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Post by shangas on Dec 4, 2014 13:59:00 GMT
Creating this thread out of pure boredom. Perhaps it's of interest to other people. I dunno. This is my own little guide about the clothing featured in MM. Those things on Inspector Brackenreid's shirtsleeves?  Sleeve-garters. Murdoch's hat?A Homburg. Inspector Brackenreid's shirt-collar style?Wing collar. Hats worn by the Toronto students (a'la Gilles & Perry)? Straw boater hats. Corsets retained their shape thanks to slats and ribs manufactured out of whalebone and wood. The corset-slats nearest to the heart (across the chest) were sometimes removeable. Husbands/brothers/fiancees sometimes wrote love-messages on them and gave them to their wives/sisters/lovers as keepsakes, since when replaced in the corset, these slats would be closet to the heart.The helmet worn by the constables?Custodian helmet. Modeled on the pith helmet, this was adopted by the London police in 1863. It was common all around the British Empire and elsewhere (we had it here in Australia, and the NYPD used to have it, too) at various times. English police forces are the only ones which still use them. |
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Post by snacky on Dec 4, 2014 18:42:43 GMT
Creating this thread out of pure boredom. Perhaps it's of interest to other people. I dunno. This is my own little guide about the clothing featured in MM. Those things on Inspector Brackenreid's shirtsleeves? Sleeve-garters. Why were sleeve garters necessary? Seems like extra work to do in the morning. Once there was a decent amount of social mobility, and lower class people had to start looking middle class for work without the benefit of servants to help them dress every morning, I really don't understand how they did it! Their clothing was so complicated and hard to put on! By the way, Charlotte Perkins Gilman makes a big deal about how comfortable and utilitarian clothes are in the Women's Utopia of Herland... |
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Post by shangas on Dec 4, 2014 22:54:27 GMT
In the old days, shirts came in a one-size-fits-all arrangement.
You purchased the shirt which fit your general body-shape. And then you adjusted the length of the sleeves yourself using sleeve-garters. They were just simple, mass-produced shirts, not really designed to be super-fitting. Don't forget that in the 1800s, shirts were considered underwear. You NEVER showed your shirt in public. It'd be like walking around in your undershorts today.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 5, 2014 0:49:28 GMT
In the old days, shirts came in a one-size-fits-all arrangement. You purchased the shirt which fit your general body-shape. And then you adjusted the length of the sleeves yourself using sleeve-garters. They were just simple, mass-produced shirts, not really designed to be super-fitting. Don't forget that in the 1800s, shirts were considered underwear. You NEVER showed your shirt in public. It'd be like walking around in your undershorts today. That is interesting information. I always wondered about sleeve garters. Weren't the collars detachable? I wonder if that was to make them more easy to wash? You are such a fount of information. |
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Post by snacky on Dec 5, 2014 0:51:45 GMT
Don't forget that in the 1800s, shirts were considered underwear. You NEVER showed your shirt in public. It'd be like walking around in your undershorts today. Again, these people seem to be adding extra clothes, and thus more laundry for women to wash, just for the heck of it...  |
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Post by shangas on Dec 5, 2014 1:13:30 GMT
In the old days, shirts came in a one-size-fits-all arrangement. You purchased the shirt which fit your general body-shape. And then you adjusted the length of the sleeves yourself using sleeve-garters. They were just simple, mass-produced shirts, not really designed to be super-fitting. Don't forget that in the 1800s, shirts were considered underwear. You NEVER showed your shirt in public. It'd be like walking around in your undershorts today. That is interesting information. I always wondered about sleeve garters. Weren't the collars detachable? I wonder if that was to make them more easy to wash? You are such a fount of information. Collars and cuffs were removable. You would wear the same shirt over and over and over again. The collars and cuffs were changed regularly, the shirt itself might be changed every week or two. They were called 'tunic shirts' (shirts without collars). You washed the collars and cuffs separately. If you wanted to be REALLY cheap, you wore the same shirt over and over. AND you wore the same collar and cuffs over and over. You simply removed the collar and cuffs, turned them INSIDE OUT (so that the white showed again), and buttoned them back on. And then when the WHOLE ensemble was filthy, THEN you took it off and washed it all. And then you dried it, starched it and ironed it. |
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Post by Fallenbelle on Dec 7, 2014 2:49:05 GMT
So, I'm reading the MM books right now, and there's been mention of a celluloid collar: www.amazondrygoods.com/categories/collars/celluloid.htmlWould this have been covered in cloth, or were gents going around in plastic collars. Also, were there celluloid cuffs as well, since you were supposed to switch those out as well? |
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Post by shangas on Dec 7, 2014 2:59:26 GMT
I believe they were just plain plastic celluloid collars. They didn't last very long, though. Before too many years, people went back to making them out of starched cotton.
That was probably because celluloid was uncomfortable. Very stiff. Very hard.
And very flammable.
Having set fire to a piece of vintage celluloid myself (accidentally), can attest to its EXTREME flammability. Getting cigar, pipe or cigarette embers on your celluloid collar would get you very hot under the collar, VERY fast.
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Post by snacky on Dec 7, 2014 3:16:41 GMT
So, I'm reading the MM books right now, and there's been mention of a celluloid collar: www.amazondrygoods.com/categories/collars/celluloid.htmlWould this have been covered in cloth, or were gents going around in plastic collars. Also, were there celluloid cuffs as well, since you were supposed to switch those out as well? As tacky as it sounds, I would vote for the non-cloth covered to come into fashion, so the women wouldn't have to wash them!  |
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Post by snacky on Dec 7, 2014 3:17:51 GMT
I believe they were just plain plastic celluloid collars. They didn't last very long, though. Before too many years, people went back to making them out of starched cotton. That was probably because celluloid was uncomfortable. Very stiff. Very hard. And very flammable. Having set fire to a piece of vintage celluloid myself (accidentally), can attest to its EXTREME flammability. Getting cigar, pipe or cigarette embers on your celluloid collar would get you very hot under the collar, VERY fast. Yep, there was way too much cigar smoking going on... |
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Post by Fallenbelle on Dec 7, 2014 4:04:13 GMT
I believe they were just plain plastic celluloid collars. They didn't last very long, though. Before too many years, people went back to making them out of starched cotton. That was probably because celluloid was uncomfortable. Very stiff. Very hard. And very flammable. Having set fire to a piece of vintage celluloid myself (accidentally), can attest to its EXTREME flammability. Getting cigar, pipe or cigarette embers on your celluloid collar would get you very hot under the collar, VERY fast. I would think they weren't very popular at all-it sounds quite unpleasant-plastic against your neck. I would think stiff cardboard or paper would be a better choice. |
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