Weather and Vintage Attire Woes

[desi_de_lu_lu]

How on earth did anyone stay cool before buildings were as refrigerated as they are today wearing suit jackets and dresses and stockings?

I am wearing a breezy linen and rayon blend 1940's style dress with a full slip and my hair completely up and I am dying.

If I had to live in Southern Arizona or hot and humid Georgia in the middle of summer I certainly wouldn't feel as cool as cucumber, nor look it.

I don't get it... they even look all cool and breezy in the pictures..how did they do it? What is different?

 

[Rachael]

it was because they didn't know what they were missing. Today we are accustomed to changing our environment to fit our schedule instead of the other way round.

When I do the vintage/historic thing full time in the summer, I find that all those daily habits that seemed quaint are instead very practical. Breakfast is a big meal because it's the best time to do all that work. You have a cold lunch because turning on an oven just before the heat of the day would be silly. Supper is often late since the sunlight lingers after the heat subsides.

You take tea (or lemondade) around 4 so that you can sit down for a bit and sweat quietly in the shade. Handheld fans help a lot. Natural fibers are the only options for clothing since nylon/poly feels like one is wrapped in plastic film.

Any heavy labor should be done after six or before 10 so that you don't overheat. and in the time before gatorade, lots of lemonade and sodium is needed to prevent dehydration.

Having said all of that, there is no way I would summer in the south regardless of era or conveniences. I just don't do humidity.

 

[desi_de_lu_lu]

it was because they didn't know what they were missing. Today we are accustomed to changing our environment to fit our schedule instead of the other way round.

When I do the vintage/historic thing full time in the summer, I find that all those daily habits that seemed quaint are instead very practical. Breakfast is a big meal because it's the best time to do all that work. You have a cold lunch because turning on an oven just before the heat of the day would be silly. Supper is often late since the sunlight lingers after the heat subsides.

You take tea (or lemondade) around 4 so that you can sit down for a bit and sweat quietly in the shade. Handheld fans help a lot. Natural fibers are the only options for clothing since nylon/poly feels like one is wrapped in plastic film.

Any heavy labor should be done after six or before 10 so that you don't overheat. and in the time before gatorade, lots of lemonade and sodium is needed to prevent dehydration.

Having said all of that, there is no way I would summer in the south regardless of era or conveniences. I just don't do humidity.

Sage advice. I was wondering about the lemonade phenomena back then.. and the sodium and potassium explains it all.

I prefer lemonade to gatorade any day!

 

[Paisley]

First, far fewer people lived in the southwest then; maybe most of the summer pictures were taken in the north. Second, buildings had operating windows, and humans can tolerate hot fresh air better than hot stale air. Maybe they just acclimated to the heat.

 

[desi_de_lu_lu]

First, far fewer people lived in the southwest then; maybe most of the summer pictures were taken in the north. Second, buildings had operating windows, and humans can tolerate hot fresh air better than hot stale air. Maybe they just acclimated to the heat.

When I toured down in Tombstone, I found all these women dressed in these beautiful turn of the century gowns....and the date on the pictures were dated June and July, etc.

No wonder so many women went the route of the "saloon hostess" down there...they could get away with wearing less clothing. lol

 

[DerMann]

If anyone can answer this question, I'd very much like to hear it.

Even in all linen, I sweat bullets just sitting in the sun.

 

[CharlestonBows]

First, far fewer people lived in the southwest then; maybe most of the summer pictures were taken in the north.

What about us deep-southerners?! lol

In all seriousness, I think it has to do with what we've been accustomed too. When folks spend most of their time in AC cooled buildings, then the body just isn't used to dealing with the heat. For example, people who do a lot of work outside are much more capable of taking the heat than folks who spend most of their time in the office. It's just a matter of being used to it.

And moving air makes a huge difference. Moving air wicks perspiration away, allowing the bodies natural cooling mechanism to work. Besides weight, thats the other benefit of summer cottons and linen - it wicks the moisture away. Thats also why the well-to-do flocked to the coast or to the mountains in the hot months. That's where the breezes were.

Just my $0.02.

 

[dhermann1]

Exactly

I go from an office a/c-ed to the point of refrigeration, out to the street at lunch time, where it's 95 degrees, then back to the office, then back to the 110 degree subway platform, then to the a/c-ed subway car, back to the street, then to my just barely sufficiently cooled apartment. I'm surprised I don't shatter.
My other problem along these lines has to do with my gorgeous new Panama hat. Now don't get me wrong. I feel even nakeder than usual (compared to a felt fedora) if I go outside without it now. But it's so light that the slightest breeze makes it want to take off. I walk down the street with my hand on tip of my head.
Getting back to how people survived in the old days, I think they must have sweated a whole lot more. Those lovely cotton and linen dresses must have just been really damp on a hot muggy day, and that's why folks really needed their toilet water. And think of baseball players! Think of the Texas League in the 1920's with horseblanket heavy wool unifirms that got cleaned at the end of every season, whether they needed it or not. Just like Arab costumes in the desert, the wool wicked the moisture and kept the players relatively cool.
They may not have had a/c but they did have those big ceiling fans in many places. High ceilings and ceiling fans can keep you cool also.
Back in the late 19th and early 20th centuries people in big city tenaments used to drag their bedding onto the fire escapes and sleep in a group out there. And Victorian homes had sleeping porches. I've slept on the porch on hot summer nights. It can be really delicious.
And I strongly suspect people moved a whole lot slower, a remedy I recommend for many types of situations.

 

[KY Gentleman]

I've heard my relatives tell stories of everyone sleeping outside on hot summer nights. I am glad I grew up in the age of A/C.

 

[CharlestonBows]

This thread got me thinking a bit. So I put in The Great Gatsby. Summertime, and while their living was easy, it showed some perspiration.

So in addition to all of the above stated, style and deportment was paramount in those generations, even to personal comfort.

"Comfort is overrated." Nick Hart

 

[Mike in Seattle]

As others have stated - it's becoming acclimated to your surroundings. When we first moved up from LA, I felt cold a lot of the time. I thought if it hit freezing up here, I'd freeze to death going outside all bundled up. After the first few weeks - no biggie. We were in Palm Springs for Christmas and New Years a few years ago and we were sitting in shirtsleeves outside Starbucks sipping lattes while the locals were bundled up like they were ready for Alaska...and it was only 55-60 degrees. We're roasting, they're freezing. And one couple walked across the street in shorts and tank tops, fanning themselves - we assumed they were from Minnesota or Wisconsin. It's just what you're used to. Also, you learn to use layers and such to insulate yourself from the heat. My uncle in the Mohave Desert would sit in an un-air conditioned office in a suit and tie, and never break a sweat. It's just what you're accustomed to.

 

[kowalskt63]

Another possibility

I was talking to my friend who lives in Phoenix Arizona. He mentioned that his grandmother lived there her whole life with nothing more than a swamp cooler. Her opinion was that back in the old days, there was less concrete and asphalt, buildings, and roadways. Basically speaking, although average daily temperatures might have been relatively the same as they are today, the heat was more tolerable because there was less of it "lingering" all day and night. Just a thought.

 

[Minerva]

I suspect some of this is genetic, as well. It depends on what you're bred to deal with.

A decent percentage of my ancestors lived near the tropics, and I tend to handle humid and hot much better than dry and hot. If it's hot and dry, I wilt and/or get heatstroke. Humidity doesn't do much except kink up my hair more than usual. That said, I prefer to stay inside with the a/c running for the sake of my allergies.

 

[Naama]

We are so retro over here! Almost nobody has a air-conditioner and there are also A LOT of stores where there is none! And sure, there is none in schools/universitys!



Naama

 

[frijoli]

As others have stated - it's becoming acclimated to your surroundings.

What a great avatar!

 

[scotrace]

One's body type and size does make a big difference in how you experience temperature changes. I've been heavy-ish, and I've been rail thin. Summer heat is easily tolerated when thin, and is murder for me when heavy. Winter cold is easier to take when heavy, not so much without fat insulation. But that's common sense.

Or as my good, portly friend in North Carolina told me while easily bobbing around in a lake while I struggled to stay afloat: "Fat men don't drown."
lol

 

[alexandra]

I live in an old house and we don't have air conditioning. We do have fans though and my mum has a system that if we move a door or a curtain or anything out of it's special place in the day we'll have our heads bitten off. Her cooling system really does work though. People always mistake my house for being air conditioned when they walk in out of the heat.

She learned it from my grandmother who does it even without fans. At our cottage she putters around at different times of the day opening doors and closing windows and moving curtains and the cottage always feels completely cool, despite it being sweltering outside.

 

[Madcap72]

Just to point out how acclimated people can be, When I was in Kenya, the Kenyan military guys would go on a noon run in pants and wool sweaters, it was their winter. (85F)

When I left Kuwait it was 140f which was a god send after Iraq's 130f and 80% humidity. The day I landed back in California it was 85. A 55 deg difference. We were all freezing to death for a while. I got strange looks at the 90 degree beach with a sweat shirt and heavy jacket on!

It's all about getting acclimated. In and out of the A/c all day is going to confuse your body. After 2 months in Iraq, it wasn't *as* bad. But then again, I was lucky to be their at the start, so we had cool weather in march, and gradually got to searing hot.

 

[David Conwill]

My dad has always said that the coldest he's ever been was a sixty-degree night in Southeast Asia - it had dropped 40 or 50 degrees since the daytime and nobody could get warm.

My first thought upon reading this thread was how inconvenient climate-control has made some vintage fashions. The school I attend is usually frigid because of the air conditioning. It makes it inconvenient to wear shorts or even go without a sweater. Of course, since none of the professors wear summer-weight suits, it's comfortable for them. As a student, however, I usually end up dressing like it's springtime all the way through the hottest part of summer.

-Dave

 

[BegintheBeguine]

Dusting powder helps.