Fashions of the Day

When I was in Grade 6 I was eleven years old and while I was not conscious of the clothes I was wearing I was observant about the clothes of Barbie.  In those days when you bought an outfit for Barbie you got a little booklet that had illustrations of her other outfits.  I would pour over these booklets like I was a zealot reviewing the Bible.  The outfits always came with a pair of shoes, a darling little hat, and sometimes a bracelet or necklace.  It was circa 1965 and I well remember one outfit of a snug red dress with four round gold buttons on the bodice and a Jackie pillbox hat.  My girlfriend got this outfit for her doll and I simply drooled.

          That same year my grandmother sent my parents a calendar which happened to have the fashions of past centuries as the theme.  I poured over these pictures as well studying the change in gowns from the 12^th to the 20^th century.  I was fascinated by the 18^th century gowns with the quilted petticoat that showed down the front with draped curtains of lavish satin along the sides.  I laughed at the late 19^th century bustle and I sighed over the wimple of the 12^th century.  Those were the days.

          One day our teacher (my first male teacher) told us that he had met our future Home Economics teacher at a seminar and she asked the question of what he was doing to prepare his students for the class.  Well, he hadn’t been doing anything but now he had the brilliant idea of the boys building a log cabin (miniature of course) while we girls were to sew a Barbie gown from the 18^th century since we were studying that period of history.  I had barely held a sewing needle in my hand but I was inspired by my Barbie booklets, the calendar and my enthusiasm for fashion.  I went home to announce my “project” to my mother who helpfully gave me some scraps of fabric leftover from her own sewing projects.  I still remember a certain brown fabric with a little black print on it, just perfect size print for a gown.  The problem was that there wasn’t enough to create the full out fashion of the time but when I looked at the calendar there were two pictures, one slim gown and one full one.  Inspiration struck, I made two gowns.  The fuller gown was made of a corded royal blue fabric and I made this one fancy by adding a little pearl embellishment to the bodice and lace around the neckline.  Perfect, I thought.

          My teacher however questioned me on my two designs, saying they were quite different.  But I told him about my Danish calendar and that there were two styles for that century.  He was nonplussed but nevertheless only gave me a B.  I was upset because one of the girls in the class had made the quilted petticoat design, had powered her dolls hair but every item indicated that she had had help from her seamstress mother.  It cried out, cheat.  He gave her an A although he questioned her on the participation and she denied it.  Not a girl in the class believed her. 

Such is life.