HOSE ME DOWN - Queens Elizabeth poo-poos the knitting machine (part II)

The first ”stocking machine” was invented around 1589 by a English clergyman, William Lee of Nottinghamshire.

Legend tells us that Lee had fallen in love with a young village lady who sadly didn’t return his affections, SO consumed was she with teaching students the womanly art of knitting worsted stockings. He became determined to invent a machine that could knit, thereby making her obsession passé and her free time only devoted to him. 

(at left, an example from the Uffner hose archives: early cotton hose w. partially-finished hand embroidery on a stamped pattern)

He left his curacy to devote years towards creating this new “stocking frame” machine and promptly sought the patronage of Queen Elizabeth. Alas, she turned down Lee’s  invention, stating that she was not only upset at the rough results (the machine could only knit 8 loops to the inch - too coarse for silk)  but its use would deprive the poor hand-knitters of their occupation and might add to the growing hordes of  unemployed. 

 To the right, a sample from the Uffner hose archives: hand-made cotton stockings with beaded (yes, beaded!) initials! 

Though the Queen still maintained her love of silk stockings, by 1577 she switched to wearing only knit worsted hose to support the local Norwich knitters.The Queen wrote to a lord of the realm:

"Had Mr. Lee made a machine that would have made silk stockings, I should, I think, have been somewhat justified in granting him a patent for that monopoly, which would have effected only a small number of my subjects, but to enjoy the exclusive privilege of making stockings for the whole of my subjects, is too important to be granted to any individual." 

The Reverend Lee continued to tinker with his machine and 9 years later, was AGAIN turned down by the Queen. Five years after the Queen’s death, he presented the new King of England, James VI of Scotland, with his latest samples - this time, silk stockings. Remember: James was from Scotland, which invented knitting! He took no interest - after all, his own mother

( pictured above) Mary Stuart wore hand-knit stockings to her execution:

 “Jersey hose white under socks of worsted watchett (sea blue) clocked with solver, edged at the tops with silver; both knitted."             

In 1605, The Duke of Sully, Henri IV of France’s astute minister, took a look at the invention and suggested Lee take his creation to France, where he was personally welcomed by the King.

He set up shop in Rouen with his brother, 8 workmen and 8 machines but alas, more bad luck ensued. It is said that the day he was to receive his patent, the King was stabbed to death by a fanatic religious Catholic and Lee’s patronage was immediately withdrawn. 

Spain at the time was already providing the second wife of Henri IV, Marie de' Medici, with exquisitely crafted purple, red and orange (her favorite colors) silk stockings decorated with the French lilies or the Medici coat of arms. She withdrew Lee’s protection. (at right, Henry IV)

Lee eventually died in extreme poverty, alone, in Paris. His burial place is unknown.

His brother continued Lee’s quest back in England and eventually the use of looms gradually increased until the manufacturing of stockings became a thriving national industry and England became the hosiery center of the world.

Several decades after Clergyman Lee was turned down by Queen Elizabeth,  the Framework Knitter’s Company succeeded in its petition to Cromwell for charter rights as "the promoter and inventor of the art and mystery or Trade of Frame-work knitting or making of silk stockings or other work in a frame or engine." and in 1663, the Worshipful Company of Framework Knitters was granted a Royal Charter and continues to exist to this day.

Above, it is said that William Lee is remembered, pictured together with the object of his affections ( thought to have become his wife) and a knitting frame on the coat of arms of the Worshipful Company of Frame-Work-Knitters.

The technology was so guarded by England that by 1696, it was actually illegal to export a stocking-making loom and anyone caught was fined 40 pounds (an immense sum at that time!) and had their equipment confiscated.

copyright © 2009 by helen uffner

...TO BE CONTINUED

HOSE ME DOWN! A Stocking History - Part I

Men’s socks were originally made of two pieces of woven wool cut on the bias for flexibility.

Initially separate legs held up by garters, they began to be seamed up the center-back and became known as “hose” (or “hosen”): close-fitting leggings made of cloth worn by both men and women.

Up to the 15th century, women's hose came only to the knee, but men's extended to the thigh, or even waist, as you will read later in this series of blogs. Women's hose tended to be hidden by their clothing because upper class women didn’t allow their undergarments to be painted in the 1500’s, so most painting references we have of that period are of the working class.

By the 16^th century, EVERYBODY wore hose except the poorest of the poor, who are depicted in paintings wearing rags around their feet or are even barefoot. 

It is chronicled in a British journal called “Wriothesley’s” that when Henry VIII’s marriage to Jane became public, he met 2 beautiful sisters who made him sigh and say he was "sorry that he had not seen them before he was married".

 One of the sisters was Anne Basset, who became lady-in-waiting to Henry’s wife Jane (and rumored to later become one of the King’s many mistresses). 

In 1536, Anne wrote to her mother Lady Honor Lisle "Madame, I would beseech you to send me …some pairs of hosen, and a little money for my devotions."

 Her mother replies: "I send you by the bearer money… hose-cloths, because the hosier here knoweth not the bigness of your leg." 

 Men’s hose, of course, were completely visible and were either tied to a doublet (a snug-fitting buttoned jacket) or to the points of white linen underpants (called “braies”) shaped like long, baggy diapers that over time became shorter.  

Early braies had a high waist that was rolled down over a drawstring waist. Hose were secured to the braies by points, which were cords or ties with metal tips which often attached to a belt within the braies (see illustration at right)

Before the 16^th  century, the word “breeches” applied to both outer garments AND undergarments but by the late 16^th century, hose separated into 2 garments: men’s stockings covering the lower half of the leg were called "netherstocks" or “nether hose” and what we now think of as pants became "upperstocks", known now as breeches or trunk hose (very short breeches just covering the trunk of the body with full-length hose was worn beneath them).

Below: Truck hose and doublet 

In 1564, Englishman William Rider accidentally saw a pair of knitted worsted (yarn spun from wool, combed to lay the fibers smooth & parallel) imported stockings at the home of an Italian merchant from Mantua. He borrowed them, copied them and presented the Earl of Pembroke the first worsted stockings ever made in England.

 The word “worsted” is said to be derived from the village of WORSTEAD in the English countryside of Norfolk, where Flemish weavers migrated to since the Conquest. Though worsted knit stockings were actually "invented" in Scotland in the 15^th century, the art then moved to the continent before being “re-discovered” in England.

"STAR FOR A DAY"... and MORE!!!

We were excited last Monday to be interviewed for a 3-4 page spread in the English-language German teen magazine “Spot On”.  The article is expected to come out in their January 2010 issue.  Each of us was interviewed and we all posed for pictures, even getting the interviewer/editor-in-chief Judy Gilbert to pose in three "leading lady" outfits worn by famous actresses in recent films...  Can you guess them?  (Can't be too hard if you have been following our blogs and Facebook fan pages!!!)

Delighted to welcome our new intern Allyn to our HUVC family!  On her first day with us she was already photographed and interviewed for a magazine!  How cool is that?  Here is Allyn posing in front of our "wall of shame" (a.k.a. "Fame"!)

If you are anything like us, you wait for film credits to roll and read playbills to the end, appreciating the behind-the-scenes people involved in production.  We like to post pictures of designers, directors and other production people who we might read about but never see, and hope you get a kick out of them too.

This month, legendary Broadway/film designer (and Yale professor!) Jane Greenwood came by- she is shopping for “Broadway Bound” and “Brighton Beach Memoirs”,

which will be playing in repertory.  We coincidentally happened to have also worked on the original 1983 “BBM” as well as the 1986 film version!  Previews begin October 2nd at the Nederlander Theater on Broadway. At right, Jane and assistant Jen Moeller pick out dresses to purchase for "Brighton Beach Memoirs", and below, Helen and Jane.

 

 Cherie Cunningham came by looking for a tailcoat for the new vampire musical “The Cure”, running for 6 performances as part of the greater New York Musical Theater Festival, (Sept. 28 - Oct. 18).  It’s a rock n’ roll fable in which two friends stumble across the world's last surviving vampires.  The show is actually teaming up with the Broadway Blood Drive on Sunday, September 20^th.  Get it?  A vampire musical sponsoring a blood drive!  Brilliant marketing ploy!

 

Noted writer/director/actor and 3 time Obie-winner Ain Gordon and Tony-nominated (“Company”) actress Veanne Cox came in to look for a costume for his new piece “A Disaster Begins”.  Alas, the Victorian suit she has on was too large for her! This new one-woman play is a young woman’s account of being witness to the worst natural disaster in American history: the Galveston, Texas hurricane in 1900 which took 6,000 lives. The show will run in Texas and also in New York at the Here Arts Theater from October 9-17. (http://www.here.org)

Another project coming to us was a short film, “Until the End of the World”. Actor Christopher Wright tried on a uniform that fit him perfectly while costume designer Lauren Bates Jaffe looks on and continued to look through our men's racks. 

Other projects we recently worked on:

 

MOVIES:

.  1930’s gowns for Emily Blunt’s character in the contemporary film “The Adjustment Bureau”

.  men’s 1940’s items for the science fiction film “Recreator”

 

THEATER:

.  “Playboy of the Western World” at the Pearl Theater in NY

.  “Three Days of Rain” playing in Fort Worth, Texas

 

COMMERCIALS:

.  After renting 1930’s little boys’ clothes for a Wisk commercial, we then did a Woolite commercial for which we rented 1950’s women’s dresses and aprons (can’t wait to see them!)

.  1940’s and 1950’s children's and adult clothes for a print ad for the dementia medication Exelon

.  1930’s wool mittens for a commercial for Glade

 

CATALOGUES:

.  Victorian and 1930’s undergarments for the next “Victoria’s Secret” catalogue..  Hmmmmmmm… At right, stylist Grace Koo models a silk chiffon ruffled 1930's bed jacket.

 

TV:

.  fabulous 1920’s flapper dresses to “Gossip Girl” for a segment not yet shown on TV

.  another rental to the new, contemporary USA network series “White Collar”, this time 1970’s items as opposed to the previous rental of 1930’s items!

 

INTERNET:

.  we rented clothes to the web’s “Onion News Network” for one of their faux news pieces

 

OPERA:

…and for the 4^th time this year (!!!), another “Don Giovanni”, this time reset in the 1920’s at New York’s famed NY City Opera.

 

 

OH, THAT ITCHY BATHINGSUIT...and Georgia O' Keeffe

Ah, the end of a rainy summer with barely one or two respectable beach days!

We recently ran a contest on our Facebook page asking readers to try and date bathing suits from our collection, and we were queried " Where did the bikini get its name?" and "What possessed people to wear those weird wool bathing suits?"

You ask, we deliver.

The earliest women’s bathing suits looked almost like street clothes. Your typical lady’s bathing outfit in the early 19th century would have been a heavy wool bathing dress with a corset underneath. If you went into the water, imagine how heavy your suit would become, not to mention that you might have increased the weight even further by sewing weights into the hems of the skirts to prevent them from floating to the surface! What woman could possibly swim in these clothes? They didn’t.

Men, on the other hand, were more able to swim- though the early men’s wool bathing suits designed by Jantzen weighed 9 pounds!

Women began wearing a more daring bathing costume after the mid-1800’s: a 3-piece outfit

made of a shirt, belted dress (though STILL made of heavy wool), knee-length bloomers, dark stockings and bathing slippers.

After 1900, the sleeves shortened progressively to the point that women could soon wear sleeveless bathing dresses, though still demure.

In 1907, an Australian competitive swimmer named Annette Kellerman caused quite a scandal, insisting on appearing in bathing suit of her own design for her competitions. For modesty, she attached black stockings to her bathing suit but nevertheless she was arrested on a Massachusetts beach for indecent exposure for appearing in a knee-length, sleeveless one-piece bathing suit. Her own line of daring swimwear became known as “Annette Kellermans”, the first step towards modern swimwear for women.

Ever a woman ahead of her time, she became an actress and was the first woman, in 1916, to do a nude scene in a film called “A Daughter of the Gods”, the first million-dollar budget film ever made. Alas, no copies now exist.

The Esther Williams of her day, she continued to act in mostly aquatic films (in one, she dove 92 feet into a pool of crocodiles). As a matter of fact, Esther Williams later portrayed her in the film“Million Dollar Mermaid”. Kellerman has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Men’s wool bathing suits became more streamlined after 1900 but even they had restrictions.

In 1915 they could be cut no lower on the chest than the armpits and the bathing bottoms had to be no shorter than 4 inches above the knees. It was illegal in most places for men to expose their chest and their bathing suits had to have a “modesty skirt”, a kind of loose skirt effect to cover their genitals.

Though regulations on many public beaches required men and women to wear lightweight un-tucked tops and skirts or skirt-like covers over the fitted shorts, the short apron skirt slowly disappeared in the 1920’s, as did stockings for females. Men's and women's swimsuits actually began resembling each other. Both covered the torso and were sleeveless and formfitting.

It was during that time that Jantzen Knitting Mills patented their rubberized rib-stitched fabric suits for men & women in 1921 with the slogan "The suit that changed bathing into swimming".

It wasn’t until the 1930’s that men’s fashions really began to change. In 1933, a man’s bathing suit called the “topper” was invented with a removable zippered tank top that exposed a man’s chest, even though topless men were banned from most beaches or or arrested for indecency.

A 1936 protest movement called the “No Shirt Movement” demonstrated against the chest-covering requirements and finally, in 1937, it became legal for men to expose their chests in their swimwear.

…And the bikini?

In 1954 The United States dropped an atomic bomb in the Pacific Ocean and the designer of this new abbreviated bathing suit thought to name it after the site of the bomb blast-...Bikini Atoll.

By the way, the handsome actor wearing the early wool bathing suit on the beach is Tom Wisdom, rehearsing for his role in the movie "The Lightkeepers", filmed this past spring in Nantucket. If you are a blog follower, you might remember the "behind the scenes at a movie shoot" segment!

Here he is with Helen in our costume loft, after coming over with the rest of the actors for fittings. He traveled a century in the blink

of an eye!!!

Last but by no means least, we want to give you the heads up on a wonderful television film, "GEORGIA O'KEEFFE" premiering on Lifetime this Saturday, September 19 at 9 PM (and continuing to show other days during the week). It stars Tony Award winners Joan Allen and Jeremy Irons as the famed artist and her husband, photographer Alfred Steiglitz.The film is written by Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Cristofer and directed by Bob Balaban.

At right, costume designer Michael Dennison, Joan Allen and assistant Franny Vega pose to say good-bye after fittings at our place. Below, Michael and Franny go through the racks of our vintage clothes, organizing what they chose for Joan Allen when she arrives for her fittings.


copyright © 2009 by helen uffner