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Fandom Demigods of the Great War: Info- Living in the 1910s

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AuroraRogersSkywalker

Lacy flowery angsty edgy person
Make sure you read all the red-colored text before signing up. This topic is meant to help you better understand the time period of the early 1910s and World War I. Don't worry, you don't have to memorize any of it, but just having some basic awareness of what people wore and ate and how they traveled is a good thing. You can read the black colored text if you want, but it's not mandatory. It's here for your reference if you need it in the future.

~Clothing of the 1910s~

I'm a historical costumer and sort of a fashion historian, so this is my field of expertise- but I'll try to keep this section short so you don't get too terribly bored! XD I know much more about the women's wear than the menswear, so I apologize in advance for the vagueness whenever I bring up menswear.

The Edwardian Style
  • The style of the early 1910s was characterized by very slim skirts (called "hobble skirts"), Japanese/Oriental influences, and drapey Greek looking dresses. It was considered fashionable to have slender hips and a full bust.
  • The 1880s until 1914 was considered the "Belle Epoque," or Epoch of Beauty. This was because everyone's clothing, houses, dishes, furniture and trinkets became more ornately beautiful than ever before. Everything was full of detail and beauty, including undergarments and the interior of your dress.
  • At this point there were no hoop skirts, since the style was loose and slender.
  • As WWI rolled around, skirts became full again to allow full range of movement, and blouses became very loose.
This fashion plate roughly represents the style of the early 1910s.

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This fashion plate roughly represents the style of the late 1910s:

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Outfits of the Day
Women of the Edwardian era usually wore 4 outfits every day:
  • The morning suit: A long skirt, blouse and jacket which were very close fitted to the figure. This would be worn out to morning shopping, work or visiting.
  • The afternoon dress: Similar to the morning suit, but might be looser and made of lighter, softer fabrics. (Note: Edwardians always wore high collars during the day because they thought that leaving your neck exposed would give you pneumonia.) You would also have gloves, a hat and a parasol.
  • The tea dress: Around 4:00 each afternoon, everyone would have tea, and the tea dresses were white, very sheer, very lacy, and very delicate. (THEY ARE ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS. I own one and it's really beautiful!) They would be worn without a corset.
  • The evening dress: For the wealthy, dinner was an extravagant affair, so the evening dress was the most formal out of all the other dresses. They would have low necklines (as opposed to the high necks of afternoon dresses) and short sleeves. You might wear long gloves with them.
  • If you were from a lower class, you probably didn't go through so many outfits in a day.

Undergarments
Here are the women's undergarments in the order you would put them on:
  • Chemise (underdress) and drawers (loose pants with an open crotch). Sometimes combined into one garment called "combinations."
  • Corset (more about that later) and padded bust improvers, if necessary
  • Petticoat (underskirt to fluff out the dress) and corset cover (so people wouldn't see your corset through your sheer dress). Sometimes combined into one garment called the "princess slip." The corset cover could have ruffles if you were flat chested and wanted to look more fashionably full-chested.
Men would basically wear one-piece thermal underwear (as far as I'm aware). Also, there were corsets for men! They reinforced a more masculine shape than women's corsets, of course. You can basically think of them as thick belts.

Corsets
I am a corset maker and wearer, so I know firsthand how many corset myths float around that, quite frankly, aren't true. In this section I want to put to rest some of the myths that corsets are painful, cause fainting, and only for skinny people. If you are already aware that corsets are not torture devices and that they won't put your character in agony all day, skip this section. If you didn't know that, read on! Either way, reading this section will help you understand that your character has some control over what type of corset she (or he!) will wear. If you want to read the full posts from my blog about corset myths, check out this post and this post.

Keep in mind that there is a rising community of modern corset makers around the world, and we're all tired of the media convincing everyone that corsets are evil torture devices. We've done a lot of research into the safety of corset wearing and gone through the time-consuming process of making and wearing them. It is possible to be irresponsible with a corset, but in general they are not dangerous.
  • If the corset is well-made and custom fitted to your body, it will be really comfortable and feel like second skin. If it's poorly made or poor quality, obviously it won't feel too good.
  • Corsets restrict your ability to bend from the waist (bend over with a curved back), but it turns out that this is actually good for your spine to avoid the strain of bending from the waist to pick things up.
  • Corsets do not squeeze your ribs or make it hard to breathe. They only compress the squishy area underneath your ribs. This way, you can get used to high waist reductions with little discomfort.
  • There's no such thing as "tight" or "loose" corsets. All corsets are supposed to be worn close and snug to the body. If you're wearing it loose, you're not wearing it right. Some corsets reduce the waist more than others do, but guess what- it's up to you whether or not to wear a corset with a high waist reduction! And in the 1910s, most corsets did not reduce the waist much. That was more of a 1905 thing. The purpose of a 1910s corset was to slim the hips.
  • At the end of the day, taking off your corset would feel weird, since you've been wearing it all day and it's been providing you with abdominal support. You feel like your guts are spilling out.
  • Corsets don't cause you to faint unless you take them off too fast. (And that has never happened to me, so it's kind of a rare scenario.)
  • If your corset is making you hurt, it is a poor quality corset and it's not supposed to do that!
  • Corsets are not only for skinny people. There are plus size corsets as well (even in the Edwardian era).
  • How to put on a corset: Corsets have two openings, a front snap closure called the busk and the back area with the string (called lacing). You leave the back pre-laced, since lacing it takes forever, snap it closed in the front, and adjust the tightness in the back. You can put on a corset yourself and don't need a maid to help you. This picture shows how the corset is pre-laced in the back and snaps closed in the front.

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  • Corsets are awesome and beautiful and wearing one gives you a lot of self confidence. They're also safer to wear than high heels.
  • Corsets of the 1910s were very long and went all the way down to mid-thigh. This is very unusual in the world of corsetry, but the idea was to slim the hips in order to accommodate those long Empire waist gowns.

Camp Half-Blood Uniforms
Here are the uniforms that will be worn in Camp Half Blood:

  • Girls: Long, full, dark-colored skirts and loose, white blouses. Long, loose skirts that go down to the ankle are easy to run and ride horseback in. In 1910, loose skirts would be considered old and unfashionable, but by 1914 they will come back in style. Girls can also use armor (and corsets can function as armor)!
  • Boys: Long, dark pants, suspenders, and a light colored button down shirt. Armor is available to boys as well.
  • The uniforms probably have some sort of embroidery patch that identifies the wearer as being from Camp Half-Blood.
Materials
Polyester and other synthetic fibers didn't exist yet, so the main materials used were cotton, wool and silk (all of which are breathable and easy to dye).

High Fashion
If you were a fashionable person, you would probably know about some of the following things (Aphrodite kids, take note)!
  • House of Worth: The main design house of the day.
  • Poiret, Doucet, Lady Duff Gordon: Some of the prominent fashion designers.
  • Delineator, Les Modes: Some of the fashionable magazines.
  • Celebrities and Fashion Icons: Lily Elsie, Gabrielle Ray, Queen Maud of Norway, Phyllis Dare
Hairstyles
The hairstyles of the 1910s were gorgeous (and Greek inspired). Women would always wear their hair up- wearing it down was scandalous! Check out my Pinterest board of Edwardian photographs to see some of the gorgeous hairstyles they wore. Also, please note that pretty much nobody ever cut their hair until like 1918, and even then it was a pretty small minority of very fashion-forward people.

Makeup
In the 1910s, makeup wasn't considered to be 100% socially acceptable, so if you wore it you would try to make it look natural. Also, everyone had to make their own makeup from scratch. For example, you might make mascara out of Vaseline and charcoal, or blush out of crushed flower petals. You could also do things like massage your cheeks to make them look rosy, or bite your lip to make it look redder.

There's a lot more I could tell you about Edwardian fashion since it is my specialty, but I will cut it off here. If you're curious to know more, I'd love to talk to you about it. Thanks for reading!

~Technology of the 1910s~
I'm not too much of an expert on technology, but here's what I know was available in the 1910s.
  • Transportation: Trains, horse and buggy, cruise ships, and early automobiles (but only the rich could afford automobiles initially).
  • Lighting: Gas lamps, oil lamps, some electricity
  • Communication: Telegraph, telephone, snail mail
  • The sewing machine did exist.
  • Weapons: Aircraft, bombs, guns (I have no idea what type of guns they used, whether or not they were machine guns or anything like that.)
If you know something more specific about the technology of this era, post below and I'll add it to the post!

~Major Battles, Strategies and Leaders of WWI~
I'm not a war expert and I have pretty much forgotten or don't know most of the major events of WWI. If you know the rough outline of events, please post below and I'll add it to the post.

So basically, this topic is incomplete as of now, but it is something that anyone in the RP can contribute to. If you have anything to add at all, don't hesitate to let me know!
 

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