And then there was—the shirtwaist
I was reading a post describing a new book about the original astronauts’ wives called The Astronaut Wives Club. Here’s the book’s cover photo:
And that’s when it hit me: shirtwaists! Whatever happened to–shirtwaists? Not that I miss them all that much.
They were dowdy and yet sort of flattering for some people (mostly the clean-cut all-American type), and very comfortable. There was a ’40s type, which I don’t remember. And then there was a ’50s type that I do remember, demonstrated by six out of seven of the wives in the photo above (every one but the rebel in the flowered sheath). They are wearing an especially plain version—the ones I had were always prints—but that’s what they invariably looked like.
I came in more or less on the tail end of the craze, which was fortunate because the style never looked good on me anyway. I was too exotic, or something like that. They were almost always made of cotton (although I also had a couple made of some synthetic non-wrinkling material that were supposed to be good for traveling), and were cut like a blouse with buttons, then came in at the waist, almost always had a belt, and the skirt was usually gathered although you can see that the two wives wearing blue in the photo are sporting the sheath variant.
And circle pins, anyone? Obligatory.
Oh yeah? Well, then, whatever happened to the pantywaist? Huh? What?
I sure remember them. I can’t remember any specific one that I had. And since I wore uniforms to school, I wouldn’t have had many.
Do you remember when A-line skirts replaced straight ones? My first was a brownish Bandstand skirt that had 4 buttons on the belly. I remember a rather well off college suitemate who dumped a whole wardrobe of “outdated” Villager skirts, blouses, and sweaters at Christmas time of my freshman year. The straight skirts had to be updated along with all the matching tops.
Boy, are circle pins ever boring.
June Cleaver being the inspiration. The accompanying photo from this shoot would likely be the astro-ladies bringing their astronauts their pipes and slippers.
Wow, what “a blast from the past!” That picture captures a certain cultural milieu very well.
I was born in 48, so I certainly remember that time well, though in concert with a feeling of great distance i.e. “for now we see as through a veil, darkly”.
I do not however remember circle pins. Since they were obligatory, I’m sure I saw them all the time but with fashion accessories, like so many other things, one’s interest in or lack thereof, determines awareness and retention.
At last, at long, long last, I know (more or less) what the word “shirtwaist” means. It was always one of those terms I ran across in reading which described clothing and didn’t seem important enough to make me stop and look them up.
I agree, now I know what a shirtwaist is! Thank you, Neo!
Mac and scottthebadger:
Just to complicate things, let me add that I believe that an older use of the word was to mean merely “blouse.” My grandmother used it that way, and she was born in the 1880s.
I just looked it up and it’s designated an “archaic” definition of the word.
Now that you mention it, I think I usually encountered it followed by the word “dress.” So I guess a “shirtwaist” is a blouse, and a “shirtwaist dress” is what most of the ladies in the picture are wearing.
Some updated versions.
Can’t really picture Donna Reed in any of them.
they look like they are standing around a giant ketchup bottle !
I am a little young for shirtwaists but not too young to remember trying them on. Nope, not on me. They are not entirely gone today, but now they’re called shirtdresses with buttons from top to bottom and a straight cut or princess seams, more forgiving than that sharp divide between the close bodice ending at the belted waist and the full skirt.
The picture is just wonderful, all those women looking great in the wholesome old-fashioned cut and that one rebel looking just as great in her sexy flowered sheath.
I have seen references in books from the early 20th century to a woman wearing a shirtwaist and skirt, now that you mention it. I have a great fondness for kids books from the first quarter of the 20th century, when kids would read 300 page books. Like the Radio Boys series, the Motorboat Boys, Motor Maids, and Ralph of the Railroad series, and a series that has one of my favorite lines, the Girl Aviators. In this series, there are two brother/sister sets. The boys love building aircraft, and the girls love flying them. In one book, one of the girls is sent by her mom to get $10,000 worth of jewels out of her safety deposit box. So she stops by the workshop, and asks the boy working on the new plane, ” I am going to the bank, do you have a revolver I could borrow”?
Scott,
that’s nice *she planned to return the revolver*
a lesson in manners, lol
but what of the mom ?
Sending *someone* other than oneself to get
$10,000 worth of jewels ???
When I hear “shirtwaist” it is usually because of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire.
We always called them shirtdresses.
I was a kid in the 1960s. Had a couple of BORING circle pins. Never wore them.
But my big sister and I had Mondrian dresses: A-line sheaths, sleeveless, but not low-cut. With a Mondrian-inspired print.
We also went to Cape Canaveral in 1969 and saw the Saturn V, the Crawler, and the gigantic VAB. Our whole family were space buffs; it was thrilling.
In the late 1990s, I got the chance to interview two of the old astronauts: Pete Conrad, and Alexei Leonov (CCCP). Also interviewed Freeman Dyson, Robert Forward, Robert Staehle, Robert Zubrin (hey, there’s something about Robert here), and some others. The least interesting was the Planetary Society guy, a pinko and Not an engineer or rocket scientist (Louis Friedman).
Oh, and Ken Mattingly doesn’t look at ALL like Gary Sinese. (Love him in Apollo 13, though!)
I was in high school in the early 60’s and fondly remember my favorite dress. It was a peach shirtwaist. And, believe it or not, I still have my circle pin that I received as a gift on my 16th birthday!! And I also had an A-line skirt with four buttons on the belly! Good times!