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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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Bucks History Festival 202011th September 2020
Very excited and honoured to be part of the upcoming Bucks History Festival, 12th-13th September 2020. Having grown up in Buckinghamshire, I know the county well. My podcast covers some basic questions about smocks including: Who wore smocks? What are they made of? When did people start wearing them? What colours are they? It also…
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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

Born in 1890, in Torquay, Devon, into an upper mid

Born in 1890, in Torquay, Devon, into an upper middle-class family, Agatha Christie, as she would become, wears a fashionable smock, a style that was unisex for younger children but also popular for older girls.

#smock #smocking #childrenswear #edwardianclothing #agathachristie #torquay

A nostalgic rural image painted by Charles Edward

A nostalgic rural image painted by Charles Edward Wilson, who specialised in rustic genre scenes from 1889 onwards. The smock was usually his dress of choice for the boys that he depicted, contributing to the feeling of wistfulness for things past.

#smock #smockfrock #rusticscene #ruralscene #rabbits #turnips #nostalgia #charlesedwardwilson #victoriangenrepaintings

This brown linen smock doesn't look that spectacul

This brown linen smock doesn't look that spectacular but it is thought to be one of the earliest examples to survive, dating from around 1779, from Mayfield in East Sussex. @vamuseum

#smock #smockfrock #1779 #18thcenturycostume #18thcenturyworkwear #smocking

During the First World War, many land girls wore v

During the First World War, many land girls wore versions of the smock which was both practical and fashionable. Department stores opened new sections to sell such workwear for women, this detail of an advert placed in 'The Landswoman: The Journal of the Land Army', in 1918.

#smock #smockfrock #workingclothing #workwear #ww1 #landgirl #1918 #departmentstore

A faded carte de visite photograph but still full

A faded carte de visite photograph but still full of wonderful details, as well as the round smock, the ribbed stockings, the side whiskers and some fabulous clogs. It was taken by Adam Gosney (1844-1921), the son of a labourer who set up as a photographer in his native Sherborne, Dorset, in 1866. His photos now survive in the NPG and V&A collections. Set against a painted rural studio backdrop, from the style of card, this image probably dates from the early 1880s.

#smock #smockfrock #ruraldress #workingclothing #sidewhiskers #clogs #adamgosney #sherborne #dorsetclothing #cdv #victorianphotography #1880sclothing

I have the greatest admiration for the working-cla

I have the greatest admiration for the working-class needlewomen who smocked for a living, during the mid 19th century, usually paid very poorly and working from home, fitting in with their other caring and domestic responsibilities. It is testiment to their skill that their work is often now so sought after.

#smock #smockfrock #smocking #needlework #embroidery #needlewoman #wfh #garmentmanufacturing #19thcenturyclothing

Wanted to introduce Arthur Smith who features on t

Wanted to introduce Arthur Smith who features on the cover of my book, 'The Hidden History of the Smock Frock' which, I am very excited to announce, will be published on 20th May by Bloomsbury. You are all invited to attend my online book launch on 21st May, hosted by The Courtauld and the wonderful Rebecca Arnold (@documenting_fashion), link in my bio.
Arthur ended up in prison in 1872, convicted of stealing a rabbit and is just one of the smock wearers I examine in my social history of the smock.

#smock #smockfrock #socialhistory #1872 #workingclothing #19thcenturyclothing #workwear

The tale of the Farmer's Daughter, illustrated in

The tale of the Farmer's Daughter, illustrated in The Graphic in 1896, who fell in love with a humble plough boy, who, of course, wears a smock, which was, by then, out of date and virtually a historical garment like much of the other dress depicted in the tale, in a great mish mash of styles.

#smock #smockfrock #farmersdaughter #1896 #dresshistoricism

Love the juxtaposition here of corsets and a smock

Love the juxtaposition here of corsets and a smock. Jessie Tarbox Beals, the first published female photojournalist, photographed her bohemian neighbourhood of Greenwich Village, New York, in around 1917. She captured independent women proprietors to print on postcards to sell, several wearing the fashionable smock, as Linn does here. Such dress became associated with the group of progressive writers and artists focused on that part of the city.

#smock #smockfrock #smocking #1917 #jessietarboxbeals #greenwichvillage #early20thcenturypostcard #femaleshopowner
#corsetadvertising #americansmock

By the early 20th century, the smock had become th

By the early 20th century, the smock had become the dress of choice for those depicting the 'Little Boy Blue', a popular English nursery rhyme, the earliest printed version dating from 1744. The smock was current unisex children's wear as well as having the requisite associations with the countryside. Postcard sent in 1905 to Master Thompson from his Grannie.

#smock #smockfrock #1905 #early20thcenturypostcard #nurseryrhyme #littleboyblue #childrenswear

In the new film adaption of Frances Hodgson Burnet

In the new film adaption of Frances Hodgson Burnett's classic novel of 1911, 'The Secret Garden', Mary is dressed in this rather lovely revival style smock.

#smock #smockrevival #childrenswear #filmcostume #smocking #needlework

A rather dapper smock wearer I think, a photograph

A rather dapper smock wearer I think, a photograph taken in the early 20th century by Tom Reveley, a photographer from Wantage in Oxfordshire, who had photographs published in 'Tatler' and other major magazines.

#smock #smockfrock #tophat #pipe #neckerchief #dressingup #wantage #early20thcenturypostcard #walkingstick

This is a lovely study by Luke Fildes, known for h

This is a lovely study by Luke Fildes, known for his 'social realist' paintings. The smock wearing elderly man ends up in the background of the final work 'The Penitent's Return' of 1879 (now in Cardiff), but I rather like seeing the detail in the preliminary work not visible in the final painting @vamuseum

#smock #smockfrock #lukefildes #1870sdress #tophat #neckerchief #roundsmock #victorianpainting

Following my last post, in a typically beautiful E

Following my last post, in a typically beautiful Edwardian portrait photograph, Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, future Queen and Queen Mother, wears a Liberty smock in around 1907.

#smock #libertyclothing #embroidery #needlework #elizabethboweslyon #smockfrock #1907 #edwardianclothing #childrenswear #edwardianphotography

Late 19thc smocking for a girl's dress made by Lib

Late 19thc smocking for a girl's dress made by Liberty & Co. The Liberty workrooms became famed for their smocking of fashionable children's dress around this date, as well as repairing original male smocks which were already starting to be collected. Girl's 1890s smock. @metmuseum

#smock #smocking #needlework #embroidery #childrenswear #libertyclothing #1890sfashion #smockfrock

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