fashion history
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From Pant(aloon)s to Pussy Hats: Feminist Dress as Media Spectacle
Fashion as Feminism: Pants as Literal and Symbolic Liberation as Described by Newspaper Fashion EditorsKimberly Voss, PhD, Associate Professor, Univ of Central FloridaAJHA, 2017 AbstractIn the late 1960s and into the 1970s, one fashion debate was whether women should wear pants in business and social situations. Dress reform had been an issue for decades, beginning with Amelia Bloomer and female suffrage. To some people, the wearing of pants symbolized a threat to gender distinctions at a changing time. For others, it was a form of liberation that was covered in the fashion pages. In 1957, The New York Times noted that physician Mary Walker was awarded the Medal of Honor…
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Women’s History Month: Day 30 and Eleni Epstein
Day 30 of Women’s History Month features Washington Star fashion editor Eleni Epstein. She was one of the most noticeable Washington, D.C., voices in translating fashion news in the post-World War II era through 1981. Epstein found fashion to have a unique role in Washington society. After all, as she pointed out, it was her city’s unique social events that required the high couture clothing that she wrote about. “Washington women have always been interested in fashion,” she said. “Our city is one of achievers and doers.” It was a world that Epstein circulated within and would share with her readers as someone who could rarely afford many of the…
- Aileen Ryan, Barbara Cloud, Eleni Epstein, Eugenia Sheppard, fashion history, fashion journalism, Judy Lunn, soft news
Media Report To Women: Newspaper Fashion History
I was excited to see that the new issue of the Media Report To Women is out. It includes my article about the history of newspaper fashion sections in the 1950s and 1960s. It focuses on fashion reporter Eugenia Sheppard and also includes a list of fashion reporters to be studied in the future. It builds on my work on Aileen Ryan and Eleni Epstein.
- Eleni Epstein, fashion history, fashion journalism, journalism history, Washington Star, women's page history
History Takes Time
It has been more than seven years since I first heard the name Eleni Epstein – the longtime fashion editor at the Washington Star. It was when Lance and I were going through papers of the National Women & Media Collection, then at the University of Missouri. Eleni kept everything so we had a lot to go through. We made at least six visits to archive to go through her papers during the years we lived in St. Louis. Over the years, I discovered additional material about Eleni at several archives including the New York Public Library – Lance and I visited the Library and went through the papers of…
- Eleni Epstein, fashion history, fashion journalism, journalism history, women's history month, women's page history
Women’s History Month: Eleni Epstein
Day 16 of Women’s History Month features Washington Star fashion editor Eleni Epstein. She was one of the most noticeable Washington, D.C., voices in translating fashion news in the post-World War II era through 1981. Epstein found fashion to have a unique role in Washington society. After all, as she pointed out, it was her city’s unique social events that required the high couture clothing that she wrote about. “Washington women have always been interested in fashion,” she said. “Our city is one of achievers and doers.” It was a world that Epstein circulated within and would share with her readers as someone who could rarely afford many of the…
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Day Three: Women’s Page History in 7 Objects
For day three of Women’s Page History in 7 Objects – the item is white gloves. In the 1950s and 1960s, it was expected that the women’s page journalist would wear white gloves when out on assignment. Dallas women’s page journalist Vivian Castleberry said she never went anywhere without a reporter’s notebook and white gloves. She told me that even the members of the Garden Club would wear white gloves at groundbreaking ceremonies. Here is a link to a documentary about Vivian that I was happy to be a part of. Above is an image of trailblazing women’s page editor Dorothy Jurney wearing gloves – seated next to Miami Herald…
