I meant to post about this earlier, but life gets in the way. Photos are on the way!
On a recent excursion to Santa Cruz, I had just parked the car and was headed to brunch when I was stopped dead in my tracks. The Santa Cruz Sunday flea market was in full swing, and I couldn't resist taking a look. We all agreed that we could hold off a little bit longer on food and coffee to explore the tables and racks of vintage wares.
Literally the first clothing rack I reached, I saw her.
I say 'her' because that little bit of forest green wool beckoned to me like a little woodland nymph. One elegant sleeve peeked out from a few 1970s items, as if the synthetic orange and brown prints were slowly devouring a damsel in distress for a meal. I quickly reached in and found the hanger this sleeve was attached to, and lifted the garment from the
Sarlacc pit of polyester doom.
I gazed at it for a moment, thinking I had a late 1930s coat at first (or 1970s-does-30s) due to the small puffed sleeves that bordered on leg-o-mutton style. Then I saw the skirt underneath the long jacket and knew I had something many decades older. Here's what else I saw:
Pleats in the skirt, but radiating out from the center front.
Celluloid buttons faded from a deep green to a mustard beige.
Forest green satin covered collar, cuffs, breast pocket welt and pocket flaps.
Ecru silk satin lining.
A woven label much older than the 1930s.
The cut of the torso area was one that barely whispered of a fad for extreme pigeon front silhouettes, that had just begun to fade away by the time this suit was created. Most likely this was made around 1908-10.
Photos are on the way. I think I need to dig for the hat I have that may go well with it.
When I tried it on, it was one of those rare spooky moments that feels like you're putting on a garment you've owned and worn for years, like a favorite coat. Now, I'm of the taller variety with long limbs, so vintage items are often too short for me, if they fit me at all otherwise. This forest green suit fit as though it were made for me in every way, even without all the proper historical underthings.
It's one thing to find something from the 1930s or 40s, but it's rare I can go back this far and find an article of clothing that fits as truly as this does.
The skirt is shorter, hitting just above the ankles.
Normally I would say that perhaps the original owner was shorter than me, but seeing how the jacket fit lengthwise and in the arms, she had to be around my height.
As mentioned earlier, the style and cut of both the jacket and skirt look as though the ensemble was made around 1908. However; the skirt may have been shortened later on, a little after the start of The Great War. Perhaps around 1916. Looking on the inside of the skirt, I can see traces of an alteration to the length.
When the US finally did enter WWI, it was time to make a little go a long way for the war effort, and many women had to make do with a good suit as long as possible. Often altering them to at least reflect the current hemlines that just kept going higher. "Career girls", in the growing force of women entering the workplace during and after the war, had maybe one or (if they were lucky) two good suits.
Here is a perfect example of women's suits from 1907-8, and somewhere in the era in which the one I found came from. The jacket on the far left and the skirt in the center most closely resemble the cut and style of my green wool suit. There are still examples of women's sportswear from this decade that have even slightly shorter hemlines than these:
Then later on the skirt length was altered to fit in with the shift in style, similar to these below. By 1916, hemlines were reaching almost calf-revealing heights:
Sheesh! Custom tailored or not, those are some stunningly expensive suits for the time.
Not all ready made garments were this pricey. These must have been aimed at the upper class.
Especially if you consider that the one in the middle for $19 would have been $400 by today's worth. The $32 suit equals out to be about $650.
The yearly US median household income in 1915 = about $1,500
Damn, I want a pair of those boots!
