Uh-oh…we're toast!

Just got the JC Penney fall style catalog.

Long skirts. Boots. Full coverage.

Traditionally, this means – recession…..

And I have to admit, these clothes are gorgeous. Best designs I’ve seen in a long time.

Recessions are not entirely a bad thing – it makes people create quality.

Heck, maybe it will even make companies care about their software quality again if people stop buying crappy software, and I can pick up some gigs. (Software quality and process management consulting is what I do IRL, when I feel like it.)

Doesn’t that one on the left remind you of something from the 30s or early 40s?

1930s Clothing

There was a general desire for elegant and sophisticated clothes in the 1930s. This came partly as a reaction against the wild and daring fashions of the 1920s, when women wore very short dresses, and partly because in times of financial hardship, such as the 1930s, people often try harder to appear well dressed and respectable.

Nearly everyone, male and female, wore a hat or cap when going out, for instance, and men only sat in their shirtsleeves in the privacy of their own homes. Usually they wore a suit and tie, or jacket and trousers; even those with little money would try to have one suit for “Sunday best”.

For women, clothes were close fitting and well cut, with hem lines coming below the knee. Many people still had their clothes made to measure, but there was a growing demand for a choice of ready made garments. Poorer people often bought their clothes second hand and would mend, darn or patch them rather than throw them away.

And then, there’s the tweed:

Matching jackets and skirts were tailored in pure wool tweed and were warm and cosy in winter, worn with hand knitted or ready made woollen jumpers, cardigans or “twin-sets”. Leather coats, very soft, wool lined and dyed attractive colours, were popular too and quite cheap.

Extract from “Finding Out About: Life In Britain In The 1930s”, written by Cherry Gilchrist. London, B.T.Batsford Ltd, 1984.