Clothing for the Family

I keep telling myself that things have got to get better. Business calls will eventually be returned, books sales will improve, and McDonald’s cherry pies will never be put on hiatus to make room for some feeble attempt of a holiday pie with a filling no one can identify. But here it is. Another Monday and no improvements. This is the perfect time for another Old West advertisement. American fashions were influenced by European designers, but at the beginning of the century seventy-five percent of all clothing in the country were homemade. Observers said they could detect the potato-sack-like cut of a homemade garment a mile away, especially next to a tailor-made piece or, later in the century, a store bought or factory-made garment. Indeed, until the 1840s, when clothing became more readily available in stores, most Americans wore clothing sewn by themselves or their own mothers, sisters or daughters. The Boss of the Road Clothing House, located in the mining town of Grass Valley, California, opened its door in 1863 and featured the latest styles for the entire family. Among the most popular items sold to women there were calico dresses and a head covering called the “flat”. The flat was a woman’s low-crowned straw hat with a very wide brim. Many men purchased the roundabout; a short, close-fitting jacket, also known as a monkey-jacket.