1920's day dresses

morning (not to be confused with mourning), or house dresses, were common articles of daytime attire for doing housework and chores. as time marches on, technology allows us to achieve tasks with little effort and minimal soiling, thus contributing to the extinction of activity specific clothing. gone are the house dresses of yesteryear, with play clothing following a similar fate. i'd like to pay homage to these humble frocks that played a unique role in history yet aren't photographed or appreciated quite enough:

pink and green plaid cotton dress

this homemade creation is by no means a masterpiece in construction, but the print is astounding

pink floral cotton dress: love, love, love the overlapping petals and double collar

incredible deco cretonne dress with zigzag dropped waist

this clever design gives the illusion of a dress with apron

"the national" money-saving style book, spring & summer 1921

1920's children and teen fashions

long before the age of tube tops, miniskirts, and body glitter, the clothing of children and teenagers was not significantly different from that of their parents.  in a strange sense, the dominance of youth culture in the decade after the great war had children dressing like children and adults often...well, dressing like children, too.  many details we now associate with clothing of the younger set - prominent collars, faggoting, and smocking, were also prevalent in designs for house dresses of grown women.  here, we see examples of clothing of the average american child from the national cloak and suit company catalogue, spring and summer 1925:  

    

i'd like to share a few garments very similar to those in the photograph above.  this green linen dress with cream accents, floral embroidery, and extensive faggoting bears an uncanny likeness to the red dress we see from the catalogue page.  it's labelled lucette Frocks, unusual for an era when most day dresses did not have labels.

this blue and orange plaid dress with inverted pleat detail is most likely homemade, with attractive floral appliques that are sewn onto the garment using a blanket stitch.  both these garments were pretty pedestrian back in the day, but they have held up swimmingly.  they still take a beating when worn today, further proving the age-old-adage: "they don't make 'em like they used to!"