In older photos, students seemed to be even more formally attired, although perhaps missing a cohesive college look. It must be kept in mind that back then there were few casual photos or snap-shots, so people might appear dressier in photos than they often were, yet a natty or formal appearance was the norm. One of the old photos I brought to Taiwan features a group of student, yet even in the pictures mainly of buildings, the occasional students seen on the pathways all are as properly dressed as these here:
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| A congenial group of Yale students, click to enlarge |
This photo depicts a group of Yale students from the class
of 1870, so the photo is from that year or possibly the late 1860’s. They are surrounding the South Pump, located
next to the Old Laboratory, the brick building in the photo. (There was also a
North Pump, but I’ll save that for another day.) One can imagine these pumps
were quite the campus gathering spots, especially in those post-Civil War days
when there weren’t too many spots on campus to get a simple drink of water.
For those familiar with Yale’s Old Campus, this scene of
pump and laboratory is roughly between McClellan and Vanderbilt halls, and the white
house in back is about where Linsley-Chittenden is now.
While these students are individually well dressed, their
clothes are not similar, and represent a variety of types and colors of suits.
The hats are even more noticeable—I count three top hats, four derby-like hats,
one cap and one possible straw hat.
Beside the sartorial element of this photo, I find the commercial aspect interesting, that the pump,
very internal to the campus, is covered
with advertisements, but no Yale-related announcements, unless you consider the
seven banners for Coe’s Dyspepsia Cure a critical comment on the Yale Dining
Hall of the period.
I’ll have to get hold of the Ivy Style catalog to see how
they cover the early roots of their subject. Moreover, when I can find the time,
I will use more old photos to divine the Precursors of Ivy Style.
Photo property of the author.
Tops hats for gathering around the water pump? Nice! Never know who you'll meet there. (I actually like hats, and wish they would make a comeback in fashion for both men and women.) Great photo, Parnassus!
ReplyDeleteLoi
Hello Loi, I'm not sure whether top hats for students in 1869 were considered normal or the sign of the dandy. Either way, they sure do spruce up old photographs. Since you are a well-esteemed trend-setter, Loi, I imagine you could re-launch hats' popularity.
DeleteLoi should be relieved to know that I have started wearing a hat for my outings in the sun. Although I have a Panama, this new version, (well I have two now), is rather smaller in the brim, but as with the Panama, defined with black grosgrain. They seem to be quite fashionable here now, but I wear mine to protect my pate.
DeleteHello Columnist, You must look quite dashing in a hat, as befits your new career. I don't think it's even legal to approach a private jet hatless.
DeleteYour decision makes good sense. Taipei I don't believe is quite as hot as Thailand, although the temperature regularly approached 100F/38C in the summer. Still, most people go hatless, and for that matter wear long pants on scorching days.
I agree that students were individually well dressed, and that the viewer back in 1870 would have been impressed with how well the young men presented themselves. I found the same in Sydney's medical students in the 1880s.
ReplyDeletehttp://melbourneblogger.blogspot.com.au/2009/07/medical-heritage-trail-university-of.html
Of course only the best families sent their sons to university, but I still suspect the hats were part of a performance put on for the cameras.
Hello Hels, I love those handsome photographs of the Sydney Medical College, especially the Children's Hospital, which seems so open and healthy compared to some of the cramped designs and decrepit converted houses of those times.
DeleteAbout the students wearing their hats for the photo, obviously this is a posed photograph, but similar hats can be glimpsed in more candid photographs. This is a question that will bear further investigation.
I find the way they are dressed both interesting and amusing, but am fascinated by the public advertising!
ReplyDeleteHello Jen, Often you see trees and fences plastered with ads or announcements in old college photographs. I guess those were the wild days of the huckster and the snake-oil salesman, and no place where people congregated was safe.
DeleteHello Parnassas: Thanks for the shout out, and also mining the earlier vein explored in my post regarding the "Ivy Style" exhibition. I find these early photographs of our Yale ancestors fascinating, and intriguing. I think they really did wear such hats in "the day," and not just for the camera, don't you? I've seen too many of these to think otherwise. Fondly and with regards, RD
ReplyDeleteHello Reggie, I enjoyed your post very much, especially since I will not be able to attend the Ivy Style show. When I first saw incidental figures in college photos wearing top hats, I assumed that they might be professors or others from the adult world. However, many of them seem to be young and clean-shaven, and I believe that they are students.
DeleteI'll have to keep an eye out now for hatted figures, and report back in the future.
Dear Jim - looking back on old photos I am struck by how formally dressed most people were in the 19th and early 20th century.
ReplyDeleteAs a child I remember my mother insisting that my brothers and myself had camel coats tailored for us worn with caps for my brothers and a hat for me. We even wore matching gloves. I remember men that worked in the city still wore bowler hats, and working men wore flat caps - there has been a gradual decline in the way people dress and present themselves. However, I must admit that I for one would not like to return to the formality of it. I like being able to pleased myself what I chose to wear.
By the way, for school, I used to have to wear a large straw boater style panama hat in the summer, and a navy blue valour hat for the winter.
Hello Rosemary, I have a feeling that these students were pleasing themselves in their dress and enjoying their role as sophisticated college students. I had to wear a jacket and tie in high school, and that requirement never bothered me; I actually though it was quite nice. Coming up to date, I agree with you that I now dress more for comfort, although I do like to think that I always appear respectable.
DeletePlease try to find a picture of yourself in one of your school hats--I'm sure that your legion of readers would be enchanted.
Hello Jim:
ReplyDeletePhotographs of the kind which you show here are always of such interest, not least for the way in which they serve as a social commentary of their times. We are reminded of similar images, although of course of slightly younger students, of pupils pictured in the nineteenth century at some of Britain's leading public schools such as Eton, Harrow, Winchester and Marlborough.
Where hats are concerned, re: other commentators, we both wear them for nearly all occasions abiding by the rule of 'not before eleven and never after seven'!!
We too much enjoyed Reggie's recent post.
Hello Jane and Lance, So many of America's college traditions originated with the British, and I wonder if the show or the catalog has addressed this connection.
DeleteYour mention of Eton, etc. instantly brings to mind those images of top-hatted students, although perhaps they were worn more as a uniform. I wonder if top hats could have been rejected by British college students as too juvenile? Yet another issue to keep my eye out for.
I'm sure that your own use of hats is a model of present-day propriety. In Taiwan hats are not that popular--I just looked down at the street, and could not spot even one!
Hello Parnassus -
ReplyDeleteIt's so interesting to see the Yale students in their natty attire. Of course, in 1870, there were virtually no clothes off the rack, and so I would guess that the idea of a uniform would be open to quite a wide interpretation.
I too wore ties in high school, and I enjoyed the look and feel of it. Then my first job was in a cold clime, and I simply welcomed each additional layering of warmth!
Hello Mark, I have seen many old letters from college students in which they request money for clothes, or explain why they needed special clothes. And of course it was virtually a cliché to "owe your tailor". Young people are generally the most fashion-conscious.
DeleteI also worked in an office in which everyone was dressed for business, but the colder it got, the more they turned up the heat, so I ended up buying all lightweight suits, with an extra-warm coat for outside.
Hello Parnassus,
ReplyDeleteThanks for a wonderful post-- a congenial group of fellows, indeed! I think there are many of us who lament the loss of formality in our daily dress. People in past generations seemed to put care and attention into their appearance not only for status, but out of regard for their the public and their communities. It's so sad to see sweatshirts and jeans at the opera, worn by wealthy patrons out of disdain for the event itself... The decline of civilization?! There is a hilarious little book on this subject that you would enjoy, I think: "The Affected Provincial's Companion" by a certain Lord Whimsy. His description of the Dandy vs. the fleece-swaddled- man-toddler is hystericaly funny.
Warm regards,
Erika
Hello Erika, It is so easy to laud and appreciate these students' debonair appearance, that one wonders why dressing up is vanishing, even now in many business situations. Perhaps the key is that the class of 1870 was able to dress this way when it wanted to or when more formal attire was appropriate, and it derived pleasure from so doing. They certainly don't seem uncomfortable or put out by their clothing.
DeleteBy the way, thanks for the tip--I am adding the AP Companion to my list for my next infusion of books. I was interested to learn that the author, Allen Crawford is a commercial artist who designed the typeface Apogee.