WARdrobe, an exhibition of women, fashion, and World War II

[Jonathan]

Hi all, I am a new member to this chat room, and although I don't wear vintage 40s clothing myself, I do collect it. I just opened an exhibition at the Guelph Museum, in Guelph, Ontario today which if you are in the area, you may want to check out. I dont' know how to post pics here, so here is a link to the Vintage Fashion Guild where I posted some pics.
http://www.vintagefashionguild.org/public/viewthread.php?tid=1350

 

[babylonmall]

I'm taking the liberty of posting Jonathan's pix because only members can view that thread

Deb

 

[Jonathan]

Thanks Deb... so what is the secret to posting pics on this forum?
(img src=http://site/file/name.jpg) ??

 

[babylonmall]

Click the little icon in between the title and the text you enter, it looks like this:

And then just copy in the URL of the picture.

Deb

 

[Brad A. Cox]

Where did you get those vintage clothes from? You never really see vintage female military rags anywhere. How a love seeing a lady dressed with style and class. The good old days never die. Good people like you won't let them.

 

[Jonathan]

I have been collecting antique clothing for 25 years, so you know how it goes... when ye seek ye shall find!
THe women's military uniforms I have on display are all Canadian service and include the women's winter CWAC uniform, great coat, and battle tunic and pants (they wore battle dress during training). I have the summer uniform, but it is not on display. I also have the Red Cross dress uniform for the women who trained mostly for ambulance driving in 1939/40 before the Canadian armed forces were opened to women in 1941. There is also the RCMC nurse's uniform on display which is a tough one to find, especially as I have all the bits and parts of it, but the cuffs, which the original wearer lost at some point over the years. The most heart breaking thing I have ever run across in all my years of collecting was when I went to see a woman about her CWAC uniform and she was one of 6 Canadian women who served in Italy in 1944/45. Because of the heat in Southern Italy they were given special permission to wear a white cotton uniform instead of the usual brown lightweight wool summer uniform which was still far too hot for the south of Italy -- they were the only 6 women in ALL of the Canadian army to have a white cotton uniform! Stupidly, she had donated that uniform to a theatre company about ten years earlier but kept her far more common winter and summer dress uniforms. I nicely chastised her about having gotten rid of it and how incredibly rare it was!

 

[Brad A. Cox]

Thanks mac for the insight. I learn a little more about the golden 1940's that I love so much. You truly preserve time for all to live by.Thanks again.

 

[Wild Root]

Good to have a fellow collector with us! Well, I collect vintage clothes from 1920 to 1950 and I wear my collection seeing I olny buy items that fit.

I have a few WWII Class A's in my collection like, AAF pinks and Greens, Enlisted AAF Class A's and a full Sailor dress blues.

That's really nice that you have a place to display your collection.

That is a crying shame that CWAC didn't know that her white summer outfit would be so rare. I feel your pain my friend! That would have been just the coolest. I lived in Canada for two years and I have found some really nice vintage up there. I staied in Regina SK, Flin Flon MB, Winnipeg MB, Fort Frances On, Selkirk MB and Saskatoon SK. Ah, good times!

I have to say that for me, I couldn't see the photos. Only one that had a French tag in it. So, I would love to see some of the stuff, but how can I see it?

Any way, all the best in your findings!

Root.

 

[Jonathan]

Oops, sorry about that, I erased the wrong photo links... Anyway, they are back up now, but I somehow managed to botch up one photo link, so ignore that last image!

 

[Wild Root]

Ok, now I see them! WOW, WOW and WOW!!! Very nice my friend!

Root.