Material Girls

One obstacle I face while writing Flo in the City, my novel about a girl coming of age in the 1910 era based on the letters of http://www.tighsolas.ca/, is that I know nothing about sewing. Or fashion. I am not a material girl.

And the Nicholson women did know a lot and they wrote about it in their letters. They were material girls.

But, luckily, the Eaton’s catalogue, now online, is a wonderful resource: I have started with the 1904 Spring and Summer catalogue.

Did you know?
“That the fashions for 1904 will be characterized by many pretty fabrics and handsome novelties in several weaves. A noticeable change in style leans toward the quieter tones and shadings,and yet possessing to a marked degree an improvement in elegance and richness of effect. The leading fabrics for receptions and evening gowns are silk and wool, plain and fancy eoliennes and crepes de chine, wool voiles and etamines. In medium weight materials for dresses and shirtwaist suits, Brilliantines, cord de Chine and fancy mohairs are some of the most popular and durable weaves. For tailored gowns and costumes, the preference is given to broadclothes, coverts, fancy tweed novelties, and canvas suitings in many new and stylish weaves. In the silk department are many new French, Swiss and American novelties. Some of the leading plain weaves are Mousseline, taffetas, Messaline, Louisenne, Peau de soie, Merve and Japanese wash silks. The wash goods section is complete in a variety of latest productions from foreign and domestic markets also containing organdies, muslins, ginghams, zephyrs, etc.”

The various materials are also defined for the newbie (and for me!). Nice copywriting, too. (I wonder if the writer was a woman.)Eaton’s started out the century with a bang and went out with a whimper.

Eaton’s was just too classy to compete in the 1980′s. Eaton’s was all about good quality service and they had a terrific return policy. Honesty, integrity, and such. No major company cares about this nowadays. It’s all about the bottom line. “Whatever is good for business is ‘good’ and that means endless telephone menus, and minions with first names only staffing customer dis-service and no one in charge accountable. It’s all about cheating (within carefully established legal limits) and confusing the customer and putting the onus on the customer to make sure he or she isn’t being cheated.

My son realized he was being overcharged each month on his bank account, by about 10 dollars for about 6 months. He went to the counter to ask for a refund and was told that they could only be refunded 3 months overcharge as that’s how long the bank keeps records. (Yea, tell that to Revenue Canada). He complained and a teller adjacent walked over and said “It’s up to you to watch your statements.” He replied, “I pay you to take care of my money.” Anyway, a senior clerk was called in and he just initialed something and all went well. But it is just typical. My son is only a student, so not an important customer. These days it’s up to you to fight for what is right.. and that takes energy…and the corporations know it. (Enough ranting.)

(Eaton’s, by the way, famously got smeared in Quebec, by the separatists, who claimed their salespeople spoke in English. They became a symbol for prior English domination.) (One of the classic Canadian stories is called The Hockey Sweater and is about a small town French Canadian Mom ordering the wrong hockey sweater from the Eaton’s catalogue.)

And yet they had the first catalogue and were well placed to enter the Internet Age. But they were not nimble enough or the timing was wrong.

Coco Chanel, in 1910, was the right person in the right place at the right time. Eaton’s in the 1990′s was the wrong company in the wrong place in the right time, or something.

So materials in 1910 in Canada came from all around the world, too.

Anyway, I can use the info in the catalogue to ‘flesh out’ Flo in the City… and details are everything.

Perusing this catalogue, on my Kindle, as I waited in Charles de Gaulle Airport, I found another section extremely interesting. The book section. It was an education just to read the volumes listed. And I would dearly love to get hold of some of the books sold in that catalogue, especially one about sexuality and young women. I think it was called the Physical Health of Young Women. Amazon won’t have it but Abebooks might… and then there’s always archive.org.

A Catalogue is worth a thousand letters?

Eaton’s Fall and Winter Catalogue, first item. 1909

I have 1000 letters left behind by the Nicholsons. Of these 1000 letters, I have posted about 300 from the 1908-1913 era on http://www.tighsolas.ca/, my social studies website.

I am now using these letters to write a novel, Flo in the City, on this blog.

Flo in the City, is about a young girl, Flora Nicholson, coming of age in the era. Flora is 16, a student in ‘high school’ or academy as it was called back then. Flora has two older sisters (Marion and Edith, both teachers) and an older brother, working in a bank.

The Nicholson letters tell an important story, about a pivotal time in Canadian and world history. The same story can be told in pictures from the Eaton’s catalogues of the era.

This morning I perused the 1909 Eaton’s catalogue available on Archive.org and snipped some pictures. I know if I compare this catalogue with the 1913 one, I will see some major differences. And I plan to do just that.

For right now, I’ve taken some snapshots from 1909, which I will post on the website as I write the installments of Flo in the City for the rest of 1909 and for 1910.

The advertisement above, for winter jackets, is the first picture in the 1909 Eaton’s fall and winter catalogue. This says a lot. Just like in modern department stores, as you ‘enter’ the catalogue you are met with women’s fashions. This says something, too.

Simply put, it suggests that women’s lust for clothing drove the consumer age, which makes the story of Flo in the City extremely relevant. The study of fashion history has always been considered a frivolous aspect of turn of the century history, say, compared to automobile history, but it clearly is not.

A person can learn an awful lot about women’s social history and ‘consumer age’ values, by examining fashion, and an awful lot about the 1910 era, by studying the Eaton’s catalogues.

Ironically, Edith mentions in a letter than she desires a pony jacket. No coincidence that ‘pony coats’ are the first item in the 1909 catalogues.

But at 37.00 such a coat is out of the question for Edith, who makes about 200. a year. That doesn’t stop her from purchasing a 7.50 hat from Ogilvy’s in 1909, a more stylish and expensive hat than would be found in the Eaton’s catalogue: a woman’s gotta have fun.

I grew up in the 60′s and ‘the residue’ of this era remained: for instance, my mother thought Persian Lamb the epitome of chic. I thought it was for old blue-haired ladies. On the other hand, those peignor sets, with silver comb, brush and little box, for something or other, simply enchanted me. They seemed the epitome of feminine to me. “Comb your hair 100 strokes each night, ” my mother would say. And in movies, that’s just what the beautiful actresses did, as they sat at their dressing tables.

FEATHERS AND WINGS AND WORRYING THINGS 30th installment

Marion in 1910 era. Old picture, but you can get a sense of the texture of her dress, cotton likely. A light material, surely, but that collar would drive me bananas. Boy, I am glad I came of age in the era of ‘danskin’ leotards.

“The Kelloch’s are still not very cordial to me. Avoid me if they can and the others act as if they do not like to be too friendly when they are around,” Margaret was telling Annie Waters over the phone. It was a night in early February.

“Still, the service Sunday night was very good, we had to have chairs in the aisles and the Dr. preached much better than in the morning.”

Flora was at work her hat. Her MacMillan’s Latin textbook was lying open on the chair seat. She was resting her mind, trying to focus exclusively on the slip stitch she was using to sew the braid onto the crinoline covering her hat form.

That was the second stage of the long process. Soon enough she could get to the best part, the trim, the decoration. For Christmas she had asked for some yellow feathers and red wings, like she had seen in the Eaton’s catalogue at Aunt Bella’s, one time when she was watching Stanley.

She had got a pair of orange wings and a red satin ribbon. Good enough. Bits and pieces of Margaret’s conversation from the hallway pierced her consciousness: “Mrs. Beiber’s solo was best I ever heard her sing and Dell Miller sang very nicely.On Sunday, Mrs. Angus Mc Bae sang in the morning. She has such a nice voice.”

cantas cantat cantamus cantatis cantant. Flora’s Latin Lesson flew into her mind, like a flock of etymological birds. Why now, when she was busy doing something else?

Cant: Boring talk filled with platitudes and cliches
Canticle: a song or a chant especially a hymn
Canto: Section of a poem
Chant: a phrase or slogan repeated rhythmically
Chanter: To sing in French

It was all there in her brain. So why couldn’t she repeat it back in class, or better at examination time? Her mind usually went blank then.

“Monday night we made 80 dollars at our tea,” her mother continued edifying Annie about her rather uneventful week.
“I received Edith’s letter and the lace. Took it to Miss B. today. She will try and have it done Saturday. I really cannot lengthen her skirt as the pacing is all pieced. But will let it out at the hips and give it a good pressing. Or we can get more cashmere and fix it all over… I heard from Herb in Cowansville. He says he has no time to go home. He is making me ill.”

Flora’s caught her breath and the orange feathers she had been fingering weighed, all of a sudden, like lead in her hands.

Herb.

A Tale of Two Catalogs -Eaton’s 1909, 1913

Country trip 1909 era: Edith, Flo, unknown friend, with consorts. No chaperone in sight. But then the Nicholsons had no money, so they didn’t need to be protected. I know from other photos that the other person in the party, likely taking the picture, was a young girl.

I am very pleased today, if my eyeballs are not. I have discovered that three Eaton’s catalogs are online, in the public domain, the ones for 1900, 1909, 1913.

Yesterday I decided I needed to see what kinds of ‘things’ are available in catalogs of this era. I had already purchased a CD of the 1906 Sears catalog.

I downloaded some pages from that CD and printed it out and then made my other happy discovery.

There’s no better way to get into the mind-set of people in that era (apart from the letters) than to peruse these catalogs. The best thing, advertising in those days was very explicit. Items are generally described in detail, especially the clothing.

I have already consulted the catalog to adjust some of my story. The part about a ribbon. Well, I assumed a ribbon is just that, something to put around a gift or maybe in the hair. That’s all a ribbon is to me, born in 1954. But ribbons were actually accessories for clothing. They came in a wide variety of colours, materials and sizes. Since people made their own clothing, these ribbons made thoughtful gifts in themselves

I will read more and more pages of these catalogs, for inspiration. I will also compare the 1909 and 1913 catalog for evidence that life changed big time during those year. Proof enough: the catalog doubled in size!

My favorite part so far: the medicines and ‘tonics.’ The more things change the more things stay the same, it seems.

The Nicholsons were always worried about colds and illness, so they likely took a lot of these tonics. Oddly, many tonics contained alcohol, although the ingredient was not listed so as not to discourage those temperance types.

One of the most popular tonics for women, selling millions of bottles over the decades, was Lydia Pinkham’s Vegetable Tonic. (Gee, I take my Greens Plus concoction and I drink my wine.)

Pinkham’s advice to women of the day to stay healthy: Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, eat coarse bread, drink fresh water, get fresh air and exercise, and drink Lydia Pinkham’s Vegetable tonic once a day. Hmmm. No wonder she sold so much of her tonic, her marketing people employed state-of -the-art bubble-speak.