1920s Sporting Attire

 With the generous support of the Friends of Mills at Staatsburgh, our site has hosted a research intern from Bard College this summer. Celka Rice, a literature major at Bard, has researched various aspects of 1920s fashion, helping Staatsburgh explore the possibility of presenting accurate costumed interpretation during the 100th anniversary of the Roaring ‘20s. Although Celka’s interdisciplinary studies cover a broad background which include history, anthropology, art history, classics, and photography, the internship called upon another of her diverse interests: her expertise in vintage clothing and fashion history. For her summer project, Celka has researched retail sources for reproduction and vintage clothing, and has written three blogs on fascinating 1920s fashion topics.  This essay, the second, explores sporting attire in the 1920s.

Gladys Mills Phipps, daughter of Ruth & Ogden Mills, frequently played golf and even won tournaments!
Photo: International News Service, circa 1910s

Ladies' Fashions at the Turn of the 20th Century

When Stanford White was brought in to remodel Ruth Livingston Mills’s inherited home, he took special care to install an enormous staircase, knocking out a ceiling and a couple of walls to do the job. Looking at the staircase today, you can almost see the beautiful ladies visiting Staatsburgh sweeping down those steps to make their grand entrance for dinner, no doubt bedecked in one of the most fashionable gowns they owned.

The "pigeon chest"

Fashion in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century was quite elaborate and just as fickle as it is today. Over the course of around twenty years (from the very late 1890’s up to around 1915) women’s fashion would undergo a veritable coup.

Maternity Wear in the Gilded Age

Due to a present need for maternity wear in my own life, I started wondering what life was like for a pregnant woman who was also part of Gilded Age society.  Women generally took a reprieve from the public eye during this time, but was this the case for their entire pregnancy?  Would women use their clothing to embrace their shape or try to hide it?

It is true that pregnancy was a private subject during the Gilded Age and women were quiet about the subject.  It was not socially acceptable to flaunt a growing belly in public during the nineteenth century.  Any celebrating was saved until the actual birth of the child, which was partially due to higher mortality rates for infants and mothers and partially due to what was deemed an acceptable conversational topic in society.  The fact that the topic was private and not shared or discussed publicly certainly limits the sources that were left behind, but some examples of maternity wear and corsets remain.  In a society in which corsets were worn by all women and the ideal was a 15 inch waist, how did women deal with their expanding waistlines?  Today, maternity girdles are occasionally worn by women to support their growing midsection, but about 100 years ago, maternity corsets were worn to help minimize or mask the appearance of a growing bump.  These corsets were worn by many women despite warnings from the medical community that lacing too hard could harm the baby or the mother's organs (Check out this recent video on modern day corsetry).  Advertisements for corsets emphasized their safety, but it was up to the women to avoid lacing them too tight.

Maternity Corset

Behind the Scenes at Staatsburgh:Reproducing Maids' Uniforms

Interpreters at Staatsburgh often dress in period clothing while giving tours in order to best represent the period.  Guests often wonder where we get the clothing and what makes it authentic.  While there are several excellent retailers who sell reproduction clothing, the NYS Bureau of Historic Sites also has wonderful seamstresses who sew period clothing.  This blog, authored by Amanda Massie, Associate Curator at the NYS Bureau of Historic Sites, examines the research that went into maids' clothing sewn for Staatsburgh.