{The Short Suit for Men - Now and Back Then}

As often is the case with fashion, things come and go over time. So back again is the Short Suit for Men! 

Husband Pieter as a young boy, wearing his Short Suit with argyle knee socks!
To the right is his Mom's favorite 'Keesy' a little white German Spitz.
Have you already seen the MODERN SHORT SUIT?

Brave Jesse Watters showed off his legs as a Fox News' First!

Funny Fox News' First #OneLeggyGuy Is Jesse Watters ←click to see more...

J. Crew is selling them...

According to Business Insider; The 'Short Suit' Is Finally Going Mainstream ←click it
Do any of you have a male relative that joined this fashion fad?
~0~

The men in my life already DID wear them!

Easter Sunday, March 29 in 1929...

My Dad is sitting in the center, bottom row with his hands folded.

Dad's younger brother is on his knees, far left, showing off his SHORT SUIT

Dad's cousin is to the far right, wearing his SHORT SUIT, even being peg-legged...

To the left of my Paternal Great-Grandmother (with the white Lace Toer - see more info below post) is my favorite Great-Uncle 'Heeroom'...

MORE Short Suits...
My Paternal Grandparents showing off their 11 children in the spring of 1935!
My aunt Mia to the left, followed by my Dad in his Short Suit and lined up are three more of my uncles; each also in their Short Suit. The little ones are wearing shorts with a sweater.
The family was not yet complete here; there was to follow one more boy... 12 children total!

To the left is my husband Pieter with his elder brothers; All wearing their Short Suit!
The eldest is without jacket but also showing the long black, above the knee socks like my Dad and his brothers wore in the above photo...

Here again husband Pieter (left) is showing a more casual version of Short Suit with knee socks. Guess he escaped the period of having to wear those long black, above the knee socks!
He proudly stands next to another bee keeper with his four bee hive boxes in the late summer of 1944.
It looks like the present Short Suits got their origin from this Youth version...

Related links:

{My Paternal Great-Grandmothers wearing their Lace Toer} | previous post by me 

{Museum Lace Factory - Antique Lace Toer or Poffer} | previous post by me where I wear one...
{March 14, Written Life Message for me by my Favorite Great-Uncle} | previous post by me about Heeroom
Museum de Kantfabriek Horst aan de Maas | Youtube video

{Horst my Birth Place, Used to be an Old Linen Weavers Town}

• Most of you probably do know, how linen is produced; from Flax into Linen. 
• Flax is the world's oldest fiber plant with a lovely flower that varies from white to intense blue. Below this post you find several Flax and Linen informative links. Also you can find out more about the top linen fiber producing countries in the world today.
• Well, Horst my Birth Place was such an important Flax producing town and we used to have lots of home weavers and also several Flax Fens. One was only half a mile away from my Parents' home; called 't Rotven (Rotting Fen).

• On October 17, of 2005 we did make this photo of a work of art  called: ' Linen yarn drying '. The bronze work refers to the many home weaving mills that Horst once knew. The yarn was placed into water to get the tannins out. Then the yarn got dried on sticks. Hans Stoffels and Mia Daenen created this bronze piece of art work.

• With our friends Johnny and Hannah from Dublin, Georgia, we did travel in The Netherlands and we made this photo.
• Too bad that the art work has been moved away from this spot. No longer is there water around it... a pity as it did signify exactly what it was all about.
• In 1950, the last of the hundreds of home weavers quit his job. But in the 1700s it was a thriving home industry.

• Love for Linen
• Below this post you find a link that reads: Top Ten Wedding Gifts, where Quality Sheets ranks 3rd and Fine Table Linens ranks 6th. So there still is a LOVE FOR LINEN! 

This is from the Dutch magazine, NOUVEAU AUGUST 2010

• New developments and those trusted wrinkles make the age old linen the ultimate material for making it cool and elegant through summer.

• Soft, smooth, chic and flowing: linen is wonderful material that feels great on our skin...

Napkins for the King...

• Do you love linen as much as I do?
• Nowadays there is so much linen being used in interior design, such as linen jute or burlap as we know it. Even on my Zen Cart powered on line boutique Mariette's Back to Basics, I offer lots of French made jute linen gifts. 
• It makes me very happy to see a comeback of this noble fiber with the longest history on this earth of any fibers.

• Linen makes an impressive comeback. Isabella Rossellini was one of the first that discovered linen as a graceful taste maker in the 80s. 'Now you are an eco-fashionista when wearing it, but I simply found it comfortable' she said.
• What is damask? Linen is the material, damask is the pattern weave that is only visible when the light falls upon it.
• Smoothly starched or slubby? 
• Linen fiber is twelve times stronger than cotton and absorbs very strongly; It can soak up 20-25% of its own weight in moisture before feeling moist itself.
• Because it is a lose weave, the moisture dries up again fast, thus feeling cool to the touch in warm weather and warm when it gets cooler.
• Linen does not pill, has just like silk a natural shine and can be worn by almost anyone: pure linen does possess anti-allergic qualities. 
• For the cultivation of flax there is a significantly less need for pesticides and fertilizers than for other crops. The fibers can be recycled and are biodegradable in nature. (Making it Eco friendly!)
• Italian linen does have a more silky finish than for instance Irish linen, which is more 'slubby: that means that it is more irregular, with little imperfections that makes the fabric more alive. The most slubby linen currently comes from Poland and Russia.
• Nowadays linen often is being blended in with rayon or cotton: Armani and Calvin Klein love to use these blends, because they wrinkle less.

Royal table linen

One of the prettiest and most famous linen pieces is the wedding gift that Queen Wilhelmina from The Netherlands in 1947 gave to then princess Elizabeth of England. It was a complete table set of three linen damask tablecloths with 96 napkins, designed by referral of the Queen by Miss Kitty van der Mijl Dekker. The set is still being used.

In search of lovely linen... Sanny de Zoete is specialized in custom woven damask tablecloth of 100% linen after designs of Dutch artists. She does sell linens, gives mangle and laundry tips, does programs and wrote books. She has a FB Page: Sanny de Zoete Damast. World's Prettiest Antique and Designer Linen Damask.

Hoping you enjoyed reading about this favorite fiber!

Related link:
Top Ten Wedding Gifts | Quality Sheets ranks 3rd and Fine Table Linens ranks 6th
{Clothing around 1850 - Museum de Kantfabriek} | previous post by me
{Michelle Obama & Print Unlimited from Horst} | previous post by me
{Museum Lace Factory - Antique Lace Toer or Poffer} | previous post by me
Flax and Linen | interesting link with lots of info and uses for linen
Flax (Linen) | Very informative
HISTORY OF LINEN | also quite informative
Top Flax Growing Countries Of The World | Linen Fiber Production
Museum de Kantfabriek Horst aan de Maas | video on Youtube

{Clothing around 1850 - Museum de Kantfabriek}

On September 13, I did visit in my birth city of Horst, The Netherlands, Museum de Kantfabriek or the Lace Factory Museum. It was quite interesting to look how clothing around 1850 looked. White starched linen detachable collars for men, that got attached with special collar studs through button holes. Click: Victorian Period Linen, Cotton, Linene and Celluloid Detachable Collars to see such Victorian  pieces and scrolling further down, shows you also the collar and shirt studs. What a different world then!

To the right you see the detachable collars with the collar studs.

Above is a white silk shawl that was worn with the cylinder hat.

To the right of the white silk shawl is a gray jacquard ascot.

Does anyone of you still have such Victorian items?

Hand embroidery and lace was used to embellish the 'Trouseau' which was mainly worked in pure linen.

Do you still have some heirloom pieces of linen?

Museum de Kantfabriek Horst aan de Maas | video on Youtube 

{Michelle Obama & Print Unlimited from Horst}

When my friend Ellie and I did visit on September 13, the Museum Lace Factory; Museum de Kantfabriek in my birth place Horst, I encountered a poster from our First Lady Michelle Obama. She is wearing a silk top from designer Peter Pilotto that has been printed by Print Unlimited in Horst.

Read→ Print Unlimited about Peter Pilotto and digital textile printing. Jos Bastiaans, who used to work with Stork Prints, is now heading Print Unlimited in Horst where they do digital printing on textile for the fashion and entertainment industry. This is a photo with Michelle Obama and Peter Pilotto Digital Print Silk Top . Also Vogue did publish the US First Lady Michelle Obama on November 10, 2009 in British Vogue. Michelle had purchased the top from a store in Chicago that sells Peter Pilotto designer clothes.

I took this photo from the laminated poster...

Some of the volunteers at the Lace Museum misspelled the name Pilotto...

Thought you would find this an interesting story that the US First Lady, Michelle Obama, actually is wearing something that has been digitally printed on silk in my birth place Horst in The Netherlands...

Related articles and links:

Museum de Kantfabriek Horst aan de Maas | video on Youtube

{Museum Lace Factory - Antique Lace Toer or Poffer} | previous post by me

Michelle Obama and Peter Pilotto Digital Print Silk Top
British Vogue - Pilotto Designs
Michelle Obama in Peter Pilotto My Fashion Life, 5 November, 2009
Print Unlimited B.V. on Facebook

{My Paternal Great-Grandmothers wearing their Lace Toer}

As promised yesterday in my post about Museum Lace Factory - Antique Lace Toer or Poffer, I will now show them wearing their Lace Toer or Poffer. This is a special head covering for the Province of Limburg in The Netherlands from the past century. Both my Paternal Great-Grandmothers I will show here.

This is my Paternal Great-Grandmother (Dad's Mother's Mother) Petronella Nelissen-Smits wearing her Lace Toer or Poffer

What a beautiful embroidery on her collar and on the front of her black dress.

My Great-Grandmother was born in 1866, to give you just an idea of which time period we're looking at.

By Dutch law you hyphenate your name after that of your husband's.

Here in the USA you hyphenate your husband's name after your maiden name...

This is a Catholic prayer card from her funeral. She died on December 16 of 1931 at the age of 65. Probably due to respiratory problems, either asthma or more serious. In those days medicine was by far not as advanced as it is now. 

Her husband was Pieter Nelissen who died at the age of 47, also due to respiratory problems. That made my Great-Grandmother a widow for 16 years.

This is art work from  My OPA - GRANDDADDY,  just click on the link in red. Probably a pencil drawing he did from his Mother.

This is Jacoba Van den Munckhof-Bus who lived for 32 years life as a widow. Her husband, my Great-Grandfather Mathijs Van den Munckhof died at the age of 52. My Opa was only 14 when he lost his Dad...

My Great-Grandmother Jacoba Van den Munckhof-Bus (center) with her two sisters.

Jacoba Bus lived to be almost 83... This is also the Catholic prayer card from her funeral.

Related link:

Museum de Kantfabriek Horst aan de Maas | Youtube video

{Museum Lace Factory - Antique Lace Toer or Poffer}

On September 13, my dear friend Ellie and I did visit the Museum de Kantfabriek 'Lace Factory' in my birth place, Horst in The Netherlands. Quite an interesting guided tour we got, with some tea afterwards. Photos were also made with us wearing an antique lace Toer or Poffer. These were head covers that I still do remember as a child, worn by the eldest women in town. Click here for some info and scroll a bit down. For mourning they did wear  a black lace toer. More to see here. When clicked on the magnifier glass, you get to see also the info/beschrijving, to the right of each photo; just click again on it! More old photos from my hometown Horst and surrounding towns, you see here.

When we went to Church it made me quite nauseating when sitting behind such an enormous lace Toer, that hung from the back down quite a length. In order to preserve those pieces of lace art, they kept them in the moth-balls. I have come to hate the odor of moth balls ever since I was a little girl. Okay, here comes a picture (very poor quality though) with me wearing one. We had to step with our foot on a pedal for initiating this photo shoot...

That's me with an antique lace toer and Ellie is standing to the right...

First we had to put a black 'muts' cap underneath the lace toer. All that without a mirror...

Ellie looks rather good in it, the photo is for some reason sharper.

Another visitor is wearing a toer here and Ellie stands to the right...

This is how those photos were listed on their website for downloading...

Indeed this was quite an interesting guided tour and one should realize that up till the end 2006 here was machine made lace being produced!

Tomorrow I will show you photos from my Great-Grandmothers, wearing such a lace toer... Stay tuned!

Museum de Kantfabriek Horst aan de Maas | video Youtube