Category: Modern History

Fashion History: Researching the House of Mirelle Clothing Collection – A Frank Usher Late 1960s Dress

The House of Mirelle was a fashion house with taste. Over the 40 years it was open customers bought a glittering array of clothes, hats and shoes from some of the most well known labels of the time. The list of what was sold at Mirelle is a roll-call...

1969 Bunty Annual: The Story of Dressmaking and Sewing In the Classroom

  Bunty was a teen comic grabbed from shelves in the local newsagents between 1958 and 2001. Pages were full of fictional stories for youngsters aged 14 years old and under. In the days before computers took over from pencil, pen and ink the comic strips were hand drawn. Girls...

TV Review: BBC2s Back In Time for the Factory Returns To Womens Working Life in 1968

11 or so ladies walk towards the doors of Valley West wearing an impressive array of 1960s fashions and expectant smiles. They are stepping back in time to experience what working life was like for garment factory workers, ladies who sat at industrial sewing machines for 8 hours at...

Book Review: Life In Hull From Then Till Now by Kay Pearson: A Fascinating Look Back on a Hull Women’s Life.

Kay Pearson loved music throughout her life, playing piano in music halls, theatre, dance halls and people’s homes. Her book was published in 1978 after a feature about her life in the Hull Daily Mail. She was asked to finish the book, people as tickled by her story as...

Oral History: Witness2Fashion’s Memory Of Using Treadle Sewing Machines

Recently we’ve been chatting to the person behind the fantastic blog Witness2Fashion  about all things ‘treadle sewing machine.’  Based in California you might expect a difference between the UK / Hull Yorkshire but I was struck by how similar they were. Treadles have the same charm wherever you were in...

Hull Fashion History: What Was Great About 1978!

The 1970s was a decade of fashion extremes….   Floaty fashions of the post-hippy culture mixed with stomping platforms and glam rock but by 1978 when the House of Mirelle closed every inspiration was up for grabs. Fashion design was diverse, streetwise and truly international. By mid 1978 tailoring,...

Fashion History: Mr Mintz of Linda Leigh Designs For The Fuller Figure

How curvy ladies were designed for in Fashion History …. The commentator of this British Pathe film points out that it’s nice to see women who aren’t entirely sylph like on the catwalk. 1950s Fashion You would be forgiven for thinking that fashion of the 1950s was all about...

Hull History: May 1975 Princess Anne’s Modern Wedding Dress Designed By Maureen Baker Comes To Hull

Everyone loves a royal wedding but did you know Princess Anne’s has a special connection to Hull….. The wedding of Princess Anne to Captain Mark Phillips  The marriage of Princess Anne on 14th November 1973 to Captain Mark Phillips was an occasion celebrated by the entire nation. Norman Hartnell ...

Hull Social History: 3 Day Millionaires DVD by Dr Alec Gill and the Cod Wars

“My Dad was a skipper on the trawlers and if he’d had a good catch, he’d take Mum out and spend the money on her,” said Lynn. “Oh! A 3 Day Millionaire,” I said. “A what?” came the reply. “3 Day Millionaire,” I said. When there was no response...

Hull Fashion History 1968 to 1969: The Headscarf Protest, Fashion Inertia and The Years Of Change

The Headscarf Revolutionaries by Brian Lavery had been on the must-read list since the early days researching the House of Mirelle. From information about Hull’s Headscarf Protest I turned to the history of the fishing industry and the Cod Wars. Lavery’s book sketched in the details in a work of...

Hull Fashion History: Wedding Dress Fashions Of The 50s, 1951, 1955 and 1960.

Wedding dress styles change more slowly than everyday fashion. These three outfits show that style responded dramatically to social changes between the beginning of the 50s and the end. The first, from an article in the Hull Daily Mail of 1951, reintroduces the idea of a long white wedding dress...

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