Historic Hood River
High Fashion, 1915
6-29-2012
Notes
Every once in a while it’s nice to see some color in this photoblog. This image is from a pattern you could buy at the Paris Fair in 1915, along with all the supplies you would need to produce the height of big city fashion right here in Hood River. I wonder how popular parasols were in our windy city. For that matter, it’s hard to imagine that much loose fabric would be very practical around here except as a sail or kite.
Charlott
I can see our "farmer wives" trapsing around in these absolutely elegant dresses. Imagine what would go into creating one of these with all that tuck work on them.
Love the hats which would not have been practical in Hood River.
l.e.
I bought patterns at Paris Fair! I can’t remember buying fabric there, but I must have.
I just remember standing at the pattern books and searching through them for one I liked.
Nothing this elaborate, but it is always fun to dream and to see what is in fashion. Without TV and magazines racks in 1915, this was a way to get a taste of "the big city."
Charlott
I don’t remember fabric at Paris Fair, probably was, but always bought fabric at Penney’s. It was located right at the bottom of the stairs.
Lesa
Several people’s names come to mind when I look at this picture. They would have been very capable of wearing these fashions. I have a couple of pieces of their jewelry, and pictures of their hats, and if they are anything to go by, these pictures would more than cover the bill for elegance. I don’t think practical would have entered their heads. They loved to dine in Portland, and later the Columbia Gorge Hotel. Far from being a backwater, Hood River, in the teens and twenties, had some pretty crazy parties, as well as, "fashionista’s." I grew up on stories about them.