How much clothing did they *actually* have back then?

You are from Indy?!? Hello from Gary, IN!

When I i worked in a 1920s museum, i loved the Modern Priscilla article that delineated a practical trousseau for women based on their different budgets. It was fascinating insight into the ideal wardrobe, and it was much more varied than I expected. It included the suggested costs, as well as consideration of the prospective wife's lifestyle and social status.

Soon, THATS why the wardrobes were supposed to hold everything!

Without cheap clothing from the third world I'm pretty sure I'd have about 80% less clothes. Thats how it was back in the 1970s, before globalism.

Great video! Interesting thing about mens suits, I was reading that pre WWII, it was a jacket, vest, and two pants that consisted of a suit. Due to fabric rations it evolved into the jacket and pant set we see today.

This was awesome

Thank you very much for all the work you put into this. It was very interesting. I'd love to know what the first example Elinor meant by a 'Wrap' that she wears every day - is it a full apron, with or without sleeves? I have a lot of tops (and 'first layer') as I work full time and only do laundry in the weekend. But only 3 bras - they really are expensive.

When I was in grade school in the 1950’s I remember my mother bought me five new dresses before school started. That’s what I wore all year. My teacher was so kind she complimented me on the purple plaid dress. So that was my favorite and I remember it to this day.

When I was in grade school in the 1950’s I remember my mother bought me three new dresses before school started. That’s what I wore all year. My teacher was so kind she complimented me on the purple plaid dress. So that was my favorite and I remember it to this day.

Clothes are just so incredibly cheap now. Without spending too much of a fortune I’ve been able to mass as a close horse :-) something like 50 sweaters three dozen coats of all lengths and styles 100 pairs of shoes 50 pairs of socks 25 skirts at least 30 purses it just sort of goes on and on I find stuff on the street and in free boxes that’s really high-quality and designer things for two or three bucks at the store secondhand on sale days. We have big clothing swaps! We have storage units filled with clothes that we’ve never worn because we can’t get around to it.

The clergyman’s family probably was poor in the sense that we understand it today and they utilized the services of a used clothing broker. If I’m not mistaken, I thought that you had done an entire episode on those? Maybe it was someone else. Anyway, their outfits would have cost about 1/3 as much. You had to go to the shady part of town and these were huge Emporium‘s absolutely stuffed with clothing of all types and all qualities. Apparently, even the well to do eventually sleaze on in there to expand their wardrobes because it was expensive keeping up with the Joneses! This was before Pret a Porte

I have family in a poorer country, and I remember visiting them, and my god sister the same age as me, at some point had about 2 sets of clothes, pajamas, and underwear and thats it. apperently that was normal, they just throw it away, and buy a few sets for the season and thats it. Except maybe jackets since those are pricey.

People can’t believe I have my socks ‘darned’ and even get heal wedges n on my rung horse. Did th in 1960’s. You also forgot in Old Homes there is no closests. There would be one armoire with clothes. Disagree. Outside of higher wealth, most did not & most people were not wealthy, and middle class is a recent creation.

In 1963, my mum left home to marry my dad. She brought all her wordly goods in a weekend case. She never had a wardrobe at home, just a hook on the bedroom door. Poverty is a terrible thing. She worked, and her dad took all of her wages for the family. Her mother died when she was 13, leaving 5 children. They have all done well in life and marrued and had children, bought propert, travelled! She always says you need 3 of everything. One on, one clean and one in the wash!

My grandparents had 2 outfits. One for the working days and the other for the weekend.

My bf is Brazilian and his aunties in Brazil are seamstresses, most of their customers just buy fabric they like and ask them to figure out what to make it into 😂 my bf said when he visited he went to the mall with her and she was just looking in clothes and taking pictures of seams 🤣

Who cares how much clothing they had? We don't think about our descendants clothing, just like our ancestors didn't care about ours. Just live your short life and enjoy it!

People wore shifts under their dresses. Those where washed with each wear not the outer dress each wear

Begining school in 1951, I didn't know I was poor. I had clothes mabe 3 for school and 3 for play. Barfooted at home and most of the summer. Good Oxford saddle shoes to start school. And 1 or 2 dresses for sunday.

I live in Westminster CA, and the Asian ancestry is at least 50%. Lately I see many wearing pajamas as out side wear. Then I checked that with the Vietnam podcasts and learned it to be common for Vietnamese people.

You left out the fact that part of the influence on the wages in this industry going down was due to the fact that a majority of the workers were women and immigrants

I can't get over the fact that housing used to take less of the budget than food.
And old people say we are exaggerating and should just save 5 years and buy a house on cash....

Really enjoyed this! Great contrast with the green against your lovely red couch

Regarding work wear: I guess most companies that required a specific outfit or uniform just lent out the necessary clothing? So it was never accounted for in the personal belongings of an employee.

I know that Florence Nightingale was credited to have reformed health care for nurses in the 1850. Starting from that time period, medical staff adapted more standardized and unicolor dress for hygienic reasons. Hospitals supplied the necessary clothing for nurses.

My grandmother was tought by a polish teacher in barracks, when she fled with her parents at the beginning of ww2. This was from 1939-1942. The teacher had one knitted dress and two shirts and two pairs of underwear and socks. She was roughly in her late 20s and slept in the school building's attic.

Even in the 80's I had a few t shirts, a pair of shorts, skirt, jeans, school uniform, and some jumpers that had been my brothers, and that was about it. In childhood photos the same clothes show up repeatedly on my brothers and I. I used to get bags of hand me downs from my cousins, but they were very fussy dresses and not the kind of thing I had use for in every day life. I don't ever remember being short of clothes, we rewore a lot, and it never seemed to be an issue.

Great video, so interesting!

My mother used to say that children needed "one clean, one on, and one in the wash". That was back in the 1960's, before she got a washing machine. Also, we grew out of our clothes very quickly. As the eldest of a bunch of cousins, I got the new (hand made) party dress, then it went down to the next in age until they grew out of it, and so on. Seven years later it would come back for my sister. She would hate it because by then it was worn out enough to be an everyday dress.

Love a good past vs present video ! Very informative :)

I just want you to know how much I enjoy your videos! I found you last night and I have already learned a lot. I bet it takes forever to do the research for these

this was so good oml

I’d LOVE to have a service where I can get a pattern professionally fitted for myself!

My great grandmother would intently study the tailor when he came to the farm in Lithuania to make clothes for her brothers. She learned how to make clothing and made fabulous outfits for her kids through the Depression. Unfortunately, the only things I ever saw were these giant nightgowns she loved to wear 😂

The thing that you are missing is that because travel & shipping was so much harder, rural was very different that urban and rural west was extremely different from rural east. For instance: Flush toilets were required in Portland, Oregon in 1915 (a big city) while flush toilets did not make it to rural New Mexico until 1950. (My Grandmother there had 3 pairs of "panties" as a child, changed weekly, not daily.) Washing machines only came to rural areas when Rural Electrification came. RE was much sooner in the east, than in the west, and started around WWII...but it did not reach rural Idaho until the 1957. The problem of washing clothing for large families without a washing machine was real! While other people have said that their ancestors had more than 3-5 outfits, my ancestors had 3-5, but they were rural west and post stock market crash. As my grandmothers said, "everyone was poor, only a few were wealthy."

Maybe you could try to speak a little faster next time? 😅 Greetings from Germany ❤

Thank you for having subtitles!

I’m so lucky both my grandmothers lived very long and were very skilled in making clothing. Sewing, knitting, crochet, weaving, alterations.. they handed their knowledge down to the grandchildren. I even know how to turn collars in men’s dressing shirts. I make most of my clothing myself because I can’t afford the ready made ones out of the quality I want (100% silk, wool, cashmere, linen, tweed) and I was taught clothing needs to fit like a glove (which fast fashion doesn’t, at least not on my body since my early twenties 😂). I also choose like my nan. Never get ‘funny’ with expensive pieces like a wintercoat or dressy leather boots (everyone will see you over and over in something that’s in a bold color and remember whereas something in black, charcoal, navy blue, dark green will not linger in the memory) but with the inexpensive accessories like scarfs, earrings, hats, etc.

I suspect that a working person like a midwife may sometimes have been paid in clothing - so her estate would end up with quite a few fancy dresses etc that weren't garments she ever wore, but were more like currency.

I was a child in the 70’s and 80’s, and it was still common for moms to sew much of the children’s things. It was fun to go to the fabric store and pick a dress pattern from the catalog then decide on fabric, buttons, etc. We could decide on the length and sleeve length, and it would fit perfectly when she was done! I remember clothes being really expensive compared to our budget. Most of our clothing was from the Penney’s catalog. Another thing that was cool about back then was that I feel like we had more in common with the past in the way we dressed. For Sunday, we wore slips, camisoles, and tights, sometimes with gloves and hats. Even when I started working in the late nineties, panty hose and high heels were required. I feel like fashion changed sooo much right around 2000. I worked in retail and noticed that more options were available. For instance, it used to be that you could only find certain items/styles of clothes if they were “in style.” So when capri pants were in style, they’d be in stores for two seasons, tops. I noticed so much more variety. The other thing that was interesting was that people wore clothes in the style of the year they graduated from high school pretty much. You could tell by their clothes, hairstyle and makeup what era they were young in. After about 2000, I noticed everyone following fashion/trends much more. Again, maybe the internet, and also prices going down?

Thank you so much for carefully curating all of this history and putting it together in a form that is easy and fun to consume. I love being able to pause and read the articles and check out the photos in detail, and I always learn so much from your videos. Truly, thank you!

When I was poorer I only had 4 pair of jeans 7 shirts , 7 undershirts and 7 pairs of underwear, 3 skirts and 3 blouses for chirch 2-3 dreses, 1 winter coat 3 belts and 4 pair of shoes(
:winterboots, cold weather church shoes, warm weather church shoes, everyday sandles and a pair of sneakers and a pair of pumps. Its all could fit into my tiny 510sqft apt's closet. Now i own more clothing in untold amounts due to my joinging a reenactment group. Its time to pair down the items I dont wear and get tailored the ones that dont fit me right

She's soo pretty

Amazingly researched video!

Excellent research on this topic. And well presented. Enjoyed it. Carol from California