Outfit of the Day
Women in the Workplace
1920s style is exemplified in this photograph of instructor Doris Bell from the 1929 Pegasus. Her distinctive hat is known as a cloche bucket hat, which gained popularity around 1925 and continued to dominate women’s hat styles well into the 1930s. Every year, as cloche bucket hats gained popularity, they also became increasingly smaller and tighter. The ever-increasing tightness required many women to cut their hair short just to fit the hat over their heads. This short haircut, known as a bob, can be seen peaking underneath Doris Bell’s cloche.
Just as her hat and hair help pinpoint the period during which she lived, Doris Bell’s coat with a large fur collar was emblematic of the Jazz Age. Fur trim on the upper collar was popular throughout the 1920s, especially in the latter part of the decade.
Fashion in the 1950s was clearly divided by gender: as men’s fashion moved towards
casual day-to-day styles, women’s fashion prioritized elegance, formality, and matching
accessories. According to the documentary Makers: Women Who Make America, women entering the workforce in the 1950s and 1960s often wore a lavallière, also
known as a pussy cat bow, in place of a tie. This type of bow was reportedly associated
with the Duchess of La Vallière, a mistress of Louis XIV, and was popular in France during the 19th century before falling into obscurity for decades. Pussy cat bows were reintroduced
to an American audience in 1947, as part of the look inspired by the Gibson Girls,
and were popularized by Coco Chanel and Yves Saint Laurent in the 1950s. This look
can be seen in the 1955 Pegasus on Dean Amanda T. Bradley, whose sartorial choices
convey both professionalism and femininity.
