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Butchers’ Smocks23rd May 2022
Butcher’s clothing became an important subset of the smock trade, the blue colour especially associated with the occupation. As the trade developed, particular manufacturers specialised in occupational clothing for butchers, which initially meant smocks. One of these was Frank Blackett, whose family had lived at Smithfield, the famous wholesale meat market in London, since the…
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A Podcast all about Smocks18th October 2021
I am thrilled to be part of the British Textile Biennial (@britishtextilebiennial), which is currently on, in person until the end of October, and online. I recorded a podcast with the brilliant Amber Butchart (@amberbutchart) on all things smock. Find it below or on the British Textile Biennial website, if you would like a listen! Please enjoy!
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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This is what I need to complete my wardrobe – 'a t

This is what I need to complete my wardrobe - 'a town smock'!

Coloured American advertisement, 1930s, image Wikimedia Commons.

#smock #smocking #1930sclothing #1930sfashion #townsmock

A rather evocative carte de visite photograph of a

A rather evocative carte de visite photograph of an older man in his round frock, dating from the late 19th century.

#smock #smockfrock #smocking #needlework #embroidery #cartedevisite #victorianphotography #sidewhiskers #neckerchief #workingclothing

In 1888, Constance Wilde wrote in the magazine 'Th

In 1888, Constance Wilde wrote in the magazine 'The Women's World' about smocks as children's wear, suggesting that they were suitable for summertime and could be worn with wide hats 'to protect the eyes from the glare of the sun'. It was a practical idea which endured into the 20th century.

#smock #smockfrock #smocking #childrenswear #summerclothing #constancewilde #strawhat #early20thcenturypostcard

Fanny Moody (1866-1945) was an opera singer know a

Fanny Moody (1866-1945) was an opera singer know as 'The Cornish Nightingale'. Here she is photographed as Marguerite, a character in the opera Faust, probably in the early 1890s. Her costume has smocked and gathered panels giving it an ahistorical feel, as well as a nod to dress reform movements.

#smocking #fannymoody #victorianopera #marguerite #edwardianpostcard #operacostume

This rather nice back view of a smock, from around

This rather nice back view of a smock, from around 1823-4, before they became highly decorative, hids a dark episode.
The crowd is outside the show of 'The Sicilian Fairy', who was in reality, Caroline Foghell or Crachami as she became, a half Irish half Sicilian nine year old girl with dwarfism, who was a human exhibit. She was exploited by a doctor who had brought her to England, without her parents, supposedly to improve her health. Caroline died, probably of TB in 1824, and the doctor sold her body for dissection, which her parents were too late to stop. Modern examination of her surviving skeleton suggests that she may have been much younger than her claimed nine years, throwing up more questions in this harrowing tale.
'The Show', print by Rowney & Forster, after John Augustus Atkinson, @yalebritishart

More on Caroline at london-overlooked.com

#smock #smockfrock #1823 #1824 #workingclothing #carolinecrachami

A rather sweet version of a First World War land g

A rather sweet version of a First World War land girl in her smock, drawn by children's illustrator, Helen Jacobs.

#smock #smockfrock #landgirl #ww1 #postcard #1919 #helenjacobs #childrensillustrator #doingherbit

A wonderful nostalgic illustration from 'The Briti

A wonderful nostalgic illustration from 'The British Workman' of 1874, the man in a rather elaborate round smock.

#smock #smockfrock #workingclothing #1874 #britishworkman #childrenswear #victorianillustration

The construction influence of the traditional smoc

The construction influence of the traditional smock is very evident in this brightly coloured tunic dress by designers Foale and Tuffin, who worked just off Carnaby Street, as part of the 'Swinging Sixties' London scene. Made circa 1969-71, a year before the business closed, it was available in different colourways too. @vamuseum

#smock #smockdress #smockfrock #swingingsixties #foaleandtuffin #60sfashion #1969

Edwardian humour playing on the perceived anti-mo

Edwardian humour playing on the perceived anti-modernity of the smock, with those men who wore them thought to not understand modern life and new fangled inventions...

#smock #smockfrock #smocking #1907 #edwardianclothing #edwardianpostcard #edwardiancar

With smocked panels across the shoulders, actress

With smocked panels across the shoulders, actress Janet Achurch poses for the Cameron Studio. Achurch was also a theatre manager and played Nora in the London premier of Ibsen's 'A Doll's House' in 1889. Image @vamuseum

#smocking #smockeddress #victorianphotograph #victorianactress #janetachurch #ibsen

A late 19th century glass lantern slide, apparentl

A late 19th century glass lantern slide, apparently an image of the sexton of Arreton Church on the Isle of Wight. He seems to be wearing a short smock with his corduroy trousers, the job of the sexton to look after the church building and graveyard. The door certainly matches images of the Saxon door in that church!

#smock #workingclothing #sexton #arreton #glasslanternslide #corduroytrousers #hobnailboots

This large-scale floral embroidery caught my eye,

This large-scale floral embroidery caught my eye, worked either side of the smocked section on this smock frock from Boston, Lincolnshire. It was apparently made in 1884, so is a late smock - the embroidery design is perhaps reminiscent of other textile designs during this period, in scale and abstraction, such as this French velvet - both in @vamuseum.

#smock #smocking #smockfrock #1884 #embroidery #1880stextiledesign #bostonlincolnshire

To brighten up a cold morning here, this is a dish

To brighten up a cold morning here, this is a dish from the 'Gaffers' series of crockery, produced by Royal Doulton from 1921 and during the interwar period. The 'gaffers' were a variety of elderly men, dressed in smocks, placed in rural settings, playing on nostalgia for the countryside during this period.

#smock #smockfrock #rurallife #cottagedoor #zummerset #royaldoulton #1921 #interwarcrockery #crockerycollection

Edith Haynes Thompson and her shop in Greenwich Vi

Edith Haynes Thompson and her shop in Greenwich Village, New York, which contained 'many quaint and beautiful things', according to her sign. A photograph taken by Jessie Tarbox Beals, the first published female photojournalist, in around 1917, when she captured independent female shop proprietors in the area, some wearing the then fashionable smock.

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

Some kind of dressing up is going on here, whether

Some kind of dressing up is going on here, whether for theatre performance or something else. The rather obvious false beard is quite something along with the smock of course. Like to think he may even have been playing the part of John Buttercup, in 'A Phenomenon in a Smock Frock', a popular play from the 1850s for both professional and amateur theatre companies.

Albumen print by the London Stereoscopic and Photographic Company, circa 1875-80.

#smock #smockfrock #theatreperformance #theatrecostume #dressingup #londonstereoscopiccompany #falsebeard

An old soldier, drawn at Salisbury, England, by Jo

An old soldier, drawn at Salisbury, England, by John Dempsey, probably in the 1820s, a work originally attributed to George Scharf. Possibly a veteran of the Napoleonic Wars, such disabled men usually lived in poverty, visually displayed here by the old military coat worn over a smock, his possessions carried in a basket.

#smock #smockfrock #johndempsey #1820sclothing #oldsoldier #disability #salisbury #basket #tophat #neckerchief

A linen round smock, associated with Riseley in Be

A linen round smock, associated with Riseley in Bedfordshire, embroidered, perhaps appropriately for today, with hearts, @vamuseum.

#smock #smockfrock #smocking #workingclothing #ruraldress #19thcenturyclothing #riseley #embroidery

Not entirely sure what is going on here, but after

Not entirely sure what is going on here, but after a week in Covid isolation, I think I want to join in!
Probably 1920s, taken in Blackpool.

#smock #smockfrock #1920sclothing #fancydress #schoolfancydress #dressingup #blackpoolpostcard

I need cheering up and the inventiveness and charm

I need cheering up and the inventiveness and charm of this American child's dress, with its smocked bodice embroidered with a farm scene, does this for me. From c. 1950 and the @goldstein_museum collection.

#smock #smocking #childrenswear #embroidery #girlssmockeddress #farmscene #1950clothing

Just because this painting always makes me smile,

Just because this painting always makes me smile, for several reasons, whenever I see an image of it!

Julie Manet, daughter of Berthe Morisot, painted by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1887, image - Wikimedia Commons.

#smock #smockfrock #smocking #childrenswear #impressionism #1887 #cat #juliemanet #renoir

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