Maine Memory Network

Beaded blue chiffon party dress, ca. 1925

Contributed by: Maine Historical Society Date: circa 1925 Media: silk, glass beads

Grosgrain silk day dress, ca. 1922

Contributed by: Maine Historical Society Date: circa 1922 Media: silk, velvet, cotton

Fashionable Maine: early twentieth century clothing

Maine residents kept pace with the dramatic shift in women’s dress that occurred during the short number of years preceding and immediately following World War I. The long restrictive skirts, stiff collars, body molding corsets and formal behavior of earlier decades quickly faded away and the new straight, dropped waist easy-to-wear clothing gave mobility and freedom of movement in tune with the young independent women of the casual, post-war jazz age generation.

Eternal Images: Photographing Childhood

From the earliest days of photography doting parents from across Maine sought to capture images of their young children. The studio photographs often reflect the families' images of themselves and their status or desired status.

Historic Clothing Collection - 1920-1930 - Page 3 of 3

"… mid-calf length dress is the most striking in the 1920s collection. Its color, Nile Green (named for the Egyptian river), and hemline palmette…"

Historic Clothing Collection - 1920-1930 - Page 1 of 3

"The first is a lavender and white striped sailor-collared cotton dress, probably worn by Mrs. Adeline (Bond) Rines or one of her sisters."