- Fashion - Janesville Sesquicentennial
-
- [Photograph; caption reads: Maud COMBS poses for her
father, who was an Evansville photographer.]
-
- City followed national trends
- Clothes have been worn for more than 100,000 years as a means
of covering and protecting the
- body; fashion has always been an indicator of social status.
- With the invention of the sewing machine in the 1800s, dramatic
changes occurred and manufac-
- turers began to make inexpensive ready-to-wear clothes.
- Janesville reflected the fashion changes that were to follow.
-
- Women's fashions
- Tight-waisted, full-skirted gowns became popular during the
1830s and 1840s, and women wore
- many petticoats under them. By the 1850s, women wore stiff
wire or whalebone petticoats to support their skirts.
- By the 1870s, dresses were worn with large bustles in the
back and hoops. In the 1880s, a
- European designer introduced the first suits for women.
- During the 1890s, sportswear became increasingly popular
as women became more and more
- active. With the turn of the century and the advent of the
Edwardian period came the "new woman." The less frilly,
feminine look suited businesswomen, even though there were few
of them.
- By 1910 the "natural" look was introduced by a
Paris fashion designer. The full-busted, small waist
- and bustle look was beginning to disappear with the removal
of the corset. Women could breathe again.
- Clothing became simpler and less formal during World War
I and by the 1920s, women adopted
- the "boyish" look.
- With changing styles, especially leisure and sports clothes,
parts of women's bodies were gradually
- uncovered. Legs were bared in the 1920s, abdomens in the
1940s and thighs in the 1960s. Dresses were straight and unfitted,
ending a little above the knee.
- Some women began to wear slacks in the 1930s and skirts became
longer and then shorter during
- the early 1940s.
- During World War II, women wore many tailored styles with
padded shoulders. In the postwar
- period, more colorful and fashionable styles were seen in
magazines and on television. Straight, tight- fitting sheath
dresses and shorter hemlines gained popularity in the 1950s.
- A-line dresses and loose-fitting shifts came into style during
the early 1960s. The mini-skirt quickly
- spread to other countries following its appearance in England
in the mid-1960s.
- Bobby socks with saddle oxfords and circle skirts with starched
blouses in solid colors were the
- style in the '50s.
- The 1970s saw a more casual way of life with fewer dresses
and more sportswear. With liberated
- American women leading active lives, pants suits and sporty
slack outfits predominated the clothing scene. With the advent
of unisex fashions, women copied men's clothing right down to
the vests and neckties.
- In the 1980s, clothing manufacturers are mixing patterns
within coordinating articles. Anything goes
- in skirt and dress lengths - mini or mid-calf. Working women
are investing in separates to save money and at the same time
get a better fit.
-
- Men's fashions
- Fashions for men have always changed at a slower pace than
for women. Men's clothes continued
- to become plainer in the 1800s.
- From the late 1800s to about 1910, knee-length frock coats
were stylish.
- From 1890 to about 1916, shirts with high stiff collars and
starched bib fronts were popular. After
- the 1900s, shirts with soft, attached collars came onto the
fashion scene. The gaucho, a sport shirt of the late 1920s, could
be bought in silk, cotton, flannel and rayon.
-
- [Two photographs; caption reads: Swimwear styles in the early
1900s were a lot different from the revealing styles of today.
Above is the Janesville lifesaving staff in 1927. They patrolled
at Goose Island, now Traxler Park. Bottom, a few notables relax
after a swin in the early 1900s. From left, Clare BLISS,
Harry BLISS, George BLISS, Will RUGER, for
whom Ruger Avenue was named, is sitting on the pier.]
-
- For half a century, from 1900 to 1950, both single- and double-breasted
men's suits were popular.
- Shoulders were unpadded around 1910 but gradually became
more padded.
- Beige was the popular color in the 1920s, and men's clothing
no longer seemed to be as formal,
- both in style and color.
- Double-breasted "zoot" suits with cuffed, wide-legged
trousers were introduced in the 1920s.
- Since 1960, suits have gotten bigger through the shoulders
and trimmer around the waist.
- Suede and leather jackets, resembling the bomber jacket,
were being worn in California in the
- early 1940s. Other popular coats were the Navy pea jacket
and the suburban coat - a cross between a topcoat and a sports
jacket - appeared in the 1950s.
- California designers were the first to create the western
look in the 1940s. By the 1950s, many
- men switched to single-breasted suits that had narrow lapels
and unpadded shoulders. They also began wearing colored shirts
with business suits.
- Wash-and-wear fabrics became popular during the 1950s and
1960s for both men and women
- who wore sportswear.
- By 1970, men of all ages joined in the change to colorful
clothes. They began wearing shirts in
- stripes, checks and many colors with business suits with
wide ties in fancy prints, stripes or bright swirling colors.
Hairstyles for men became longer.
- Hats have always been an essential part of every man's wardrobe.
Top hats, derbies and straw
- boaters were popular until the 1930s, when fedoras came into
fashion.
- Hats began to lose their popularity in the 1950s but have
been reappearing on the fashion scene
- for the past decade. Popular today are the duffel hat, rally
or driver's cap and safari hats.
- Bow ties and four-in-hand neckties that were popular around
1890, remained stylish until the
- 1930s when contemporary style shirts became popular.
- Contemporary knotted ties came into existence in the 1930s.
Heavy silk was the traditional fabric
- for men's ties with fashions changing very little. Hand-painted
ties were in demand in the 1940s.
- Ties became narrow in the 1950s, wider in the 1960s, narrower
in the 1970s and of medium
- width in the 1980s, as did the width of suit lapels and belts.
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