Miss Lillian's Postcards - Vintage Tweets: Tillie Has a Nice Vacation

Postcard 33

Sender: Tillie
Addressee: Miss Lillian Maguire, 1902 G" Terry Ave, Seattle, Wash.
Postmark: St Louis MO
Date: July 21, 1908
Image: Nature art (spring; polychrome art series)

Well, there's not much information about this art reproduction. The picture paints a lovely spring scene in nature. The trees are just starting to leaf out and is that a flowering cherry tree in the center?

Message:

Hello, Lillian; - 

How are you, I 

received your pretty postal,

was very glad to hear

from you, and I thank

you very much. I had

my vacation last week,

had a fine time. I

will write later, and tell

you all about it. Hoping

you are all well, and I

hear from you again soon.

Your friend, Tillie

Lillian's former co-worker, Tillie, sends a hello to Lillian in this postcard. She thanks Lillian for her last postcard, lets her know she just had a week of vacation and will write later with the details in a letter. Now if only I had those letters! :)

A lovely blouse with jabot and beautifully trimmed vest (1907)

Resort Fashions 2013 - Swimsuit Retrospective - 1917, 1918, 1919

1917

In the third year of World War I, a woman's bathing suit consisted of a heavy wool chemise which was worn over bloomers. Shoes and stockings were taken off only by the very daring and unconventional!

 1918

Although skirts got a little shorter, beach outfits like this, according to a fashion magazine, were designed, "to defy wind, wave and the scrutiny of man". Water wings were also much in use by women.

 1919

World War I ended with suits more form-fitting, still modest. Stockings were required. Tights under suit were called Annette Kellermans after the Australian swimmer who invented them.

Resort Fashions - Swimsuit Styles from 1915 to 1945

It's resort fashion month, and in this retrospective, courtesy of Life Magazine from 1945, I begin a series of posts that cover 30 years of swimsuit style, from 1915 to 1945.

I'll start with some history: In 1905 a lady's bathing suit was made of 10 yards of material. In 1945, it is made from one yard. Between these two statistics and two dates lie a social revolution and an annually expanding area of bare flesh.

Prime mover of the revolution was Annette Kellerman, the first famous woman swimmer. In 1910, Miss Kellerman became more famous by discarding the ruffles and heavy corset that went with bathing dresses and appearing unabashed in a tight, one-piece suit. This set a pattern for the Mack Sennett girls and the Atlantic City bathing beauties, who found that scanty suits could bring fame and fortune.

In 1926 Gertrude Ederle wore only brassiere and shorts to swim the English Channel. Her brief costume was chosen for athletic reasons but it gave a great many nonathletic women an idea. Women in the US took up the cult of sun bathing. More bodily area exposed and tanned each summer was acclaimed as the secret of good health.

Since 1930, US bathing suit manufacturers have made money by cutting something more off their suits each year. Neither sermons nor ordinances nor arrests have slowed the steady progress from bloomers to one-piece suit to bra and "diaper pants".

1915

1945