6 ms·

Disposable paper dresses were a trend in the 1960s

81 points by textread 6y ago

PaulAJ 6y ago
See also https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/paper-dresses https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/paper-dresses
- twobitshifter 6y ago
  Thank you for providing some sorely needed color photos!
doggodaddo78 6y ago
Almost disposable dresses can be bought on Aliexpress for a few dollars.
bootlooped 6y ago
They have some on display at The Henry Ford Museum right outside of Detroit.
sidpatil 6y ago
The article mentions that paper fashion came to an end due to environmental concerns, and also mentions that the subsequent fast-fashion trends were even worse from an environmental standpoint. Paper's damaging environmental footprint is due to its production, not its disposal. Virgin paper production involves chopping down trees (this is somewhat ameliorated by sourcing from managed forests, though many managed forests are monocultures, leading to its own set of issues), bleaching (though unbleached paper is an option), and lots of water/energy usage (improper water management can turn it into a pollutant of sorts [1], and energy production from fossil fuels leads to air, water, and land pollution). Paper from recycled materials causes less of these issues, and has become better in quality over the past decades. Assuming there are no harmful or non-biodegradable additives or materials added to the product, paper will disintegrate quite fast if left outside, and even faster if composted. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1990_Interstate_75_fog_disaster https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1990_Interstate_75_fog_disaste...
- grawprog 6y ago
  >Assuming there are no harmful or non-biodegradable additives or materials added to the product, paper will disintegrate quite fast if left outside, and even faster if composted. The article did mention the dresses were 7% rayon. It's not a large percentage but not totally biodegradeable. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rayon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rayon >A 2014 ocean survey found that rayon contributed to 56.9% of the total fibers found in deep ocean areas, the rest being polyester, polyamides, acetate and acrylic.[41]
  - schiffern 6y ago
    According to the article, rayon is biodegradable. It's made of 100% cellulose. >Rayon was found to be more biodegradable than cotton, and cotton more than acetate.
homero 6y ago
That sounds deafening noisy, was it really like poster paper?
- itronitron 6y ago
  A classmate of mine in high school brought in a paper dress that her mom had saved. If I remember correctly, it was slightly thicker than card stock and had the texture and flexibility of felt wool.
klyrs 6y ago
In the 80s, tyvek (a plastic fabric that feels like paper) became popular for windbreakers for athletic events. As far as I know, they're still in use. Not exactly high fashion, but the trend didn't exactly perish.
- fy20 6y ago
  Is that the same Tyvec that is used a water barrier on buildings?
  - mattkrause 6y ago
    Yes! It's a brand of polyethylene fiber. Tyvec coveralls/jumpsuits are also sometimes used when doing something gross that might contaminate your regular cloths.
    - CPLX 6y ago
      Indeed, and the most common use case most people will have a tactile connection to is Fedex envelopes.
      - JonathonW 6y ago
        Disposable wristbands (the type used for stuff like event ticketing) are also generally Tyvek-- water resistant and doesn't easily tear (so not likely to fall off and get lost), but does cut easily with scissors.
  - jacquesm 6y ago
    Yes, and if you still have 5 1/4" floppy disks lying around (assuming you're old, like me) then you may have some tyvek sleeves. It feels a bit more slippery than paper, and it is much harder to tear.
- pridkett 6y ago
  This is still popular before marathons. In my last few I got a Tyvek set of pants and hoodie that was lightweight and disposable. About 30 seconds before starting the race I stripped them off, bundled them up, and tossed them into the first trash can I saw. They were great for keeping the wind off you and surprisingly good at keeping you warm.
hyperpallium2 6y ago
This explains the paper suits in Larry Niven's stories.
teddyh 6y ago
Briefly referenced in The Andromeda Strain (the movie from 1971): — Hard on the taxpayers, isn’t it, they way we burn up uniforms? — They’re paper. — I’d swear it was cloth. — New process.
ctrlp 6y ago
Reminds me of Isabelle de Borchgrave's incredible paper dresses. https://www.vogue.com/slideshow/for-artist-isabelle-de-borchgrave-the-future-of-fashion-is-in-paper https://www.vogue.com/slideshow/for-artist-isabelle-de-borch...
mywittyname 6y ago
I bet this was popular mostly due to the ease of printing clever designs on them, which was difficult/expensive with cotton at the time. The modern equivalent would be those silly christmas suits or t-shirts with 10,000 tacocats printed all over them.
- Lammy 6y ago
  I bet it was popular due to the ease and methods of removal considering nobody had heard of HIV yet :p
tengbretson 6y ago
I'd be interested to hear just how many times the average dress gets worn now and what percentage of them only ever get worn once. I suspect it's a significant percentage.
sn_master 6y ago
and now they're used for people in suicide watch.. https://abcnews.go.com/US/ghislaine-maxwell-paper-clothes-correctional-center-avoid-suicide/story?id=71699000 https://abcnews.go.com/US/ghislaine-maxwell-paper-clothes-co...
chris_st 6y ago
Commentary from the 60's: There was a young girl named McCall Wore a newspaper dress to a ball The dress caught fire And burned her entire Front page, sporting section, and all.
MikeTheGreat 6y ago
I remember reading "Future Shock" back in the day. I got maybe 1/3 of the way through it before putting it down. The thesis of the book is that the societal rate of change is increasing, first chunk of the book has example of example of how stuff changes faster now a days. The author specifically used paper clothes as an example (now you can throw them away and get new ones easily and cheaply, thus allowing fashion and trends to change even more rapidly!). I remember thinking that a good chunk (maybe 50%) of the examples in the book were outdated by the time I was reading it (e.g., paper clothes aren't a thing anymore). It felt like the argument of the book was undercut by the fact that most the examples were no longer valid and we'd mostly gone back to whatever we'd been doing before (e.g., we all still wear non-disposable clothing)

81 points by textread 6y ago

PaulAJ 6y ago

See also https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/paper-dresses https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/paper-dresses

twobitshifter 6y ago
Thank you for providing some sorely needed color photos!

doggodaddo78 6y ago

Almost disposable dresses can be bought on Aliexpress for a few dollars.

bootlooped 6y ago

They have some on display at The Henry Ford Museum right outside of Detroit.

sidpatil 6y ago

The article mentions that paper fashion came to an end due to environmental concerns, and also mentions that the subsequent fast-fashion trends were even worse from an environmental standpoint. Paper's damaging environmental footprint is due to its production, not its disposal. Virgin paper production involves chopping down trees (this is somewhat ameliorated by sourcing from managed forests, though many managed forests are monocultures, leading to its own set of issues), bleaching (though unbleached paper is an option), and lots of water/energy usage (improper water management can turn it into a pollutant of sorts [1], and energy production from fossil fuels leads to air, water, and land pollution). Paper from recycled materials causes less of these issues, and has become better in quality over the past decades. Assuming there are no harmful or non-biodegradable additives or materials added to the product, paper will disintegrate quite fast if left outside, and even faster if composted. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1990_Interstate_75_fog_disaster https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1990_Interstate_75_fog_disaste...

grawprog 6y ago
>Assuming there are no harmful or non-biodegradable additives or materials added to the product, paper will disintegrate quite fast if left outside, and even faster if composted. The article did mention the dresses were 7% rayon. It's not a large percentage but not totally biodegradeable. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rayon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rayon >A 2014 ocean survey found that rayon contributed to 56.9% of the total fibers found in deep ocean areas, the rest being polyester, polyamides, acetate and acrylic.[41]
- schiffern 6y ago
  According to the article, rayon is biodegradable. It's made of 100% cellulose. >Rayon was found to be more biodegradable than cotton, and cotton more than acetate.

homero 6y ago

That sounds deafening noisy, was it really like poster paper?

itronitron 6y ago
A classmate of mine in high school brought in a paper dress that her mom had saved. If I remember correctly, it was slightly thicker than card stock and had the texture and flexibility of felt wool.

klyrs 6y ago

In the 80s, tyvek (a plastic fabric that feels like paper) became popular for windbreakers for athletic events. As far as I know, they're still in use. Not exactly high fashion, but the trend didn't exactly perish.

fy20 6y ago
Is that the same Tyvec that is used a water barrier on buildings?
- mattkrause 6y ago
  Yes! It's a brand of polyethylene fiber. Tyvec coveralls/jumpsuits are also sometimes used when doing something gross that might contaminate your regular cloths.
  - CPLX 6y ago
    Indeed, and the most common use case most people will have a tactile connection to is Fedex envelopes.
    - JonathonW 6y ago
      Disposable wristbands (the type used for stuff like event ticketing) are also generally Tyvek-- water resistant and doesn't easily tear (so not likely to fall off and get lost), but does cut easily with scissors.
- jacquesm 6y ago
  Yes, and if you still have 5 1/4" floppy disks lying around (assuming you're old, like me) then you may have some tyvek sleeves. It feels a bit more slippery than paper, and it is much harder to tear.
pridkett 6y ago
This is still popular before marathons. In my last few I got a Tyvek set of pants and hoodie that was lightweight and disposable. About 30 seconds before starting the race I stripped them off, bundled them up, and tossed them into the first trash can I saw. They were great for keeping the wind off you and surprisingly good at keeping you warm.

hyperpallium2 6y ago

This explains the paper suits in Larry Niven's stories.

teddyh 6y ago

Briefly referenced in The Andromeda Strain (the movie from 1971): — Hard on the taxpayers, isn’t it, they way we burn up uniforms? — They’re paper. — I’d swear it was cloth. — New process.

ctrlp 6y ago

Reminds me of Isabelle de Borchgrave's incredible paper dresses. https://www.vogue.com/slideshow/for-artist-isabelle-de-borchgrave-the-future-of-fashion-is-in-paper https://www.vogue.com/slideshow/for-artist-isabelle-de-borch...

mywittyname 6y ago

I bet this was popular mostly due to the ease of printing clever designs on them, which was difficult/expensive with cotton at the time. The modern equivalent would be those silly christmas suits or t-shirts with 10,000 tacocats printed all over them.

Lammy 6y ago
I bet it was popular due to the ease and methods of removal considering nobody had heard of HIV yet :p

tengbretson 6y ago

I'd be interested to hear just how many times the average dress gets worn now and what percentage of them only ever get worn once. I suspect it's a significant percentage.

sn_master 6y ago

and now they're used for people in suicide watch.. https://abcnews.go.com/US/ghislaine-maxwell-paper-clothes-correctional-center-avoid-suicide/story?id=71699000 https://abcnews.go.com/US/ghislaine-maxwell-paper-clothes-co...

chris_st 6y ago

Commentary from the 60's: There was a young girl named McCall Wore a newspaper dress to a ball The dress caught fire And burned her entire Front page, sporting section, and all.

MikeTheGreat 6y ago

I remember reading "Future Shock" back in the day. I got maybe 1/3 of the way through it before putting it down. The thesis of the book is that the societal rate of change is increasing, first chunk of the book has example of example of how stuff changes faster now a days. The author specifically used paper clothes as an example (now you can throw them away and get new ones easily and cheaply, thus allowing fashion and trends to change even more rapidly!). I remember thinking that a good chunk (maybe 50%) of the examples in the book were outdated by the time I was reading it (e.g., paper clothes aren't a thing anymore). It felt like the argument of the book was undercut by the fact that most the examples were no longer valid and we'd mostly gone back to whatever we'd been doing before (e.g., we all still wear non-disposable clothing)