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One of the problems is that movies re-enforce that image. Even when the past is depicted in color, effects are applied, as spoofed in this 5 second film: http:/

by nhebb 16y ago

One of the problems is that movies re-enforce that image. Even when the past is depicted in color, effects are applied, as spoofed in this 5 second film: http://5secondfilms.com/watch/its_not_ww2._its_hbo http://5secondfilms.com/watch/its_not_ww2._its_hbo What struck me most about the photos was the formality of the clothing. People used to dress nicer. I remember seeing an old Yankee Stadium crowd shot and almost everyone was wearing a tie. It makes for nicer imagery, but I'm not sure I would want to return to that.

cstross 16y ago
Clothing was much more expensive until the early-to-mid twentieth century; circa 1900 a pair of men's trousers would cost 8-10 times as much as a proportion of per-capita income than they did in 2000. Consequently, old/damaged clothing was cleaned and repaired, fashion fads changed much more slowly, and wearing new/formal/tailored garments was as much an ostentatious display of wealth as driving a Porsche or a BMW might be today. (Cheaper fabric and increased automation in clothing factories -- the deployment of sewing machines and then sergers is where the change really got going -- drove down prices; the £2 mass-produced suit in the UK in the 1920s meant that any working man could afford a new suit, so the suit became a working garment and the display of wealth moved on to new fields. And that's why we have ultra-cheap, badly-made clothing, fast-changing fashion, and a casual attitude to what we wear.) (( A good suit is something special. But you can keep the neckties ... ))
jacobolus 16y ago
> People used to dress nicer. Rich people used to dress nicer. Poor people used to wear dirty worn-out clothes day in and day out.
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jarek 16y ago
In addition to the other arguments mentioned about the clothing, one more thing: colour photographs, and indeed any photographs, all that survives from the time, were very, very uncommon, so you'd take out your best clothes for the occasion. You won't know what the peasants wore their entire life except for the day the official Tsar's photographer visited. Today, people dress nicer for important and/or rare pictures (weddings, official portraits, etc) than for point and shoot pictures at the park.

by nhebb 16y ago

cstross 16y ago

Clothing was much more expensive until the early-to-mid twentieth century; circa 1900 a pair of men's trousers would cost 8-10 times as much as a proportion of per-capita income than they did in 2000. Consequently, old/damaged clothing was cleaned and repaired, fashion fads changed much more slowly, and wearing new/formal/tailored garments was as much an ostentatious display of wealth as driving a Porsche or a BMW might be today. (Cheaper fabric and increased automation in clothing factories -- the deployment of sewing machines and then sergers is where the change really got going -- drove down prices; the £2 mass-produced suit in the UK in the 1920s meant that any working man could afford a new suit, so the suit became a working garment and the display of wealth moved on to new fields. And that's why we have ultra-cheap, badly-made clothing, fast-changing fashion, and a casual attitude to what we wear.) (( A good suit is something special. But you can keep the neckties ... ))

jacobolus 16y ago

> People used to dress nicer. Rich people used to dress nicer. Poor people used to wear dirty worn-out clothes day in and day out.

deleted 16y ago
[deleted]

jarek 16y ago

In addition to the other arguments mentioned about the clothing, one more thing: colour photographs, and indeed any photographs, all that survives from the time, were very, very uncommon, so you'd take out your best clothes for the occasion. You won't know what the peasants wore their entire life except for the day the official Tsar's photographer visited. Today, people dress nicer for important and/or rare pictures (weddings, official portraits, etc) than for point and shoot pictures at the park.