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Back at the turn of the last century, when more people lived
in rural areas than in cities, the Secretary of Agriculture,
David F. Houston, grew concerned that farm life was
uncomfortable. He sent out a survey to farmwives and was
surprised to learn that fashion and “art” were important to
them.
In 1914, the USDA answered rural pleas for help through
state-run public programs called “cooperatives.” Co-ops
allowed an influential group of female experts to teach
women and girls, among other things, how to stretch a dollar
and to look their best doing it. Przybyszewski calls those
experts “Dress Doctors.”
This came at a time when fashion was simple: there was a
dress for church and a dress for everyday. Two dresses were
all that most farmwomen had and, when the Depression hit,
they were furthermore tasked with clothing family members on
less than a dollar apiece for the entire year. The Dress
Doctors had a fix for that.
Through classes, pamphlets, and books they penned, the Dress
Doctors showed that dressing well was relatively easy. They
weighed in on thrift, using whatever fabric was at-hand,
repurposing garments, and getting today’s look with pieces
of yesterday’s dresses.
In the post-War years, the Dress Doctors tried to get women
to settle on a standard style, believing that ever-changing
fashion was frivolous. They instructed readers to find
comfortable shoes, and they explained how to wear one suit
to work for up to three weeks. They advised against pants.
They taught women – mostly women of “European descent” -
about hygiene, modesty, proper times to wear gloves, right
ways to find a flattering hat, and what colors to wear – or
not.
But by the early 1960s, fashion changed radically. Frumpy
was out, replaced with miniskirts and jeans. Corset use was
dying. Dressing your age was dead. And so, it seemed, was
the usefulness of Dress Doctor advice…
So you haven’t a thing to wear?
Then “prepare to feel ashamed,” says author Linda
Przybyszewski. And prepare to be at least a little bit
wistful about bygone fashions, too, because The Lost Art
of Dress is surprisingly sentimental.
And yet – this book isn’t about going back in time,
clothes-wise. Indeed, Przybyszewski agrees with her Dress
Doctors sometimes, but she also sprinkles history and humor
in between modern advice here, entertaining as she
instructs. That makes this book freshly nostalgic and
enormous fun, kind of like finding piles of old women’s
magazines in Grandma’s attic.
And so, when it comes to fashion, “stop worrying” and read
this book. For modern-day fashionistas who sometimes love a
good throw-back, The Lost Art of Dress has that all
buttoned up. |
