Clothes worn by the Young

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Win Hilling. Stories for my Grandchildren

Clothes worn by the Young

The changes in dress style really astonish me. Fashions today are much easier to wear and maintain.

One of my earliest memories is as a child of about 3 years, when a neighbour remarked, “You have your tail board down.” I was wearing drawers (they came before bloomers for very young children). They had a separate front and back and both buttoned at the waist on the hips. To toilet one undid the back half and on this occasion they had not been buttoned up. Although I was very young I can still remember blushing with embarrassment and hurrying home.

The dresses worn by my sister and I were made by a dressmaker and were at times more elaborate (with frills and velvet sashes and embroidered work) than were the dresses of our friends.

These were for Sunday wearing and in the home we wore pinafores over them which were starched and had epaulettes frilled with a hot goffering iron – similar to a hair curling iron. We had no school uniforms them. Occasionally we had to wear them for school which made us rather conspicuous and I remember having to see the Head Mistress because we had missed a day at school and she looked us up and down and said, “I wonder your parents don’t wrap you both in cotton wool.”

Combinations was a garment I really disliked. It covered the whole body and had sleeves and short legs which one wore in winter under bloomers. The legs were divided from the waist for toileting.

Laced corsets were worn in our teens with a top which came up to our armpits and flattened our bust – so entirely opposite to today’s bra.

I had to wear boots which were beautifully soft, buttoned to well above the ankle, and which had patent toes. There were swings in the park and so I deliberately knocked the heels off my boots, but it didn’t help – the heels were put back again.