Thread: A couple questions about 'The Roaring 20s'

Back in those days most folks were really poor and had very little. Wages were low and benefits non exsistant and there were no social safety nets. You either made it on your own depended on family or starved. Medical Science was primitive. Yes, folks dressed better and acted more civil towards each other than now and were generally better educated (with less years of education than now) and smarter-street smarts that is.

Don't be enamored with Hollywood treatment. It was a tough time.

Yeah I can't imagine what it was like to live in the time but it's very interesting to me. I'm sad that a lot of the traditions and culture haven't made it to 2011 although there are obvious benefits to living nearly 100 years later

+1 to what TBS said. I was talking to an old fellow in Newark, NJ twenty some years ago. I was commenting on the fact that all of the apts in old buildings had very little closet space. He told me that in the '20s and '30s, when those buildings were built, people didn't have large wardrobes. A man might have one good suit and a pair of shoes. Average people couldn't afford more. If my depression era father and mother saw me buying more than one razor and shaving brush they would be shaking their heads at the "waste" of money.

You can still find garters to hold your socks up (trust me on this), but nobody sees them when you're wearing them.

http://www.amazondrygoods.com/collars/product.html

I know where you are coming from. A few years ago I took an obsession with victorian dress and style. I began the search for quality apparel to be worn on a daily basis. What I found was a large quantity of affordable "costume quality" clothing not meant to be worn on a daily basis. I then looked into vintage clothing as an alternative, while sparsely available it was even more sparse in my size and desired era.
I turned to my grandmother, as an accomplished mistress of the needle and thread I assumed that this could be the ultimate source for a custom fit. While glad to make the articles she mentioned that victorian era clothing was quite difficult to make a pattern for as the fit and finish were quite different from any that she had crafted before.
I found plenty of patterns online and in historic books from multiple libraries. In my search I began to notice a pattern emerging (pun intended); the suits were generally purposed according to class and trade. Also as others mentioned the tales mentioned a patron's suit as a sole component. Interested in this, more research revealed a long forgotten truth: bathing was not a common habit in this era, this was an era of perfume clad officials and a general odor was a daily accessory.
I decided to take the time necessary to learn what I could of life in that era and analyze every aspect I could to incorporate this philosophy into my conduct. What I found was to do this it would take an immense amount of time, energy and income; none of which I have. I have not given in to my desire, but rather decided to slowly undertake this challenge.

Anyway, what can I add? The patterns from the 20s are still available. I'm sure with a little searching they could be found online. As for finding a tailor or seamstress I cannot help, but start finding local sewing circles. Most quilters are not skilled in the manufacture of clothing in my experience, but may know of someone who could help. Spend some time with these people, learn from them, befriend them; it will benefit you in many ways.

As for education: I would argue the point that people were more educated in the 20s than they are today. I would say that education is very different and the focus has changed dramatically. While I wasn't there (obviously), from what I have come to understand it is all about the focus. Much of the focus of the education of past was penmanship, speech, spelling and history. Now the education of children has well surpassed in terms of the sciences, focusing a child's education towards what is considered a trade of higher education. Ask any parent of a highschooler if they could complete their child's homework and many would struggle, many would also state that they would have never thought of taking the same level at that grade.
I should stop my rant here as I have taken enough of your time.

I've always like old fashioned styles, as well, especially the 20's to the 40's and into the 50's. The part I liked most were the hats, all sorts of different hat styles to choose from. Now that nobody really wears dress hats any longer, you either look ridiculous or like you're vying for attention whenever you wear one. I'd love to wear a suit with a matching fedora or some other style of hat but would feel way too self conscious to do so. I've taken instead to wearing ivy flat caps, they seem to have never gone out of style although my sisters tease me for wearing an 'old man hat'.

But as far as education and 'well spoken-ness', yeah, Hollywood. None of my great uncles or grandfathers were particularly well educated or spoken. And my great grandmother really was a prostitute in the 1930's, but that's a whole different story!

Here are some great old color photos of NYC in the 1940s: http://citynoise.org/article/10506

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

+1 to what TBS said. I was talking to an old fellow in Newark, NJ twenty some years ago. I was commenting on the fact that all of the apts in old buildings had very little closet space. He told me that in the '20s and '30s, when those buildings were built, people didn't have large wardrobes. A man might have one good suit and a pair of shoes. Average people couldn't afford more. If my depression era father and mother saw me buying more than one razor and shaving brush they would be shaking their heads at the "waste" of money.

Roger that.

My Father was born in 1921, in Paradise, WV - far from Paradise (if you know what I mean). He grew up, went to school through the 9th grade, quit and went to work in the coal mine with my Grandfather to help support the family. In '41 the war broke out and he joined the Navy. A Boswain that piloted the landing craft delivering soldiers to the beaches. One tour down he reinlisted.

Upon his separation from the Navy he completed his education, went to Marshall in Charleston during the day and drove a cab at night. After graduation he became a school teacher for the next 30+ years.

He loved to talk about 'the old days' and would spend hours on end telling about growing up, the war stories and anything else anyone would be interested in listening to. Not once did I hear him say how great it was.

We didn't have much, but we had a LOT more than he did growing up. He signed up for another stint during the war because it was the best job he ever had and worked his butt off nights and summers so none of us would ever have to do what he did. He was the finest man I've ever known.

I have a vintage Clover Brand razor with $2.50 printed on the box. I'm sure he would say that would have been a week's pay in those days. I have my Grandfather's Larkin razor that most of you know was a 'gift' for buying catalog items - and was probably the best razor he owned until at least the late 40's, when Dad sent him something better from the Navy stores - ironic that we're all going back now isn't it?

It's great to never forget 'the old days', but none of us should ever wish to go back. For most people it was a hand to mouth existance and there was nothing 'great' about it.

You might want to check out the Fedora Lounge forum. It's all about clothing, accoutrements, etc. from the 50s on back to the turn of the 20th century. Tons of great discussion on items and lifestyles... great source for links and reviews on sources where you can by period items and reproduction, etc. (I particularly find it fantastic for hats and shoes.)

thanks so much for all of the information, it is truly enlightening. I can't imagine the differences in the 20s even in terms of quality of life, medicine, and work conditions, much less anything else. I'm grateful to be living in a time like today, even with our "problems," it is hard to complain.

I'll definitely look into all of the resources mentioned, for one reason or another I seem to feel some sort of connection to the past, and strangely, that time period specifically. I guess it's one of the reasons I'm also using vintage shaving gear Who knows what'll be next