WHY DO YOU WANT THAT FRUMPY FROCK?

Reading the club notes in the Lewiston Tribune last week, I noticed that a certain organization had heard a presentation on Helen Keller. With all due respect to Helen Keller and her contributions to mankind in the face of tremendous obstacles (and admitting that I didn’t hear the presentation), it seems to me that we all know about her. Don’t we need to look into ourselves and appreciate the character of womanhood that influences all of us right where we are? Isn’t womanhood a broad subject that needs a deeper look? Shouldn’t we define and appreciate womanhood on the basis of who we are and how we can strengthen these qualities? A few women persevered and won battles for women in general. Many women persevered more quietly and appeared to win nothing while building our characters. But, or course, it’s so much easier to research the famous – so much more concrete. At that point it occurred to me that I have the tools in Ina’s letters – and some of the books I am researching -- to develop a presentation that would at least touch upon womanhood issues in a more general way. My first effort would be based on the Christmas letters and as incongruous as it may seem, I would like a frumpy frock of the era (1930-1940).

Do photos of the 1930s and '40s show women looking uncomfortable? Absolutely. My grandmothers were married when women didn’t show their ankles in public. By the time they were middle-aged, certain taboos had been dropped and the modern dress was born. I have no real facts, but I do wonder if everyone saw the short skirts as liberation. How about those corsets that became girdles?

When Hallie was growing up, I used to look at her in her jeans and t-shirt and think to myself, “You wear jeans right now because I (my generation) made it possible. Your skirts are short because I paved the way for you. I totally relate to how you look.” The other side of the issue is that I no longer know what I should wear at my station in life. All that I see are clothes for the young or clothes for the fashionably slim. In my own generation I reflect frumpiness – pull-on pants and sweatshirts.

[The photo above is of my grandmother Nina Portfors with her brother Al Sanders and her sister Muriel German. I don't know the date. Uncle Al appears rather dapper, but I have to ask, What was Grandma thinking when she bought that suit or that fabric? Notice that Aunt Muriel's skirt is the same as Grandma's in style. They probably made them. Fashion plates? Don't think so.]