Who Should Wear a Necktie in a Yearbook Photograph?

Girl Graduate, June 1925, Delineator.

The power of clothes to disturb people seems to have diminished since the shock of hippie clothing in the 60s and punk clothing in the 70s and 80s outraged so many people — but even today, when it almost appears that “anything goes” in fashion, a news item appears to remind me that it’s not true:  A young woman in San Francisco wore a tuxedo & black tie for her yearbook picture, which was against the school rules.

Clothes for Misses Age 15 to 20; Butterick patterns, Delineator magazine 1925. In the 1920s, wearing an article of male clothing, such as a necktie, hinted at feelings of equality.

People are often outraged by clothing that doesn’t meet their gender expectations, even in San Francisco, a city famous for its “live and let live” attitudes. (I saw a dozen nudists bicycling past the zoo last year. No one bothered them.)

Young Woman in Necktie, Delineator, 1925

The local news stations and the San Francisco Chronicle are running stories about high school senior Jessica Urbina, whose photograph was removed from her high school yearbook because she chose to pose in a tuxedo instead of a photographer’s “drape.” Her private school, Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory, has a rule that all girls must have their senior picture taken wearing a “drape” and all boys must be photographed wearing a tuxedo shirt, jacket, and tie. As reported in the Chronicle, the Archdiocese of San Francisco has a policy “requiring female students to wear dresses in yearbook photos.” (Technically, a ‘drape’ is not a dress — it’s a photographer’s prop that just suggests a dress from the waist up.  And I doubt that many young men have a tuxedo in the closet, or wear one often. Both of those options are quite arbitrary — they are merely an attempt to get a uniform, non-individualistic image of each student by banning their own clothing. So yes, Jessica did make an attempt to subvert the rules, by showing a little of her real self, and appearing as she would want to be remembered.)

Young Woman in Necktie and Man-tailored Suit, 1925, Delineator.

The inspiring part of this story is that, when they heard the news that Jessica’s picture would not appear in their yearbook, the students at Sacred Heart came to school wearing neckties, regardless of gender. They wore neckties with their tee shirts. They wore neckties with their blouses. They wore bowties and long ties. Jessica said, “I’ve never felt more love than I do right now. I’ve seen people with all the ties. Honestly, I’ve cried multiple times, overwhelmed with all this support, so I just want to thank everybody who’s supporting me now.”

“Late in the day, school officials said the events had ‘sparked a campus-wide dialogue which will result in a revision of policy.’ ” although it may not take effect immediately. — News Article: Students Rally Around Tux-Wearing Teen Left Out of Yearbook by Jill Tucker and Henry K. Lee

I’ve posted these illustrations from 1925 — when women were casting off old, gender-defined roles and taking on traditionally male occupations — as a reminder of how long it can take to break down cultural expectations about clothing and gender. The language of clothes is so powerful that people can still feel threatened by a woman wearing a tuxedo, or a man wearing a skirt. Yes, clothes do make a statement about the wearer. It sounds like Jessica knows who she is, and wants to ‘speak’ the truth. How encouraging that her classmates respect her for it.

Tubular Twenties: Some Early 1920s Fashions

It’s easy to forget that the decade known as The Twenties saw considerable changes in fashion. The period of ‘bound breasts’ and cylindrical figures was ending by 1925. I think of the early 1920s as the ‘tubular twenties.’ The long, tubular dress pattern on the left, illustrated in Delineator in December, 1924 is closely related to this actual beaded dress from a private collection.

A Butterick dress pattern from December 1924, and a vintage beaded dress from the same period.

Both dresses are very long, and hang straight from the shoulders; the concentration of beading near the hem weights the dress.

Details of the beading on the front of the dress.

This beading was probably done in China, for export.

The back of the chiffon dress was also beaded, so it was relatively heavy and fell without curves.

Cylinder Dresses and Flattened Curves, Early 1920s

Other designs from 1924 show the same long, cylindrical shape, with style variations.

Butterick patterns for January, 1924, from Delineator magazine, p. 38.

More Butterick patterns for women, January 1924; Delineator, p.38.

Many fashion trends associated with the later 1920s are visible:  embroidery, a cloche hat, some dropped waists, side panels, etc. But these dresses are actually longer than the dresses of the World War I era, and they share the peculiarly low bust of that period.

Dresses for Young Women, January 1924

The styles above are for adult women. Patterns for teens, then called  ‘misses’ and sold by age (“size 15 to 20 years, or small ladies”) show the same tubular shape and low bust, but are slightly shorter.

Butterick patterns for misses, Delineator, January 1924, p. 37.

The blue checked dress shows some indecision about the dropped waistline, and opts for two, a belt at the high hip and a band much lower. The dress on the far right has front panels and ends in a sash, like blouses of the early 1920s. It’s hard to imagine how a slim teen-aged girl could have the bust shown in the tan pleated dress, unless she was wearing a bust-flattening brassiere or bandeau, or a tube-like corselette (more about these in a later post.)

Evening dresses for misses and small ladies, January 1924, Delineator, p. 37.

Styles from Delineator, February 1924, p. 30.

The surplice line dresses on the left remained popular throughout the twenties, as did cloches and tam-o’shanter hats. The blue dress on the right — shortened and with a slight change in proportions — became a classic style for the rest of the decade. Below:  This is how Chanel interpreted it in January, 1925. Note the change in length, the bust dart, and the natural bustline. The flattened chest was going out of fashion.

Chanel design, January 1925, as sketched by Soulie in Delineator.