Social History

A photo for the website houseofmirelle.uk

Hull History: Hull Chronicle 1967 Vol 3 No 24 For You To Read

We’re lucky to have a donated copy of the Hull Chronicle in the Mirelle Archive and have decided to make it available to you to read … There are some ‘Talking Points’ at the bottom for you to think about or discuss on our Facebook page The Hull Chronicle was a glossy society magazine […]

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Hull History: Read Miriam Bibbero Johnson’s Biography E-Edition

Those of you following our ‘Introductions’ series will have heard the name Mira Mountain many times. Owner of the House of Mirelle her family and what she did before the shop is an important part of Hull’s history. Her Biography gives the details.. Readers: the PDF won’t twizzle around to landscape on your […]

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Hull History: An Introduction To The House of Mirelle, The Showroom

HouseofMirelle.uk aims to be as accessible to readers as possible. Our Introduction is designed to be easy to understand and read. Our thanks to the late Shirley Coates for her memories and Look Book which includes the featured image you see above. Between the 1930s and the 1970s some of the most exclusive fashions […]

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A picture of a sewing Workroom alteration for HouseofMirelle.uk

Hull History. The House of Mirelle: An Introduction to the Workroom

HouseofMirelle.uk aims to be as accessible to readers as possible. Our Introduction is designed to be easy to understand and read. The sewing Workroom was as important to Mirelle as the clothes sold through its doors. Find out what the Workroom was like and who worked there… Learn about how Seamstresses were trained […]

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Hull History: The House of Mirelle an Introduction. A Guide For You To Read and Share.

HouseofMirelle.uk aims to be as accessible to readers as possible. Our Introduction is designed to be easy to understand and read. Move the arrows up and down to scroll through the pages. Zoom to increase size to read. The House of Mirelle, Hull’s famous fashion house is fondly remembered by those who worked, shopped and […]

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Bus pulling away from the New York Hotel Anlaby Road Hull

Fashion History Kingston upon Hull | Kingston Upon Hull History | Social History | The House Of Mirelle

Hull History: The 1950s and 1960s were Glamorous Times at the New York Hotel

Anlaby Road runs behind Paragon Station, unmissable because the Tower Cinema, one of Hull’s landmarks stands sentry over its past. The history of Anlaby Road includes that of the New York Hotel close to where the Tower stands now. Owned by famed hotelier Frederick – Freddy – Gamble, described as ‘popular with the ladies’ * […]

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Uniform Exhibit D Day Museum Southsea houseofmirelle.uk

20th Century History | History of Sewing Dressmaking and Tailoring | Modern History | Photographs | Social History

75 Years Since the D-Day Landings – We Remember the Legacy of WW2 Today

Southsea, Portsmouth was no different from anywhere else in the country in what it endured during World War 2 but was extraordinary for its role in the D Day landings to liberate Europe from the Nazis. On the shoreline of Southsea beach is the D Day Story, commemorating the role of the Landings that took […]

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Picture of Jameson Street towards British Home Stores Old Hull

S.O.S. Give Your Memories Of Hull’s Co-Op BHS and 3 Ships Mural to SAVE OUR SHIPS!

As a child Esther’s father told his daughter stories of the deep sea waters he fished in and the rise and fall of the city of Hull that was their home. Sipping cafe drinks they sat in front of a building so large its front curved all the way left and all the way […]

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Edwin Davis Building 2016 houseofmirelle.uk

Retail History: We Remember Edwin Davis on Bond Street Hull

Bulldozers pointing towards Edwin Davis in the centre of Hull makes us consider its legacy. To some the square-shaped red bricks are an eyesore, a defunct relic but for others memories of the iconic landmark are as ingrained as shopping trips with their mothers, walks around the city centre and fond recollections of Hull’s past. […]

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Hull History: If Walls Could Talk – 114 Coltman Street Tells Us The Story of Hull’s Charitable Past

Coltman Street runs at right angles from Hull’s Hessle Road up to the other running west from the city centre, Anlaby Road. In days past Hessle Road thrived, fuelled by shipping and fishing in the UK’s third port but the Cod Wars of the 1960s and 70s ran the area to ground, town planning eventually taking […]

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Bunty Annual 1969 Interest in Dressmaking Would Do Better houseofmirelle.uk

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 and their friends, parents and teachers […]

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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 the ivories Kay played from childhood. […]

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A black and white traditional diagram and illustration of a Singer treadle sewing machine E 5453 with parts labelled.

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 the world when you sat and […]

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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 from the other side, “um. When […]

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A black and white photo taken in 1968. A group of women walk purposefully along a street in Hull. They are all wearing coats and head scarves. At the front is Lillian Bilocca, the person leading the protest. Next to her is a policeman.

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 such imagination and feeling, history came […]

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Fashion History: The Orphaned Singer Sewing Machine, Sewing Workrooms and The Culture Of Sewing Book

This week Harvard’s online Magazine published an article about a treadle sewing machine. The title was An Orphaned Sewing Machine and it was written by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich. The link’s there if you’d like to read it. Ulrich and her colleague Ivan Gaskell were given an old Singer treadle sewing machine as a means of teaching […]

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Albion Street 1939. Looking down the road towards The Hull Royal Infirmary, a large brick air raid shelter sits in the middle. Some people walk along the left side. The clock says it's 25 to 8 a.m.

Hull History: Picture Research Albion Street In 1939 and The Hull Blitz

In 1911 when Editor Tess Flanders said: “use a picture. It’s worth a thousand words,” she’d hit the nail on the head about the soon-to-be popularity of photography, videos and visual media that floods our lives today. A picture does speak a thousand words and picture research – looking at them closely and researching what […]

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A black and white photo of 3 women wearing long 1930s style gowns and hats. Each are the same length but with different designs and fabrics. They stand in garden in Hull. Elaine on the far right wears a long white dress possibly for a debutante ball.

Hull History: Model Florence Elaine Wiberg; The Start Of A Fashionable Family In 1930s Hull

“Aunt Freda is on the left – she was the oldest of 6 children and mother is on the right,” says Louise MacFarlane, “Aunt Dor [Doris] in is the center.” Louise MacFarlane is the daughter of 1930s model Florence Elaine Wiberg, known as Elaine. She was perfectly placed in 1930s Hull to be spotted and […]

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