Miscellenia

Can you complete the fashion history quiz from 1916?

One of the (many) highlights of my trip to the US was visiting Lauren of Wearing History: we shared patternmaking tips, played ‘date the vintage garment’, geeked out over fashion history, and generally had a fabulous time.  She let me go through her vintage magazines, and we laughed over the advice columns and sighed over the fashion plates.

In her McCall’s Magazine from March 1916 I found something of particular interest: a fashion history terminology quiz!

Lauren kindly offered to let me share it with you, so you can see the fun:

McCalls Magazine, March 1916, courtesy of Wearing History, thedreamstress.com

Lauren & I collaborated to finish the quiz, and then, when we were pretty sure we had it right, flipped to page 115 for the answers….

….only to find a message advising us to write to the editor for them!

Oh wailey wailey!

Still, we think we got them.  Do you think you can?

Leave your answers in the comments (no peeking!).   Don’t be afraid to be honest and fess up if you collaborated or had to use google – it took Lauren & I together to (probably) get it.

We’ll come back in a week and tell you what we think the answers are!

In case you have trouble reading the image, the questions are:

  1. What coat is named for an inventor?
  2. What dress for a character of Dickens?
  3. What overskirt for a Polish dance?
  4. What coat for an English Prince?
  5. What colours for President’s daughters?
  6. What coat for the Crimean hero?
  7. What wrap for a famous singer?
  8. What blouse for a patriot?
  9. What opera  for an apron?
  10. What hat for celebrated races?
  11. What jacket for soldiers famous in Civil War?
  12. What collar for an artist?
  13. What ruffle for a Queen?
  14. What wrap for a famous nurse?
  15. What cap for a character of Burns?
  16. What jacket for an English School?

And as a hint, here is an image with the answer to #2:

Who is she?

UPDATE:  Lauren & I think the answers are…

 

 

  1. What coat is named for an inventor? Macintosh
  2. What dress for a character of Dickens? Dolly Varden
  3. What overskirt for a Polish dance? Polonaise
  4. What coat for an English Prince? Prince  Albert (a double-breasted frock coat)
  5. What colours for Presidents daughters? We know of Alice Blue, after Alice Roosevelt, and Helen Pink, after Helen Taft (this one is clearly inspired by the popularity of Alice blue, but just as clearly didn’t take).  Helen pink is probably named after the (slightly unusual for a White House deb) colour she wore for her debutante event at the White House.  We kinda cheated on this one, in that I guessed it would be named after Taft’s daughter, and would be pink, to balance Alice’s blue, and went looking for mentions of it based on that.  So there may be more, but I very much doubt it.
  6. What coat for the Crimean hero? Cardigan (read my terminology post about it here)
  7. What wrap for a famous singer? the Sontag, after Henriette Sontag (earlier versions were  known  as Bosom friends)
  8. What blouse for a patriot? Garibaldi
  9. What opera  for an apron? HMS Pinafore, of course!
  10. What hat for celebrated races? Ascot
  11. What jacket for soldiers famous in Civil War? Zouave
  12. What collar for an artist? Van Dyke
  13. What ruffle for a Queen?  We’re pretty sure this is a Queen Anne ruffle or a Marie-de-Medici  collar/ruffle  (taking into account that it was reasonably common to call collars ruffles in the 1910s)
  14. What wrap for a famous nurse? A Nightingale wrap
  15. What cap for a character of Burns? Tam O’Shanter
  16. What jacket for an English School? Eton

15 Comments

  1. Libby says

    Without directly fashion-related googling (e.g. I had to look up the Crimean War to remind myself of #6, but I didn’t look for “Crimean War hero clothing” or anything):

    1. What coat is named for an inventor?
    2. What dress for a character of Dickens? Dolly Varden
    3. What overskirt for a Polish dance? Polonaise
    4. What coat for an English Prince? ??Prince Charlie?? (I know, of course, that he was anything but English, but I can’t think of a better answer!)
    5. What colours for Presidents daughters? Alice blue, ??
    6. What coat for the Crimean hero? cardigan
    7. What wrap for a famous singer? sontag
    8. What blouse for a patriot? Garibaldi, I believe?
    9. What opera for an apron?
    10. What hat for celebrated races? Derby
    11. What jacket for soldiers famous in Civil War?
    12. What collar for an artist?
    13. What ruffle for a Queen?
    14. What wrap for a famous nurse?
    15. What cap for a character of Burns? Tam O’Shanter
    16. What jacket for an English School? Eton

  2. Gillian Stapleton says

    Ooh, some of these are tough. Adding to the above: 9 – HMS Pinafore, 12 – Gainsborough?, 14 – Nightingale?.

  3. Deanna says

    Fun quiz! Too bad you haven’t any time-traveling stationery to confirm the answers. 🙂

    Adding 13. – Bertha.

  4. Deanna says

    11. Zouave?

    I kept thinking of Spencer, which isn’t associated with civil war, that I know of, and then Cavaliers and Roundheads, but no jackets. 🙂 I didn’t know (or remember, possibly) that Zouave’s were associated with the American Civil War until I looked it up, though.

  5. Daniel Milford-Cottam says

    What coat is named for an inventor?
    Mackintosh

    What dress for a character of Dickens?
    Dolly Varden

    What overskirt for a Polish dance?
    Polonaise

    What coat for an English Prince?
    Albert (I think)

    What colours for Presidents daughters?
    Might one be Alice blue?

    What coat for the Crimean hero?
    Cardigan (Brudenell, Earl of Cardigan. Had to Google)

    What wrap for a famous singer?
    I really can’t think what this could be.

    What blouse for a patriot?
    Garibaldi

    What opera for an apron?
    Pinafore

    What hat for celebrated races?
    Ascot (Googled to confirm as I only definitely knew the Ascot necktie)

    What jacket for soldiers famous in Civil War?
    Zouave

    What collar for an artist?
    Van Dyck

    What ruffle for a Queen?
    Betsey? (as in short for Elizabeth)

    What wrap for a famous nurse?
    I really don’t know sorry. Can’t think of anything called after Nightingale.

    What cap for a character of Burns?
    Tam O’Shanter

    What jacket for an English School?
    Eton

    • OK, having Googled, I now know that there IS a garment called a Nightingale wrap. Gosh. Didn’t know that. I’m still completely stumped on the singer, and I suppose the ruffle COULD be Bertha after Bertha of Kent (had to Google again), but that seems pretty obscure. Then again, I suppose 1916 readers knew these things a bit more widely.

      • Deanna says

        If my memory hasn’t failed me (which it often does!) – it was named after a different lady, and is probably a translation of Berthe.

  6. Well, there apparently was some kind of evening wrap called after Jenny Lind, but it only appears to have been mentioned once in 1862, so I highly doubt it’d be a quiz answer in 1916. I’ve had no luck with Adelina Patti or Nellie Melba, and can’t think offhand of any other REALLY famous 19th/early 20th C singers at the time…. Could be after a male singer, but I’m blanking now…. Waiting for the answers!!

    • Now with answers! I’m very impressed! (and a little disappointed you didn’t get cardigan – I’ve done a terminology post on that! 😉 )

      The only one I’m not sure we got right is the ruffle for a Queen. Ruffs were called ruffles in the 1910s, so it may be as basic and obvious as an Elizabethan ruff. I can also find occasional mentions of a Marie-de-Medici Ruffle.

      • I did think cardigan (although I did have to Google to confirm the connection, as I knew it was after the Earl of Cardigan, but couldn’t remember if there was a Cardigan connected to the Crimea….)

      • Deanna says

        Hooray for answers!

        Clever how you figured out Helen pink. 🙂 I knew I’d heard more than just Alice blue, but couldn’t remember what it was at all.

        An Elizabethan ruff was the only other thing I could think of, but it did seem too obvious to be right. And now I am wondering what magazine I came across Bertha in (which of course, might not have been valid information in the first place), or if my memory just decided to completely mislead me. 🙂

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