2023 Fashion on the Ration Challenge

Cherryfudge

Laura_Elsewhere said:

I wear petticoats almost always - my winter one is long, full and has a foot-deep very full flounce, and is made of red flannelette! I wear it when I go swimming as it makes an ideal changing tent  

Also useful for flagging down steam trains in the event of a landslide, before anyone else says it.

I'd imagine your underskirt is very good insulation. I loved it in the late seventies when flounced white underskirts were made to fit under tiered skirts (and later manufacturers just added a bit of lace to the skirt hem). Wish those days would come back! I still have one such underskirt.

The evolution of those words and applications is fascinating. I'm imagining some very resourceful fifteenth century lady requisitioning her husband's 'petit-coat' and adapting it to fit under her skirt.

PipneyJane

Cherryfudge said:

Laura_Elsewhere said:

I wear petticoats almost always - my winter one is long, full and has a foot-deep very full flounce, and is made of red flannelette! I wear it when I go swimming as it makes an ideal changing tent  

Also useful for flagging down steam trains in the event of a landslide, before anyone else says it.

I'd imagine your underskirt is very good insulation. I loved it in the late seventies when flounced white underskirts were made to fit under tiered skirts (and later manufacturers just added a bit of lace to the skirt hem). Wish those days would come back! I still have one such underskirt.

The evolution of those words and applications is fascinating. I'm imagining some very resourceful fifteenth century lady requisitioning her husband's 'petit-coat' and adapting it to fit under her skirt.

Wasn’t that the “Grease effect”?  I remember both 1950’s style dresses and very tight fitting leather trousers becoming fashionable after the film was released.

Thanks for the explanation of petticoat vs slip, @Laura_Elsewhere. Fascinating.

Did anyone else see this article in the Grauniad about mending becoming fashionable? https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/jan/21/trend-to-mend-cost-of-living-crisis-puts-darning-back-in-vogue?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other (Apologies for the big URL link.). Some of the statistics re greenhouse gases are horrific.  Did you know that the clothing industry is currently responsible for 10% of greenhouse gas emissions?  I didn’t.

- Pip

Cherryfudge

The timing would be right but I wasn't allowed to watch Grease so I didn't put two and two together!

Off to read the mending article...

Cherryfudge

There was an article in the New Scientist (June 2022) entitled 'Can fashion ever be green?' - I recommend it! If you don't happen to have last June's New Scientist handy in the air raid shelter, I read it online via the library app.

ETA: I found a  stub online which dates the article to November 2017

Laura_Elsewhere

I think the 1970s tiered skirts with lace-flounced petticoats were more of a peasant-gypsy fashion, a la Fleetwood Mac… ‘Grease’ and its 50s revival was shorter skirts, not much below knee-length, in brighter colours and patterns, and circular skirts rather than tiered.

 And yes, my red flannelette petticoat is definitely the sort for stopping steam trains in extremis!!!  

Liverpool_Anne

Hi all.

@Laura_Elsewhere, I knew you would know about petticoats and slips , thank you for the very interesting info

@PipneyJane, very interesting article, makes me feel much better about the mending I do and the fact I generally wear my clothes to death . Lets hope the trend of repairing continues to increase

Take care everyone

PollyWollyDoodle

Ha I remember making a tiered skirt with a lace 'under' edging when I was in the 6th form, that would be circa '77-79. 

Thanks for the link, Pip. I did know that,  and it's a huge motivation for me not to buy new clothes.  I vowed some years ago that I would never buy new jeans again, after watching a documentary by Stacy Dooley. I think each new pair of jeans takes something like an Olympic -sized swimming pool of water to manufacture, and then there's the issue of poorly paid labour, the environmental damage done by growing cotton, dyeing it and so on. I've always bought from charity shops/online second hand since then.  It takes longer to find a pair that fit but it's worth it. 

I'm not a saint, I bought new swimwear last year because I'd never find what I needed in a CS, but generally I try and only buy new stuff if it's ethically produced.  Seasalt are good for this (and I really like their stuff) and the community Clothing company founded by Patrick Grant is also on my list. So there you go - not only are we being thrifty, we are also doing our bit to save the planet, too. 

CapricornLass

I tend to spend my life in trousers - even when working, and only wear skirts and dresses in high summer. However, I had to make myself a half slip/petticoat to go under a couple of summer skirts, as although they were light to wear, they were also rather see-through!

Laura_Elsewhere

One useful trick I learnt is to make a summer petticoat only knee-length, as it's far cooler than full-length (unless you can afford pure silk or pure linen-lawn!!) - I learnt that by making not one, but two, summer skirts which I made with full, gathered, linings, ie petticoats the fullness and length of the skirts - I never ever wore the things because of the fabulous thermal properties, even though the skirts were thin light cotton and the linings in thin cotton in one case, and even thinner muslin in the other case - but they were boiling hot!
The summer skirts I lived in last summer are knee-length and unlined and work perfectly for me 3/4-circle, those big pockets, front-fastening with buttons and poppers, just the right thing... just chuck it on like people throw on a pair of jeans... 

(Yes, historically, people wore long full petticoats under long full skirts in summer - a) they stayed out of the midday sun and the ones wearing the big layers tended not to be actually *doing* anything much in the way of manual labour, brisk walking, etc., and b) we no longer have the fabrics they had - nowhere that I know of in the UK does "handkerchief linen" which is incredibly fine pure linen, closely woven but incredibly fine threads, and most people couldn't afford the fine lightweight silks which would need replacing frequently. 
So with modern linen being comparatively heavy or else a synthetic blend, and the delicate pure silks being unaffordably fragile, you end up with unwearably-hot skirts if you line them fully!)

Laura_Elsewhere

Here's a lovely example from the V&A, with the full story, about how one mother managed a party frock for her little girl in 1940, despite clothes rationing...

https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O98190/party-frock-unknown/