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Smock Frock Veterans7th July 2021
A newspaper report in 1895 asked, ‘Where is the Smock-Frock?’, noting that it was a marker of the ‘old, hardy and honest peasantry’. Forty or fifty years ago they were a common sight, but now ‘Old England’s rural garb is rarely seen!’, the railway and education, in particular, having changed rural society, not in a…
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Book Announcement!17th March 2021
I am very excited to announce that my book on smocks will be published on 20th May 2021 by Bloomsbury Academic. A social history of a single garment, my cast list includes Ellen Terry, Georgia O’Keeffe, the WI, body snatchers, navvies, Molly Goddard, John Dryden and many more. For me it is a way to…
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Snapshot: one working man’s clothing practices in 184019th November 2020
The Corn Laws, in place between 1815-46, were, in brief, tariffs on imported grain and food, designed to give domestic producers better prices for their produce, but in reality causing food prices to rise and distress and hunger for working people unable to produce food for themselves. As protests against the Corn Laws gained momentum,…
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smockfrock98

I have posted this photograph of a smock cuff befo

I have posted this photograph of a smock cuff before but it is one of my favourite images, the wear, the repairs, the gradual fraying and undoing, the material embodiment of a man's working life.

#smock #smocking #smockfrock #19thcenturyclothing #workingclothing #workwear #repairs

The country yokel in his characteristic smock froc

The country yokel in his characteristic smock frock became a stock comedy figure in the music hall in the late 19th century, often portrayed as naive and gullible. Here, the front of a song sheet, performed by Albert Chevalier in the 1890s, a performer known for his portrayal of various comic characters, particularly costermongers.

#smock #smockfrock #musichall #albertchevalier #1890s #yokel #illustratedsongsheet #musichallcomedy

When you start looking, smocked details turn up in

When you start looking, smocked details turn up in all sorts of places, here, on the cuffs of a day dress, otherwise made of a Jacquard woven silk. The dress dates from around 1885, smocking becoming a fashionable needlework technique during the 1880s. @vamuseum

#smocking #needlework #jacquardsilk #1885 #1880sfashion #victorianfashion

Part of an American theatrical family, Hazel MacKa

Part of an American theatrical family, Hazel MacKaye was an active member of the women's suffrage movement, creating various pageants for them, here photographed in a 1913 autochrome wearing a smock. These were a popular garment for American women particularly in theatrical and artistic circles.
©Genthe photograph collection, Library of Congress.

#smock #hazelmackaye #1913 #americansmock #autochrome #suffragepageant #artisticdress

Clash of the old and new! A John Hassall drawing d

Clash of the old and new! A John Hassall drawing dating from around 1907, although I have yet to see such a surviving orange smock...

#smock #smockfrock #oldandnew #motorcar #johnhassall #1907 #orangesmock #yokel #artisticlicense

During the mid-19th century, one of the garments a

During the mid-19th century, one of the garments associated with navvies building the rail network and other infrastructure, was the short white smock. Come and hear me talk about this navvy dress next week, 29th June, as part of the exciting #movinglabour conference. Details below ⬇️

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/moving-labour-conference-tickets-155917895623

#smock #workingclothing #workwear #navvies #brewerscap #ringlets #19thcenturyclothing #itinerantworkers

I am thrilled to be presenting at 19thc Dress and

I am thrilled to be presenting at 19thc Dress and Textiles Reframed At Home, this Sunday 20th at 2pm (London), to talk about my research joy which, it may come as no great surprise, is smocks!

All welcome - details below ⬇️

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/at-home-with-c19th-dress-textiles-reframed-20th-june-2021-tickets-157523325507

Image: detail from a postcard date stamped 1907.

#smock #smockfrock #researchjoy #gaiters
#early20thcenturypostcard #1907 #handkerchief #workingclothing

Another look at smock details – even with simple s

Another look at smock details - even with simple stitches and the practical task of gathering fabric in a specific place, here the shoulder, the creative skill of the needlewoman makes something more, with sinuous lines and clusters of feather stitch perhaps suggesting ears of corn.

#smock #smockfrock #smocking #needlework #embroidery #featherstitch #fabricmanipulation #19thcenturyclothing #workingclothing

A photo-galvanograph, c. 1859, which used a photo

A photo-galvanograph, c. 1859, which used a photo engraving to print multiple copies, taken from an original photograph/negative by Oscar Rejlander in 1855. Titled 'I Pays', the man is shown digging into his breeches pockets beneath his smock to pay the pub waitress, @vamuseum. Love the way that both their hats are upside down in front of them.

#smock #smockfrock #1859 #1855 #1850sfashion #publunch #oscarrejlander #pipe #hatstorage #victorianphotography

Thanks very much to all who have followed me recen

Thanks very much to all who have followed me recently and especially to those who have been there from the beginning - didn't realise there was so much smock love!!

Jug manufactured by Royal Doulton in the 'Gaffers' interwar series.

#smock #smockfrock #royaldoulton #1920scrockery #1921 #rurallife #zummerset #1000followers #pipe

Just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who

Just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who was able to attend the book launch earlier today and for all your kind and generous comments!

#smock #smockfrock #menow
#booklaunch #fridayafternoon

It's publication day! A huge thank you to everyon

It's publication day!

A huge thank you to everyone who has helped me over the years, sent me examples and generally put up with my smock obsession✨✨

Will put a preview of my book in my stories.

And if you would like to join @documenting_fashion and myself tomorrow for the official online launch, please follow the link below ⬇️

https://courtauld.ac.uk/whats-on/events/fashion-visual-material-interconnections-book-series-launch/

@bloomsburyfashion #smock #smockfrock #workingclothing #workwear #socialhistories #clothinghistory #fashionhistory

#Repost @documenting_fashion … Lie back – prefer

#Repost @documenting_fashion
...
Lie back - preferably in a #mollygoddard smock - and imagine how great it would be to

WIN A COPY
OF
THE HIDDEN HISTORY OF THE SMOCK FROCK
By the brilliant @smockfrock98

I have two copies to GIVE AWAY

To enter: TAG A FRIEND in the comments @documenting_fashion

Winners will be chosen randomly on Friday morning!

AND

Join us
ONLINE BOOK LAUNCH
12.30-1.30 U.K. time
21 May

LINK IN BIO

#dresshistory #fashionhistory #fashionstudies #smockfrock #vintagefadhion #19thcenturyfashion #menswear
#dariocatellani #vogueitalia 2019
@bloomsburyfashion
@courtauldres

Head over to @documenting_fashion's post and good luck!

For those who would like a double dose of smocks t

For those who would like a double dose of smocks this week, I am also excited to be presenting a different talk online for the Sartorial Society, on Thursday evening, exploring the smock as a nostalgic spectre of rural England. Details ⬇️

https://www.sartorialsocietyseries.com/

Norman Thelwell's 'The age-old custom of beating the balm cake at Abbots Dawdling', published in Punch in 1960.

#smock #smockfrock #ruralnostalgia #thelwellcartoon
#1960

My advanced copies have arrived ahead of publicati

My advanced copies have arrived ahead of publication day next week! Thank you so much to all at @bloomsburyfashion for such a great job and, of course, also to the brilliant series editor, @documenting_fashion.

A reminder that if you would like to come to the online launch next Friday lunchtime (in the UK), details are below ⬇️

https://courtauld.ac.uk/event/online-fashion-visual-material-interconnections-book-series-launch

#smock #smockfrock #workingclothing #booklaunch #19thcenturyclothing

I love this series of postcards where the sender i

I love this series of postcards where the sender is invited to complete the caption, illustrated by Lance Thackeray. This is obviously the smock one(!), with the recruiting sergeant in action, date stamped 1903.

#smock #smockfrock #early20thcenturypostcard #1903 #recruitment #recruitingofficer #raphaeltuck

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