Old Worldsters

Another real inspiration from the past are these clothes from my grandmother’s attic. The day of her wake, the family gathered and reminisced about her. We also found a giant plastic garbage bag with  several late 1920s and early 1930s gowns that she must have worn in high school and while courting with her future first husband in college.

Notice that the neckline of this dress is quite similar to the one my grandmother wears in this picture.

I recently found a few dress patterns from between 1928 and 1930 that have a very similar shape, and I’m going to attempt to make one and post the results to you! Stay tuned…

So exactly who is this dude? My great-grandfather, and possibly, the guy who got me interested in sewing and making clothes in the first place.

He knew his way around a needle and thread, having entered the textile business while a young’un in Germany.

At the turn of the 20th century, he established business contacts in Mexico and Argentina and started a woolen textile business.

Eventually, he and his family settled in Englewood, New Jersey, and he had his offices in New York City’s Fashion District, in the Bryant Tower on 35th Street across from Penn Station.

Pretty stylin’ in his uniform, no?

My great-grandparents, Grace and William Lang, on their farm in Barberton, Ohio, circa 1915.

Great-grandparents. What is it that makes them so great?

We may think they’re old-fashioned, but they’re probably looking down at us from the Big Beyond and laughing their heads off. Way before any of us hipsters and non-hipsters of the 18 to 45-year-old demographic were trying our hands at home canning, making our own clothes, growing gardens, brewing, and building homes, they were doing just this. And they were probably doing it better. And they had electric cars.

In this blog, I’d like to explore the skills, styles, and events of past generations - people our grandparents and great-grandparents’ ages - and show how their ingenuity, creativity, and know-how are just as relevant today as they were in 1915. Hipsters they weren’t. And they definitely weren’t pretentious. But they had mad skills and weren’t afraid to use them.

We could stand to learn a lot from Old Worldsters. If we take a few cues from old-timers like Grace and William, we might just take a few steps into the future.