13 www.CharlestonWomenPodcast.com | www.ReadCW.com | www.Instagram.com/CharlestonWomen glamourous look influenced by cinema: long gloves and an evening gown topped off with a fur stole. One local woman related the story of her grandmother who attended the grand opening of the Dock Street Theater in 1937. “Since it was the Depression, she didn’t have the money to buy a fur. So, she ended up borrowing one from her dear friend whose father was a renowned bootlegger in town, and my grandmother was able to attend the gala decked out in style.” Proper fashion etiquette was always expected when out and about in Charleston. Local resident Phyllis Dawson Moseley recalled “wearing heels and a dress — always — when shopping on King Street. And anytime you got dressed up, you wore a hat — even to football games.” Jean Moseley Jeffcoat confirmed, “You didn’t go on King Street unless you were dressed. And you could always recognize the girls from Ashley Hall (the prestigious girls’ school downtown) because they had on gloves.” WARTIME WARDROBES Women’s fashions took on more of a masculine look in the World War II era with styles borrowed from the uniforms worn by women in the armed forces. These interchangeable separates — blazers, pants and straight skirts — were also more practical for some of the jobs that had been traditionally held by men but were filled by women during the war. In the evenings, however, femininity was on display in the dance scene. With the prevalence of military personnel in the area, there was no shortage of male dance partners passing through Charleston. And for women, swinging to the music of the Big Band Era required full skirts that were an integral piece of the action. Picture “the Jitterbug.” The visual dynamic created by the movement of the flared skirt only added to the excitement. Those straight skirts would never have made fun like that possible. In the conservative 1950s, women’s colleges in the Northeast introduced the preppie style, known then as the classic “American Girl” look — blouses with Peter Pan collars, madras (plaid) skirts, Bermuda shorts, pedal pushers (Capri pants), and weejuns (penny loafers). At the same time, men in Ivy League schools began to embrace the seersucker suit, a rather informal attire traditionally worn in the South. The fabric spilled over into women’s fashions, too, in the form of skirts and shorts. Seersucker remains the quintessential look for men and women around Charleston. A REVOLUTION OF SORTS The social upheaval of the ‘60s incited a fashion revolution: the mini-skirt and mini-dress with bold colors and geometric patterns that mimicked modern art. The 1970s continued to embrace “flower power” and bell-bottom pants. The two decades saw protests by groups who pushed for social and economic equality, including basic human, constitutional and civil rights for women and for African Americans. Black women developed their own unique fashion trend, wearing brightly colored fabric and head scarves borrowed from African tradition. Charlestonian Alada Shinault-Small began wearing Afro-centric clothing then. “I wrapped my head and wore Berber pants that balloon and taper down — like rapper MC Hammer later wore.” And her mother made her skirts. “There weren’t many local shops that sold the styles back then,” she said. There was a store on Upper King that had the attire and one space in the City Market. When Gallery Chuma was on John Street, they sold clothing and hats from Nigeria. And a lot of people sold out of their homes or trunks.” Shinault-Small explained that the zenith of the Africaninfused style was in the 1960s, but fashion has always been important in the Black community. “From coming out of enslavement and trying to fit in, most would agree they had to go above and beyond to compete, no matter how educated or experienced they were — to look a certain way to get respect.” Shinault-Small pointed out that during the civil rights movement of the 1960s, Black protestors and marchers dressed in “church clothes” — men in suits and ties and women wearing hats and gloves. As an example, she described the famous photo of protesters in the 1969 Charleston hospital workers strike, led by Coretta Scott King, and contrasted it to the clothes worn today at Black Lives Matter protests where participants wear graphic t-shirts with pointed messages. “You always dressed up when you marched back then, even when you knew you’d be arrested,” Shinault-Small added. Charleston Women in Style A Vanity Fair cover from 1914. Photo credit/ Library of Congress. The classic 1940s look. Photo provided by Mary Coy.
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