Maine Memory Network

Wentworth Hotel, Kennebunk, ca. 1900

Contributed by: Brick Store Museum Date: circa 1900 Location: Kennebunk Media: Glass Negative

Can plant, Lubec, ca. 1905, ca. 1905

Contributed by: Lubec Historical Society Date: circa 1905 Location: Lubec; Lubec Media: Photograph on card

Dressing Up, Standing Out, Fitting In

Adorning oneself to look one's "best" has varied over time, gender, economic class, and by event. Adornments suggest one's sense of identity and one's intent to stand out or fit in.

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.

Historic Clothing Collection - 1870-1890 - Page 4 of 4

"1880 wine-colored taffeta bustle skirt. The skirt has deep pleats of velvet and taffeta along the hemline, and a short wine velvet basque adorned…"

Historic Clothing Collection - 1900-1910 - Page 1 of 3

"… examples of practical, back pleat, "Gibson Girl" skirts and little in the way of smart shirt blouses are found in the MHS collection."

From Chinese Laundress to Mother of the Year
by Dr. Andrea Louie

Toy Len Goon's granddaughter recounts her immigration to the US and becoming Mother of the Year.