Who Thought Dressing as a Barrel was a Good Idea?

ByCarolyn E. Jacobs

My novel is set in 1917, and my heroine has a certain love-hate relationship with fashion. She loves looking feminine, but she loves digging in the dirt more.

Tonneau sounded more fashionable than barrel, but a barrel by any other name. . . Who determined making your figure look like a barrel was attractive? At least wearing a cloth barrel would make mounting a camel easier than if she had to wear a slim skirt.

One of the trends in 1917 was the tonneau skirt. It’s not as outrageous as a Louis XV, to be sure. I mean, you couldn’t hide a piano under a tonneau. But who thought this style was flattering?

I think this girl had an inkling of how silly she looked, don’t you?

Similar Posts

  • Ancient Navigation

    The fish blinked her long lashes and helped you climb into a kuphar that the babbler birds wove just for you. You climbed in, and the wind blew you here. Who would have guessed that navigating the Euphrates and the Tigris would look essentially the same for 27 centuries? In Nebuchadnezzar’s day, willow roundboats covered…

  • Something new for 2024

    When I became a believer during my senior year in high school, I loved studying the names of God. I had a big poster filled with God’s names and attributes: I Am, El Shaddai, Elohim, etc… It was a black background with His names in different colors filling the poster. Anyone remember it? The poster…

  • He is Risen! What’s next?

      Yesterday we celebrated Easter.  After last year’s online service, I was incredibly grateful to celebrate in person with my church family.  Our church has a tradition of singing the Hallelujah Chorus on Easter, and anyone in the congregation who wants to sing along comes up and sings with the choir and orchestra.  With COVID…

  • The Ishtar Gate

    If you visit the Babylon Archeological Site in Iraq today, you will not find the Ishtar Gate. To see that, you must travel to the Pergamon Museum in Berlin, Germany. The original gate was disassembled brick by brick, shipped to Europe, restored, and reassembled to grace the halls of the museum. However, you will see…

  • Rosemaling

    Rosemaling, the Norwegian folk art originally developed as painting flowers on wood, provides some texture for my story. Joe’s mom serves mujaddara,  a Middle Eastern dish of lentils, rice, and caramelized onions, in a beautiful rosemaled platter. https://www.dailyscandinavian.com/the-story-of-norwegian-rosemaling/ Rosemaling went out of fashion in the nineteenth century, but it’s seen a resurgence with the popularity of…