Saturday, May 21, 2011

Photo Number 540

This is a Cabinet Card from Solway, Minnesota.

Three women Crookston from Soloway Antiques The women are unidentified, but I suspect that they  might be a Mother and her daughters.  They all have lots of buttons and lots of pleats in their heavy skirts.  The gal on the left has some kind of circles on her dress..three on each side of her buttons.

The photographer was P E Lynne of Crookston, Minnesota.  He was a photographer there from 1894 to 1896 and then around 1900.  The ladies dresses seem to point to the year 1900. I wonder what the occasion was?

Thanks for stopping by, do come again:)

7 comments:

  1. I think the dresses point to a date of c.1886-1889, rather than 1900.

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  3. Good gosh, look at all the buttons! The button makers must have rued the day this style fad died out! And what if you lost one? Imagine having a couple "extra" buttons too?!

    I hate to say this - but "Mom" sure looks likes "Dad" in a dress...

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  4. I would hate to iron those dresses. The hairstyles look the the forerunner to the Fundamentalist Church of Latter-day Saints women, that were investigated a few years back.

    I can't imagine how hot and restrictive they were.

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  5. As Kathy says, those dresses look hot and uncomfortable. How in the world did women cope in them?

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  6. I thought the exact same as Kathy - oh no, imagine the ironing! Jo :-)

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  7. I'd agree with Brett, these are likely earlier dresses than later. The bodice styles are similar to the type popular in the late 1880s. It's in the shape of the body. Hard to describe.

    As to the ironing, one, dresses were laundered much less frequently than we wash our clothing. They were spot cleaned and only immersed in water if absolutely necessary. The fabrics most common were wool and silk, which both would be ruined by washing. Two, people in the 19th century were much less concerned about wrinkles than we are, because it was such a chore to iron. Three, they surely had servants or domestics of some type who did the ironing when needed, so these three ladies didn't worry about ironing. :-)

    While the dresses can be warm if you are unused to them, the natural fiber fabrics tended to wick away moisture and keep people cool. The greater reality is the restrictiveness of the clothing, with corsets having been used to shape a girl's body from about the age of 13. Most women were used to it and so thought nothing of it. Think about your most uncomfortable bra and then consider just not wearing one. Many of us would take the uncomfortable bra over nothing, even for modesty's sake, lol.

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Hi, Thanks for the comments, your input on these old photos is appreciated! English only please! All comments will be moderated! Connie