Call me cheesy for making a “Thanksgiving” post; I’ve just gotta do it. Hopefully my version of Thanksgiving will appeal to all you fashionistas.
Quick note: I will never forget my fifth grade “social studies” test on the pilgrims where we were required to define terms and unfortunately “Plymouth” was one I was completely unacquainted with. Yikes! I’ve come a long way…
So, the utopian story of Thanksgiving constitutes of happy Wampanoag Native Americans sitting down peacefully and harmoniously (No, I will not be getting into their controversial relationship even though it seems like it) with the survivors of the Mayflower, feasting for three days in Plymouth, Massachusetts! If the whole Thanksgiving story seems way distant to you, keep on reading…The pilgrims seemed to be risking a lot, leaving Britain for this mysterious “new land” which they knew nothing about. They weren’t only risking their lives…they were risking their style.
The ritzy British had a lot more in common with us than we think. After doing some “research” (Yes, Wikipedia might be wrong, but they make it just too easy to ignore them), I noticed that if you nit-pick little fashion trends of 2010 and link them to Britain in the 1620s, we’ve actually never been more in tune with the Motherland. As 1620 rolled around, women started wearing high-waisted skirts! Now I know what you’re thinking, “Eileen, when have high-waisted skirt not been in style for wannabe hipsters (including myself)?” Okay, you didn’t say the “including myself” part, but I’m having quite the grammar panic! (I also want to mention that in the 1620s the waistline rose for men as well—something that hasn’t quite caught on with us yet). There was some point in fashion history where people were thinking “how low can you go” and were basically showing the entire area between the centimeter above their…you know what…through their bare midriff (those were not the days). Anyways, another style popularized in the 1620s was sheer lace! This is a style I am personally a fan of, as long as you wear something underneath of course like these fancy chicks did. Corsets also seem to be pretty “in vogue” right now, and I can argue that women of the 1620s wore corsets…but under their clothing.
I could have sworn I saw these in Steve Madden the other day
Pilgrim women on the other hand opted for bright solid colors (unexpected, I know). Their religion did not restrict them to dark, gloomy colors, and they were experimenting with enough color dyes to produce a rainbow. (I don’t think they wore tie-dye though—still not justified). They wore long skirts, gathered at the waist, and usually long-sleeved…and don’t forget the bonnets (to keep their hair clean)! Sounds pretty modest for fleers of British religious control!
Anyways…have a happy Thanksgiving! (And eat enough turkey for the both of us—I just don’t like it!)
Fare thee well (that’s goodbye in old English),
Eileen
Thank you to my sources of knowledge and photo:
Mrs. Ender’s fifth grade social studies class
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