Style Advice Shirts and Poverty

Until the second half of the nineteenth century - the time the

sewing machine

appeared - every piece of clothing was

handmade

. Most shirts were sewed by women at home.

 

The ladies of good standing, from the bourgeoisie and from the classes with the lowest income; they all sewned

underwear and shirts

. The rich sew such garments for the poorest as a form of charity. The poorest sewed the underwear and shirts for the rich as a shameful source of income.

 

Beginning nineteenth century, mrs. Mary Lamb - in

a women’s magazine

– expressed being against sewing shirts in the bourgeoisie. It would taken jobs from the poor. For example, a police report in 1849 states that sewing a shirt gave a revenu of two pence.

 

 

'Appearance - Appearance is everything, mon ami!' (Your appearance, it's all about my friend '). These are the words of Boris, the man who constantly lives on the minimal subsistence fights for finding a job all life long. This is described in George Orwell’s book ‘Down and Out in Paris and London’. Boris says, "Give me a new suit and a

white collar

and I borrow you a thousand francs at dinner. What a pity I did not buy a new collar when we had money. 'No shirt I expect?' "Ate it," said Buggins.