161. Fashion Victims - Christina Sinclair: Salty Sam's Fun Blog for Children

March 16th, 2018

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Salty Sam’s Fun Blog for Children

Number 161

Fashion Victims

Hello Everyone

A few years ago a girl fell off her platform shoes, hit her head on the pavement and was killed. This is not funny.

She was a victim of fashion.

Platform shoes are not easy to walk in and are almost impossible to run in or walk up and down steps in.

Platform shoes are an extreme fashion, and they are not the only strange article of clothing to become fashionable through history.

When we call someone a ‘fashion victim’ we mean that they care too much about fashion – they are a slave to it. But sometimes fashion can actually become dangerous!

ln the 18^th century, men wore enormous wigs that that were made popular by Charles ll. Later in the century they started to powder them with ground starch to make them white. Judges’ wigs today are a smaller version of the same style.

The women built their hair up high with added hairpieces. The powder they used on it was coloured off-white or violet, pink, blue or yellow. Then they started to add ornaments that took such a long time to arrange that the arrangement would be left in permanently. The hair became so high that the women had to sleep sitting upright and the starch attracted mice that would try to build nests inside the stack of hair while the women were asleep in bed!

The practice of wearing powdered wigs declined at the end of the century when the British government started to put a tax on the hair powder.

ln the mid 18^th century, a style of dress came into fashion that was so wide that doors inside houses had to be widened to accommodate them. lt was a type of ‘mantua’ dress which had a skirt that was shaped like the back of a sofa. You would probably hit people with it when you turned round!

Clothes didn’t become any more comfortable in the next century either.

The corset, which had been around since the 16^th century, became even more extreme in the 19^th century. lt was an undergarment with bones running down it to make it stiff and was laced at the back. Women wore these to make their waists smaller. They were often laced up by another woman pulling in the laces positioned down the back. The corsets became so tight that they actually made the women’s internal organs become misshapen. Sometimes they even ruptured (burst)!

Other countries have had extreme fashion too. Some Chinese women had their feet bound tightly in bandages from the age of about 4 years old so that the feet couldn’t grow. The feet remained at about 3-4 inches all their lives. This practice continued from the late 10^th century to the early 20^th century. These feet were called ‘lotus feet’ and were considered to be attractive because they were so small. You don’t want to see what their feet looked like when they took their shoes off! They were very twisted and deformed. l haven’t included pictures of them in the picture gallery because they look so horrible.

Other people try to stretch their bodies. They put plates in their lips or rings around their necks to make them extremely large.

Cosmetics had their dangers too. The Elizabethans used white lead which is a poisonous chemical on their faces to make their skin especially white. lt was mixed with vinegar or egg white to make it into a paste. They also used face powder with arsenic or antimony which slowly poisoned the women who wore them.

Today, face piercings can paralyse part of the face if they are not positioned correctly and any piercing can become infected.

What will be the next fashion craze?

Bye bye everyone – don’t forget to subscribe to my blog!

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Love and kisses

Salty Sam

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www.christina-sinclair.com

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Bill and Bob’s Joke of the Week

Bill: What did the T-shirt say to the pair of pants?

Bob: l don’t know. What did the T-shirt say to the pair of pants?

Bill: l’ll meet you later on the clothes line – that’s where l hang out.

joke

Salty Sam © Christina Sinclair 2015

Unauthorized use and/or duplication of material from this blog without express and written permission from this blog’s author and owner is strictly prohibited.

Links may be used to www.christina-sinclair.com

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Picture Gallery

Platform shoes

18^th century hair styles

A mantua from 1744

A corset from 1878

A shoe for a bound foot

A plate stretching the lower lip

A giraffe necked woman

A mantua

I hope this hat from Georgian times was never worn in a high wind

This hat would have impaired vision

Fans were the ‘must have’ fashion accessory of the late 18^th century

They would be held at certain angles to the face to send messages across crowded social gatherings or in the theatre

An 18^th century powdered wig

The wig looks similar to those worn in court today by barristers

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desk THE SALTY SAM NEWS DESK

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Four weeks ago, I was telling you about how Auntie Alice was baking cookies with Bill, Bob and Emily.

She also found an ingenious way of finding another use for her shaped cookie cutters. She used them to make a felt ginger bread man (Blog Post 157) and then she went on to make some felt animals!

This is a good way of practising embroidery skills because the fabric is substantial and won’t fray, and you won’t need to use an embroidery hoop.

They can be used as hanging decorations.

Auntie Alice

NEWSDESK MINIMAKE

AN EMBROIDERED FELT BUTTERFLY

Place the cookie cutter on some paper, draw around it really neatly and cut along the pencil line.

If it is a symmetrical shape that you are using, fold it in half to make sure both halves match and if necessary trim carefully.

Pin the paper onto your felt and cut around the edge neatly. Pinch the paper tightly against the felt as you cut to make sure the edge is exactly the right shape.

Turn the paper over to cut the second shape because felt often has two different surfaces.

This butterfly is decorated with lazy daisy stitch but you can decorate it any way you like.

Embroider just the front or the front and back of your shape.

Sew all the way around the edges of the two pieces wrong side together. Use blanket stitch or over-sew stitch.

Remember to incorporate a hanging cord or ribbon as you go and leave a gap for stuffing before you seal the edges completely. You will need about 15cm/6 inches or ribbon or thin cord.

Test the balance of your shape if it is not symmetrical before you attach a loop to make sure it is hanging straight.

Only lightly stuff the shape.

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Quick Quiz

Can you un-jumble these names of clothes?

waster
catjek
srith
slogev
scoks
genswinllot
wutsismi
crafs
sreds
halebobab

BLOW MY FOGHORN!!!

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PLUS

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weekend

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lt’s the Weekend!

HOW TO MAKE A ‘GlRL ABOUT TOWN’ OUTFlT

FOR YOUR TWELVE lNCH DOLL

SKIRT (KNIT ONE)

Using 3¼mm knitting needles and mauve 4 ply yarn cast on 32 stitches

Knit 4 rows in garter stitch

Knit 16 rows in stocking stitch

Continuing in stocking stitch decrease 1 stitch at the beginning of the next 2 rows (30 sts)

Continue in 1 x 1 rib

Knit 2 together each end of the next 2 rows (26 sts)

Knit 2 rows in 1 x 1 rib

Cast off rib-wiseSew up the back seam

JACKET FRONT AND BACK (KNIT 2)

Using 3¼mm knitting needles and green 4 ply yarn cast on 20 stitches

Knit 4 rows in garter stitch

Change to mauve 4 ply yarn

Knit 24 rows in stocking stitch

Change to green 4 ply yarn

Knit 4 rows in garter stitch

Cast off

FRONT BAND (KNIT ONE)

Using 3¼mm knitting needles and green 4 ply yarn cast on 24 stitches

Knit 4 rows in garter stitch

Cast off

SLEEVES (KNIT TWO)

Using 3¼mm knitting needles and green 4 ply yarn cast on 16 stitches

Knit 4 rows in garter stitch

Change to mauve 4 ply yarn

Knit 24 rows of stocking stitch

Cast off loosely

TO MAKE UP

Attach the button band to the centre of the front and sew on three or five small purple buttons equally spaced.

Sew the shoulders up only 1cm/½ inch from the outer end using over-sew stitch.

Sew the tops of the sleeves to the front and back using back stitch.

Sew up the under arm and side seams using over-sew stitch on the garter stitch and back stitch on the stocking stitch.

CLUTCH BAG (KNIT ONE)

Using 3¼mm knitting needles and green 4 ply yarn cast on 12 stitches

Knit 1 row

Change to mauve 4ply yarn

Knit 18 rows of stocking stitch

Change to green 4ply yarn

Knit 1 row, purl 1 row cast off

Sew up sides, neaten ends and leave a loop of yarn as a wrist strap and also make a loop to go over a button on the front.

This bag will be large enough for your doll’s credit cards, mobile ‘phone and her boyfriend’s keys. (Boyfriends always want you to carry their keys in your bag.)