion photograph of puttees from a VANITY FAIR fashion editorial from 1917
A year and a half before the end of World War I, the German Army introduced the Lederschutzmasken, a leather gas mask made of specially treated Bavarian sheepskin with removable lenses. Designed to replace the rubberized cloth gas masks, the 1917 respirators proved to be far more effective against phosgene gas than the 1915 masks. The Allied powers dismissed the new design as evidence that material shortages on the German home front were forcing changes.
Click here to read about the celebrations that took place in Paris the day World War One ended.
Ignoring the general unpleasantness taking place outside of town, the taste-makers of Paris soldiered-on as best they could, creating garments for the summer of 1916 that were both original and feminine and bore the mark of Paris’ characteristic opulence.
Click here to read about the New York fashions of 1916.
Man of letters and all-around swell-guy Frank Moore Colby (1865 – 1925) had a good time reading the flowery writing of the Ballet Connoisseurs who write for the New York papers…
This single column reported on the 1916 busts that were created by the American sculptor Jo Davidson (1883 – 1952), during his tour of war-torn Europe.
By the end of the Twentieth Century, much of his work would be in the collections of many of the finest art museums, such as the National Gallery of Art, Washington, the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, the U.S. Senate Art Collection and the National Statuary Hall, both in Washington.
Exempted from serving with the French military in World War I, the artist Marcel Duchamp returned to New York City where he triumphed during the Armory Show of 1913 – together he and his two brothers, Raymond Duchamp-Villon and Jacques Villon, all showed their groundbreaking art. Marcel was the toast of New York and his modern painting, Nude Descending a Staircase was regarded as a masterwork.
In the attached VANITY FAIR article, Duchamp let’s it be known that he crossed the submarine-infested waters of the Atlantic to see American art.
Although not known as a clairvoyant, this 1914 cartoon by the New York artist John Sloan (1871 – 1951) seemed to predict the lousy ending that would play out four years after W.W. I reached its bloody climax.
Attached is a 1915 magazine ad from a British society magazine that illustrates the profile of the British Service Hat (trench cap). This wool headgear was worn by all British and Commonwealth forces prior to the 1916 introduction of the Brody Helmet (tin hat), which was issued in order to reduce the high number of head injuries.
This is a small illustrated page about an early monoplane popularly known on the English isles as the Flying Teatray. A peculiar looking machine, it apparently was able to get off the ground for a while (see illustration) but it was passed by for service during the First World War, which had been raging for some three months by the time this article was published.
The German military maneuvers have aroused the attention of Europe to the splendid equipment and administration of the Army, not only in the fighting spirit, but in the commissariat and its medical service.
-so begins the attached article which referenced the overall sense of intimidation and uneasiness that was triggered by the display of bristling military might that was recently witnessed. The journalist mused about just what the Franco-Russian Alliance would mean in the face of such an advanced military force, touching upon the size of the German Army compared with other forces in Europe -openly stating that France could never stand up to an attack.
Heartlessly ripped from the binding of an ancient issue of VANITY FAIR was this page of shoe illustrations in which a smart pair of womens leather boots are the centerpiece, accompanied by Russian dancing shoes, a splendid pair of gold brocade slippers, white buckskin tennis oxfords and a pair of walking boots.
Legendary fashion designer Christian Dior had a good deal of trouble with people who would illegally copy his designs; click here to read about that part of fashion history.
With the centennial re-running of the New York to Paris race beginning this May (2008), it is interesting to read about the authentic 1908 contest and the difficulties they faced in a world without proper roads.
Interest in the New York – to – Paris race, temporarily suspended by the failure to find a passable road in Alaska…
Americans of the mid-Nineteenth Century who entertained any social ambitions at all were totally at a loss as to how they might find their place in the business world, much less the swank and pomp of polite society, if they were without any understanding as to the manners required to open these doors. Unable to benefit from such T.V. shows as Dallas or Dynasty and finding that Emily Post was no where in view, they found a reliable ally in a collection of pamphlets briefly published by the firm of Beadle & Adams.
The attached article is about Sessue Hayakawa (1889 – 1973), the first Asian actor to achieve star status in Hollywood:
No, Sessue Hayakawa, the world’s most noted Japanese photoplay actor, does not dwell in a papier-mache house amid tea-cup scenery. He is working in pictures in Los Angeles, and he lives in a ‘regular’ bungalow, furnished in mission oak, and dresses very modishly according to American standards.
An unnamed art critic writing for the British magazine SPECTATOR gave his back-hand to Wyndham Lewis
The point might also be raised whether Mr. Wyndham Lewis should ever use oil paint. It is a medium which he seems to have little capacity and no sympathy…
