Fashion

Shannon Sullivan Discusses Shaving Habits

Date
2008

Shannon Sullivan '09, in her column entitled 'Sass' in The Dickinsonian, relates how her attitude toward shaving and hygiene has changed since she started college and compares her habits to the habits of others on campus.

Dean Meredith and the Advantages of Shorter Hemlines

Date
September 23, 1922

The September 23, 1922 Dickinsonian reported that Josephine Meredith, Dean of Women, was visiting family in Boston when a thief tried to snatch her purse from her while she was walking down the street.  According to one Boston newspaper account:

Sunbathing at Metzger

Date
May 1963

Female students sunbathe outside behind Metzger Hall in May 1963, relaxing or perhaps studying. Swimsuits showing lots of leg obviously in style!

Metzger Hall Tips for Freshman

Date
1963

From the Wishmeyer scrapbook, this schedule of meals includes etiquette regarding when to say or sing Grace before meals, seating assignments, and dress code. All meals are family style and occur at specific times throughout the day, much unlike our modern cafeteria meal plans today.

The Social Situation: For the Guidance of Dickinson Women

Date
c. 1943

Found in Marion Bell's personal scrapbook from her years at Dickinson College (1941-46), this document of six pages outlines female regulations in dress and socialization in games, bars, dancing, and dining, with a special section regarding social possibilities on Sundays. It also includes rules regarding curfews, tardiness, noise disturbances, and distinctions between freshman women and upperclassmen not "on rules- those having a 75 average." It even provides a section for transfer students.

"Metzger Girls are Not to Wear Pants or Slacks"

Date
c. 1943

Clipped from a newspaper between 1941 and 1946 and placed in Marion Bell's personal scrapbook, this snippet shows the rules and regulations regarding women's attire at Dickinson. Marion Bell was known to wear slacks and this made her quite a rebel against this school rule. See Marion Bell, the Anti-Anti Bifurcationist.

May Day Festivities Including Costumes

Date
May 1, 1914

Original photograph of Ruth Sellers '15 (in white), Clare Filler '18 (in pantaloons), Josiah Luther Neff '15 (with cape) during May Day Festival on Dickinson College campus.

Western Look Influences Women's Fashions

Date
October 25, 1963

Ditti Weinel wrote of the influence of the Western look on East Coast campuses in The Dickinsonian. This look included jumpers, shifts and separates in rich, warm colors. Weinel ends: "So out of the Golden West come sporty, but feminine, fashions with an air of casual living and a touch of tailored elegance to teach those 'citified' Easterners what it's like to be well dressed."

Fashion House Clothes Equal to Any Emergency

Date
October 11, 1963

In another Fashion House advertisement in The Dickinsonian, Sue, the heroine of the mini-story, is speaking with her friend. Judy tells her that the man who committed some wrong against her was "sorry, and he's downstairs now." After a moment of hesitation, Sue decides to meet him downstairs and dons a villager corduroy shift before checking her appearance. The moral, explains the advertisement's copy, is that "Fashion House clothes are equal to any emergency in life's little adventures."