Vintage Expert | Sue McLain at Yesterday’s Lady
May 7, 2014 | by Becky Oeltjenbruns
The amazing Schmuck building, home to Yesterday’s Lady
Learning about vintage is no small task – there are countless eras, artistic movements, materials, designers, and styles to explore. It is rare to find a knowledgeable resource in one person, but we’ve been fortunate enough to connect you with many such authorities. Allow us to introduce you to our latest guru, Sue McLain: vintage expert, collector, and advocate. Visitors to her establishment will find themselves enveloped in retro wonder and empowered with information. Join us as we learn more about what guests experience and discover at Yesterday’s Lady.
Sue with Yesterday’s Lady
Yesterday’s Lady
113 North 5th Street
Beatrice, NE 68310
402.223.5121
“People stop you when you wear vintage – they see something they love about it. Vintage sparks a memory because it’s so unique and different. It helps you connect with the past.”
Learn more about Yesterday’s Lady via her website.
What guests experience at Yesterday’s Lady
Yesterday’s Lady is housed within the historic Schmuck Building, which dates back to 1887. Sue and her husband restored this stunning space in detail, with her expansive vintage collection being displayed on the first two floors. Exhibiting retro wares in a Victorian building has some definite advantages. The tall ceilings and beautiful natural light overwhelms guests and provides a gorgeous backdrop for her compilation of treasures.
Part of the Yesterday’s Lady collection
At Yesterday’s Lady guests are treated to a variety of vintage-themed programs and can enjoy a tasty treat in her kitchen. Programs meander through every vintage period, with her favorite sessions focusing on fashion and the history of the bra. In the presentation Century of Fashion, Sue introduces guests to the major themes of each decade from the Victorian era through the 1960s. Walking through each style in detail not only gives clients insights into history, but shows how those movements continue to inform fashion to this day. But clothing or accessories aren’t the only ways we reconnect with the past, everyday household customs find meaning in antique traditions and one of Sue’s favorites is the feather tree.
What is the feather tree?
The feather tree is a prominent feature in Sue’s Victorian Christmas presentation. When you look at a modern artificial Christmas tree, you are seeing the evolved version of its German predecessor. To understand its origin, we go back to a time when European immigrants were gravitating to America in search of a better life. In the 1800s German immigrants arrived with a bit of a heavy heart, worried that they would have to leave their Christmas tree traditions behind in exchange for a new future. During this time in Germany, people were concerned about dwindling forests due to the Christmas tree market. As an alternative, they began dying goose feathers and assembling table top trees out of this non-tree material. These small tokens were very beloved and most families couldn’t bear to leave them behind as they crossed the ocean.
Beautiful vintage treasures at Yesterday’s Lady
These delicate treasures found their way into people’s luggage and inadvertently started a commercial trend in the Northeastern states. As more and more Germans settled stateside, merchants began noticing these tiny traditions and saw an opportunity. Woolworth’s in Pennsylvania was the first department store to sell feather trees and over the decades the material would change, but the idea of a reusable Christmas icon remained. Just like the artificial tree, undergarments have evolved over the years. Sue’s guests always request the “History of the Bra” presentation and next we’ll shed some light on why it remains such a popular subject.
A brief history of the bra
The first breast supporter was the simple corset paired with a corset cover. In 1907 Vogue made its first mention of a new kind of undergarment, described as brassiere (a French term meaning upper arm). This early bra was really just a corset cover with a wire underneath it. This very basic prototype inspired the bra’s first big update a mere six years later. In 1913 a young socialite named Mary Phelps Jacob co-designed a bra with her French maid. She called it the Crosby Caresse and it was comprised of two hankies sewn together. She patented their design in 1914 and her timing could not have been more ideal. (Keep in mind this was the WWI era of rationing metal and women nationwide were giving up their corsets.) Women were on the lookout for new undergarments and the brassiere was the next logical development.
Jacob’s patent
These consumer trends were very troubling for the Warner Brothers Corset Company. Their fear and uncertainty inspired the firm to buy the patent for the Crosby Caresse. The purchase price was $1500, which was not a small price at the time. Yet over the next 30 years the patent earned them a cool $15 million. During those decades, bra styles changed alongside fashion updates. By the 1920s, flat chests were in fashion and women everywhere were binding their bosoms in an effort to follow the fad. Bras during this era were made of rayon and silk and can be found in an expanded color palette. Pastels such as peach, pink, mint green, and blue were being worn by the most daring of Flapper girls.
By 1928 a Russian immigrant named Ida Rosenthal was appalled by the popularity of flat chests and started the Maiden Form company as a way to revive the feminine silhouette. By 1929 the stock market crashed and women moved toward more feminine looks naturally. Rosenthal wanted women to be proud of their bodies and embrace every stage of their development. She made bras for teens (what we know as the training bra), as well as bras for young women and expecting mothers. Her philosophy was to make bras for every phase of her clients’ lives, ensuring that she would have lifetime customers. While this was a clever approach, her developments went beyond business practices. Rosenthal started the sizing practice of small, medium, and large. The Warner Brothers would take that chart one step further and develop modern cup size standards by 1935.
Stunning gowns deserve the right undergarments
Also during this time, a change in name took effect. By the 1930s the term shortened from brassiere to bra. Along with this wording, the shapes of bras changed as each breast was now being emphasized. The delicate nature of the undergarment remained, with most bras being composed of silk or satin and accented with ribbon straps. However by WWII, bras needed to be sturdier as women found themselves working in the factories. Bras of this era were designed with movement in mind and straps went from ribbon to adjustable materials. Despite women’s more prominent working roles, the ultra feminine outline was still celebrated. Bullet bras and molded bras were popularized by the pin up girls and copied by women everywhere. Taking this look further, Frederick’s of Hollywood invented falsies in 1947.
Find the perfect bra for this outfit with Sue’s help
While undergarments were becoming more risqué during these decades, colors were offered in a limited selection: white, tea rose (a pink pastel), and black. Black was considered the most daring of the trio and even got censored in films such as Psycho. Hollywood wouldn’t hold firm to this tradition for long. In 1952 Lana Turner appeared in Merry Widow in a daring bra and corset set. Like all things from this time, the Hollywood influence drove fashion for women everywhere and lingerie was no different.
This eclectic and exciting history aside, Sue emphasizes that women who wear vintage must pair it with the appropriate undergarments. Retro fashion is all about form and the proper lingerie creates that perfect, authentic shape.
Top vintage trends for 2014
While Sue doesn’t sell a lot of inventory in her shop, she does actively participate in fashion shows and her most recent collaboration sheds light on the top vintage trends for this year. The top four trends for 2014 are as follows: lace, mini skirts and dresses, frocks with fitted bodices and fuller skirts, and drop waist dresses that showcase the wearer’s back. The feminine and soft crocheted lace look is the top trend among them.
Just like vintage trends were inspired by Hollywood starlets, modern trends are being influenced by current fashion icons. For Sue, Princess Kate has had a major influence on the resurgence of classic lines and appreciation for a more feminine shape. Embracing vintage is a great way for us to remain connected with the past but also to celebrate our future. Learning about it makes it all the more fun and we encourage you to make the trip to Yesterday’s Lady and find out about your favorite looks!
Cause A Frockus would like to thank their tremendous resource: Sue McLain at Yesterday’s Lady.
For our readers: Do you own a feather tree? Are there other vintage holiday traditions you want to know more about? Do you see other vintage trends gaining popularity where you live? Tell us all about it in the comments.