Can a Pair of Socks be Interesting? The answer is YES if you are Lucy Adlington! Last night I attended a production of "History Wardrobe" in which author, historian, and actress Lucy Adlington MAGNIFICENTLY presented. I first became aware of Lucy Adlington last year, when I was looking for historical articles and books about World War I. Now that may sound boring, but to be more specific, I was trying to find information on especially WOMEN OF WORLD WAR I. It was the start of the commemoration of 100 years since World War I and I wanted to see how it affected women (and everyone) in that horrible hellish era. So I bought the book: Great War Fashion: Tales from the History Wardrobe (author Lucy Adlington) Lucy started her talk about WWI, asking the question "if Franz Ferdinand had been wearing a bullet proof vest, would we have avoided the war altogether?" The women of Britain were so important in World War I. They not only "knitted" for the fellas in the trenches, they ran the country. And I don't mean as far as government, I mean they got down and dirty and did the most awful jobs, just to do their duty and serve their country. Nevermind having to go home and cook, clean and take care of children, and all the household chores. They even "cross-dressed" as Lucy Adlington calls it, and dressed in men's war uniform to fight on the front lines! Now, being a woman, I know for a fact that would take some courage, because I don't think I would be able to go that far.
WWI REPLICA SOCKS/ Photo courtesy of ©Come Step back in time (blog)
Socks were very important of course. They were a sight for sore eyes for the WWI soldier. Lucy said that they only lasted 3 weeks on the war front. And the socks helped fight trench foot (which was just as bad as any other injury a soldier could have).
Women & the Great War / Presentation by author Lucy Adlington/ Photo by ©Cindy Williams
This photo is of the stage of History Wardrobe: Women and the Great War. It is all the props from the show. The wardrobe for women was changing. The war had meant women had to change their way of dressing. They had to get rid of the "layers" they were used to wearing.
Historian/Author Lucy Adlington/ Photo ©Cindy Williams
Lucy Adlington comes out in pristine white blouse and skirt. Doesn't she remind you of Mary Poppins? There are many layers under this dress. Lucy had on a corset (laced at the back), cotton stockings, petticoat, many layers!
Angels of Mercy (nurses)/ with Lucy Adlington/ photo ©Cindy Williams
Lucy demonstrates the "Angels of Mercy" nurse uniform. They had to have starched white collars, cuffs, aprons, and headdress, as this gave an impression of purity, and a form of moral protection.
Lucy Adlington with a rare antique Vogue magazine/ photo ©Cindy Williams
Lucy is showing how VOGUE magazine of that era portrayed nurses as romantic almost saintly beings.
Lucy Adlington and rare War Budget magazine/ photo ©Cindy Williams
Lucy demonstrated how the War Budget magazine portrayed the REAL nurses out in combat. On the cover of this magazine the nurse is carrying a wounded soldier, and that is how it REALLY was!
Lucy Adlington / photo©Cindy Williams
Lucy stripping off the layers, showing all the undergarments women wore back in the day.
Factory Worker/ Lucy Adlington/ photo ©Cindy Williams
Women in trousers! The uniform of the factory worker. Here Lucy Adlington demonstrates what it was like to be liberated by wearing trousers. The women of the war had to work in munitions factories or do domestic services. Needless to say the factory workers made much more money. An unfortunate thing for women was working with explosives so it was a dangerous job. They could not wear metal, and they couldn't have hair pins, so many of them had cut their hair into a bob hairstyle. Funny how this paved the road for future fashion. And it all started with the war. Even debutantes and duchesses had to work along side the common women. And no doubt they were shocked to hear some of the language in the factories. I give this show a 10! I brought my mother-in-law along with me and we had front row seats to the show. She enjoyed it probably much more than I did, only because my mother-in-law is British and her grandma had to go through that war, however I enjoyed it immensely, I hung on to every word Lucy said. She is a brilliant story teller and some of the scenes, she brought me right to the war. I could feel a lump in my throat just thinking and imagining the hardships some of these women faced, along with the men. I wasn't surprised when she told us of how there were no memorials for fallen women of the war. At least 800 women died in that first world war. In Britain, they commemorate the fallen soldiers of war with poppies. They have poppy sales and remember all of the veterans. Some women's groups are trying to change the way we remember the fallen, and include the women. The ROYAL BRITISH LEGION has a site www.everymanremembered.org where you can click on "commemorate someone I know " or "find me someone to commemorate " and I am going to go on there today and find a wonderful female soul that fought or did her duty in the war and I am going to commemorate her. I hope you do the same. I was able to meet and talk to Lucy Adlington afterwards and she is so nice. I explained that I was American and that the first World War did not really influence us I guess, but really, I had no idea how it affected the people, because of course, being raised in America, and learning about it in the history books, I found it so boring in school. I never thought in a million years I would be living in the country, seeing with my own eyes how Birmingham, and London was bombed. I used to work in a salon and do older lady's hair, and they were in their late 80s and even 90s, and I used to hear all of their stories about the war. Try to imagine, for instance, being on a farm and a big Zepplin comes over. You have never seen anything like it in your life! For me, that would be I suppose like seeing a UFO and being in awe and scared to death at the same time. For all those people who ran out to look at it, and wondered what those things were that were dropping out of the Zepplin, and then all the sudden a big explosion and they died! And there were no bomb shelters. And so people would go under the stairs and pray to God.... and die from a bomb! How can we even understand the shock and horror? HERE IS WHERE YOU CAN FIND INFO ON LUCY ADLINGTON'S TALKS LUCY ADLINGTON'S BOOKS I purchased Lucy's book GREAT WAR FASHION last year and I took it with me last night and she was kind enough to sign it for me. I purchased her book STITCHES IN TIME: THE STORY OF THE CLOTHES WE WEAR last night also and her small book FASHION: WOMEN IN WORLD WAR ONE I have a bit of a problem, see, when I find something I like, I have to know EVERYTHING about it 🙂 I guess I'm a nerd that way. One of Lucy's shows for next year is AGATHA CHRISTIE AND ART DECO and I cannot wait! How did I get so lucky to find her? 🙂 Here is Lucy Adlington's Website... HISTORY WARDROBE We went to the EVESHAM ARTS CENTRE to see the presentation, you can become a member of Evesham Arts Centre just click on the link.
I hope you have enjoyed the post, this show moved me to tears at some points. I aim to produce great content for you. Thank you so much for dropping by. I appreciate you all! Cindy Williams
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fascinating – thanks for sharing
Thanks Val it was agreat one woman show!
My folks and I are very interested in learning more about those times. We love all the historic, period dramas on Public television, and movies. I think it is terrible, all the stories that go untold, because they happened to women. Bravo that they are being shared now! Thanks for this most interesting post Cindy!
Sheila it was so much fun to see first hand and we were in the front row! And the stories Lucy told, it made it come to life. you can find her books on Amazon all of them are really informative and take you right to the place she wants you to know about. Seriously, she is a good story teller 😀