Maine Memory Network

Costume party, Portland School of Art, 1928

Contributed by: Maine Historical Society/MaineToday Media Date: 1928 Location: Portland Media: Glass Negative

George Washington costume party, Farmington State Normal School, 1916

Contributed by: Mantor Library at UMF Date: 1916-02-21 Location: Farmington Media: Photographic print

Dressing Up, Standing Out, Fitting In

Adorning oneself to look one's "best" has varied over time, gender, economic class, and by event. Adornments suggest one's sense of identity and one's intent to stand out or fit in.

Fashionable Maine: early twentieth century clothing

Maine residents kept pace with the dramatic shift in women’s dress that occurred during the short number of years preceding and immediately following World War I. The long restrictive skirts, stiff collars, body molding corsets and formal behavior of earlier decades quickly faded away and the new straight, dropped waist easy-to-wear clothing gave mobility and freedom of movement in tune with the young independent women of the casual, post-war jazz age generation.

John Martin: Expert Observer - Ada Martin gymnastic costume, Bangor, 1864

"Ada Martin gymnastic costume, Bangor, 1864 Contributed by Maine Historical Society and Maine State Museum Description Ada Martin…"

John Martin: Expert Observer - Annie Martin, Bangor, 1864

"… tried to depict people in his drawings in the costumes they wore. He wrote that in the illustrated numbered "2," she was making a dress for her…"

A Maine Family's story of being Prisoners of War in Manila
by Nicki Griffin

As a child, born after the war, I would hear these stories - glad they were finally written down