Keywords: Women costumes
- Historical Items (222)
- Tax Records (0)
- Architecture & Landscape (0)
- Online Exhibits (22)
- Site Pages (82)
- My Maine Stories (2)
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Site Pages
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"In the United States, costume is commonly associated with clothing worn during theatrical performances, masquerade balls, or during Halloween."
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Historic Clothing Collection - Themed Image Galleries
"… part of the Maine Historical Society historic costume and dress collection consists of middle class women's wear, primarily dresses."
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"… The Maine Historical Society’s historic clothing, costume, and dress collection, referred to as the “clothing collection” is a signature aspect of…"
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Historic Clothing Collection - Outerwear 1900-1930
"… emerged after Sergei Diagilev's Asian-inspired costumed Ballets Russes burst on the Paris scene in 1909, and later toured the United States."
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Historic Clothing Collection - Eighteenth Century - Page 1 of 3
"… was altered and re-constructed, perhaps as a costume (known at the time as "fancy dress") in homage to the Marquis, or as an early example of the…"
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Historic Clothing Collection - Fabric Adaptive Reuse
"… and new dresses required many yards of fabric, women were familiar with the custom of either themselves or their dressmakers altering and updating…"
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Historic Clothing Collection - 1900-1910 - Page 1 of 3
"The alternate fashion, compatible with women's increasing participation in the workforce and outdoor activities, favored a more naturally curved…"
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Historic Clothing Collection - 1870-1890 - Page 1 of 4
"Sometimes a group of women clubbed together to make the purchase and share. On the one hand, machine sewing mitigating the endless hours women spent…"
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Historic Clothing Collection - Eighteenth Century - Page 2 of 3
"By 1800 women's formal, stiff wide skirted cumbersome gowns had disappeared. In their stead was something totally different: simple high waisted…"
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Historic Clothing Collection - 1920-1930 - Page 2 of 3
"Historically women's legs were always covered, and out of the common gaze. As skirt lengths rose, neutral, light gray and flesh colored stockings…"
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Historic Clothing Collection - 1890-1900 - Page 3 of 3
"By this time, more women now worked outside the home. Positions such as store clerks, telephonists, office clerks, secretaries, and typists were…"
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Historic Clothing Collection - 1970-1980 - Page 2 of 3
"… sold at Felix Dress Shop, specializing in "women's wearing apparel," which operated in Portland at 16 Forest Ave for just over forty years."
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Historic Clothing Collection - 1870-1890 - Page 4 of 4
"1888Maine Historical Society Women wore bustle supports of various shapes and sizes. Some were separate items such as half cage crinolines, tied on…"
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Historic Clothing Collection - 1850-1870 - Page 1 of 4
"For many women, a silk dress was an investment, a best dress for Sunday, or for special occasions. Looked after, often stored away as they moved past…"
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Historic Clothing Collection - 1850-1870 - Page 4 of 4
"… dresses in Claude Monet’s 1866-67 painting titled Women in the Garden. Another white organdie, a ball dress, with short frill sleeves, boat neck…"
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Historic Clothing Collection - Mid Twentieth Century
"… 19th century collection, to one dominated by women's wear from the 1870s to the 1930s. Although, despite this focus, the featured mid twentieth…"
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Historic Clothing Collection - 1910-1920 - Page 1 of 2
"… surviving examples, it appears that stylish women everywhere in Maine, from those in the blueberry territory of downeast Cherryfield, to southern…"
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Historic Clothing Collection - Outerwear 1870 to 1900
"… to wear with large skirts or bustles dominated women's outerwear in the earlier part of this period."
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Historic Clothing Collection - 1930-1940 - Page 2 of 4
"Jessie Franklin Turner was one of the many women who, from the beginnings of the American fashion industry in the 1920s, found opportunities in…"
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Historic Clothing Collection - 1930-1940 - Page 4 of 4
"… the same styling, chosen by two very different women, from two different walks of life, demonstrate the democratic, equalizing nature of modern…"
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Historic Clothing Collection - 1950-1960 - Page 3 of 4
"Of course many women still wore older styles, one of which is a very wearable lightweight gray/green rayon crepe, with small yellow printed flowers…"
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Historic Clothing Collection - 1950-1960 - Page 1 of 4
"… in the late 1950s to early 1960s, the custom of girls and young women dressing or wearing hair and make-up like their mothers, faded away."
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Historic Clothing Collection - 1850-1870 - Page 3 of 4
"As a result, women could walk unencumbered by the layers of heavy petticoats, with their legs free under the cage."
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Historic Clothing Collection - Mid to Late Nineteenth Century
"Women still relied on dressmakers for the most fashionable garments and made simpler versions at home."