Saturday 8 December 2012

Sepia Saturday 155



A very interesting theme this week.  At first I was drawn to the obvious, to overalls, the bib and brace and the workingman's protective clothing, but as I researched the theme I began to consider what is the working man and what is his clothing as defined by his job.

Mid 19th century early Bib and Brace - called an Overall with Apron.  Clearly designed to provide total coverage and protection from dirt and grease, and aimed at the manual factory worker.
 
 
So too, the smock of the agricultural worker
 
 
His 13th Century counterpart may not have had the same protection
 
 
This assembly of Welsh Miners shows typical workingman's clothing
and they remained as "clean" as this because of their practice of working in their longjohns or less

 
In the 19th and early 20th Centuries specialisation and the factorisation of production extended to every thing and this included working clothes as can be seen from Jacob Reed's advert.
 
 
 
Not all workingmen laboured in factories or on the land or under it, but still they could be recognised the their "Dress"
 
Wrestlers
 
And, we must not forget the role of the working woman in the home and the distinctive outfit of pinnie and apron worn in the interwar years and up and to the 1950s
 
 


The Navigator in Jolly Jill Tar clothing.
 
 

 
 


 


23 comments:

  1. Hi Mike! What a fun post of all the different sorts of work gear. I recently heard a speaker talk of working in Nevada silver mines, and they wore long-johns underneath rain-gear. It was hot and also wet inside the mines, and the long-johns helped to keep the rain-gear from sticking to their skin.

    Loved the picture of the ladies in the kitchen.

    Kathy M.

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  2. Interesting look at past overalls, Mike. Are you able to date that smock?

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    1. I'm only a youngster, just had a hard life. Is it English, mid-Victorian???

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  3. The ag worker looks like he's wearing rain gear.

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    1. It does, but he has a Pitch-Fork. Would he be Haymaking in the wet?

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  4. You used the word "dress" near the photo of the wrestlers. Made me thing of some fields worked in a state of "undress." Interesting examples of work clothes.
    QMM

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    1. I know that wrestlers do not normally ply their trade in a state of nakedness, but having come across the image it was too good to let go.

      A little stretch of the theme from B & B Overalls, to work and to dress I suppose, but then words need a little stretch now and again. It is good for one to let the mind have free rein to wonder where it will

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  5. Fun photo of the two ladies in the kitchen.

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  6. I didn't realize there was such a thing as photography in ancient SPARTA!

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    1. I take it you mean the wrestlers. It does look abit "Ancient Greek" in monochrome. I thought it was a frame from a Eadweard Muybridge study of motion, but I have not found it. Perhaps, it from Thomas Eakin, or Edison, or some other influence by his work.

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    2. I'm not sure why, but the name "Muybridge" is ringing a bell, though in an entirely different context.

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    3. Muybridge was born in Kingston-upon-Thames, he was a pioneer of motion photography and was the first person to record the steps of the horse at different gaits. He spent some time in the States.

      Kingston is near where I was born (it is where we went on the Raz) It was where several Anglo-Saxon kings were crowned and Muybridge had a great liking for them. His name Edward was Saxonised to Eadweard.

      I think you've given me an idea for a blog

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  7. Your ag worker (second photo) must have been miserable inside all of those clothes; his hay fork is a beauty!

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  8. Looking at the miner I can't help but wondering how the inside of his lungs must have looked like...

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    1. You're right Peter, and as recently as the 1950/60s Doctors in the South Wales Vallies were telling Miners to smoke Capsan Full Strength Cigarettes to help clear their lungs

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  9. Jolly Jill Tar Clothing has me fascinated! I have to look up the meaning for that.

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    1. Jolly Jack Tar was a sailor in the Royal Navy - supposedly so called because of the practice of holding their hair back and in place with tar. An alternative would have it was because their stumps, after amputation, were dipped in hot tar to cauterise the wound.

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  10. A fine collection of working clothes. I suppose the city suit is a form of overall, more symbolic than protective however.

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    1. It certainly used to be the case. I can recall city workers (I won't call them Gents) used to wear a different manner suit that was appropriate to their job. With computerisation of the stock exchange, the various markets and Lloyds and the like, the distinctive outfits relating to them disappeared. It's a shame. Now all that differentiates the suited worker is the price of the suit

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  11. Your contribution to the theme celebrates the nobility of work and therefore elevates the overall.

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    1. I hadn't thought of it that way, but now you've said it I agree

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  12. I liked the way you gave a different interpretation to the theme and looked at the wider picture of working clothes. I have memories of my mother in the 1950's wearing a variety of aprons, often very pretty, which she sewed herself. On washday Mondays, it was a very utilitarian overall with her hair tied up in a scarf turban.

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  13. One of the things I noticed when I first came to London years ago was the contrast between American and British workmen's dress. There was a distinct uniform for so many British tradesmen - bib overalls, shop aprons, clerk coats, and different hats and caps too. The casual American look now seems to have lowered those standards.

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