Thursday, December 14, 2017

Camouflage They Put On Boats In War Time

Above A World War I-era clothing advertisement as published in The South Bend News-Times (South Bend IN), December 28, 1917, p. 3.

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A LETTER FROM LONDON. From Our Own Correspondent. Register (Adelaide, South Australia) October 8, 1923, p. 11—

Post-impressionists have been at work in London again. Wandering down one of the street where the feminine population does its shopping, I was struck—literally—by a most amazing pair of silk stockings. "Jazz," murmured the fair lady: "aren't they a dream." They were—rather a bad one. The post-impressionist had apparently endeavored to portray his impressions of a landscape after a thunderstorm. Verdant green as to foot, the stockings first took on a threatening reddish-yellow glow, deepening into vivid crimson, and back again to sullen gray, all the colorings looking as though they had been thrown on from a distance of at least 5 feet. I suppose they would be all right on some people, but they looked to me like the camouflage they put on boats in war time.

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NEW STYLES SHOCK BRITISH NOBILITY in Herald Democrat (Sherman TX), June 2, 1919—

LONDON—"The nude in sculpture suffices," is the comment of the Duchess of Somerset in the Weeky Dispatch on which is called the outrageous dresses now being worn in the British metropolis. Agitation against these extreme styles is growing stronger as some of the newest creations appear.

The Marchioness of Townshead describes the prevailing fashion as "almost immoral in its inadequacy," while Paris reports skirts split to the hips.

London can retaliate with $125 silk hose, to be worn only with clothing that shows them. Lady Hastings criticizes the new styles as "day undress and evening no dress."

Camouflage stockings are now appearing in zigzag and cubist designs to be worn principally with the ultra-short skirts.

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GLOOM DISPELLERS. Camouflage. Rockland County Times (Nanuet NY), April 6, 1918—

Officer Ford found a man clothed in pajamas promenading on Sharp Street at two o'clock the other morning.

On being accosted the man was started, and then explained that he was a somnambulist.

"I don't care a %#@## what your religion is," said the chief, "you can't go around wearing them kind o' duds."