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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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Cottagecore and the smock20th July 2020
I wrote a few months ago about the popularity of smocking in current women’s fashion. Now I have come to the conclusion that it is also re-entering male fashion, albeit in a very small way, at the moment anyway. This has been helped by ‘cottagecore’, a subcultural online movement, which expresses a yearning for the…
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The 'Rustic Courtship', a review of the original w

The 'Rustic Courtship', a review of the original watercolour by W. Lucas in 1865 noting the 'honest' waggoner's shaved and washed face and his new pipe, as well as his embroidered smock.

#smock #smockfrock #rusticcourtship #1865 #laundry #washday #pipe #washingtub #sidewhiskers

A splash of colour for a wintry day here – a girl'

A splash of colour for a wintry day here - a girl's silk day dress from Liberty & Co., with smocking around the sleeves, waist and neckline, mid-1890s @fidmmuseum

https://blog.fidmmuseum.org/museum/2009/12/smocked-frock.html

#smocking #smockeddress #libertyclothing #mid1890s #childrenswear

As a Friday treat, the back of a brown linen smock

As a Friday treat, the back of a brown linen smock, the black embroidery looking rather abstract in form, said to be from Herefordshire @vamuseum.

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

A touch of sweetness for the day – smocks were uni

A touch of sweetness for the day - smocks were unisex baby and small children's wear from the late 19th century onwards and remain a popular choice today.

#smock #smocking #childrenswear #boyswear #early20thcenturypostcard #portraitphotography

The actress, Ellen Terry, photographed at her home

The actress, Ellen Terry, photographed at her home, Smallhythe, Kent, for 'The Sphere' in 1912, in her favourite at home garment - the smock. Here she extols her love of her garden as well as noting that she keeps a canoe on a nearby canal.

#smock #smockfrock #ellenterry #smallhythe #1912 #wfhdress #hobbies #canoe #gardeningsmock #gardening

The contemporary parlence for a group of men weari

The contemporary parlence for a group of men wearing smocks was just 'the smock frocks' as they became entirely defined by their clothing. I'm sure there is a better collective noun though! This fascinating photograph is a group of Horsham woodcutters from an album of early photographs of Sussex by Thomas Honywood, for sale at auction in London next week.

https://www.chiswickauctions.co.uk/auction/lot/232-captain-thomas-honywood-1819-1888/?lot=128617&so=0&st=&sto=0&au=588&ef=&et=&ic=False&sd=0&pp=48&pn=5&g=1

#smock #smockfrock #workingclothing #workwear #woodcutter #1850sphotograph #sussexsmock

A study of a shepherd boy, dated 1828, with some f

A study of a shepherd boy, dated 1828, with some familiar tropes such as the pipes, but, as was common at this date, his smock is without much of the embroidery we now associate with the garment.

#smock #smockfrock #smocking #shepherdboy #1828 #ruraldress #rurallife #sheepdog

Laura Ashley's version of the smock, made from cot

Laura Ashley's version of the smock, made from cotton printed with a scrolling foliage design, dating from around 1975. From the Bowes Museum/Fashion Museum catalogue of their Laura Ashley exhibition in 2013-14.

#smock #lauraashley #1970sfashion #1975 #smockfrock #lauraashleydress

A stereotypical smock wearer, with bread and chees

A stereotypical smock wearer, with bread and cheese, or a 'Ploughman's lunch', which was apparently used as a marketing term to sell pub lunches from the late 1950s onwards. This is an early 20th century postcard depiction of such rural nostalgia.

#smock #smockfrock #breadandcheese #ploughmans #ruralnostalgia #postcard

Thomas Pitkin of Swanbourne, Buckinghamshire, phot

Thomas Pitkin of Swanbourne, Buckinghamshire, photographed wearing his smock in 1894. A farm labourer during his active working life, he was well-known for wearing a smock but he was also a Methodist preacher, a district councillor and was questioned by the Prince of Wales as part of the Royal Commission on old age pensions.

#smock #smockfrock #swanbourne #1894 #methodistpreacher #workingclothing #activeretirement #farmlabourer

An embellished round smock, probably from the seco

An embellished round smock, probably from the second half of the 19th century, the embroidered bands over the smocking reminding me of knitting patterns. @metmuseum

#smock #smocking #smockfrock #19thcenturyclothing #needlework #embroidery #ruraldress

Have come across the 'Gaffers' series of crockery,

Have come across the 'Gaffers' series of crockery, produced by Royal Doulton from 1921, during the interwar period. Depicting a variety of elderly men wearing smocks in rural settings, the 'gaffers', it plays on nostalgia for the countryside during this period.

#smock #smockfrock #rurallife #royaldoulton #gaffers #1921 #zummerset #cottagedoor #teasetgoals

Not sure he is terribly thrilled about being dress

Not sure he is terribly thrilled about being dressed in a smock, but this portrait, taken around 1900 by Caleb Court Cole in Oxford, illustrates well the fashion for dressing up children in this period, often in clothing derived from working-class dress.

#smock #smockfrock #smocking #childrenswear #dressingup #calebcourtcole #1900 #oxford #oxfordphotographer

The reverse of a smock, including the smocking and

The reverse of a smock, including the smocking and feather stitch, and some good knots to start and end the needlework.

#smock #smockfrock #smocking #needlework #featherstitch #knot #workwear

Perhaps appropriate for this time of year, 'The Sq

Perhaps appropriate for this time of year, 'The Squire gives a Harvest Supper', another Tom Browne illustration for the 'Country Life' series of postcards, this one stamped 1907.

#smock #smockfrock #harvestsupper #tombrowne #1907 #postcard #countrylife #caricature #harvestbeer

If in a dilemma about what to wear #wfh, may I sug

If in a dilemma about what to wear #wfh, may I suggest a Liberty Blouse Smock in Astron cotton with corded silk embroidery, in 'many charming & useful colours'. Daily Mirror, 1917.

#smocking #smock #embroidery #1917 #liberty #libertyclothing #fashionhistory #womenswear #housecoat #astroncotton

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