What We Remember. What we Don't. And Rapidly Changing Fashions

American Cemetery at Belleau Wood in 1918.  This ground was actually ceded to the United States by France following the war in gratitude for the American sacrifice.

The American military cemetery at Belleau Wood is reportedly gigantic.  It is, apparently, three times as large as the one in Normandy for those buried there following their deaths, in the Second World War, in 1944.

Something to pause and consider.

Nothing will ever take away the deserved honor of those who died liberating France in 1944, nor in particular those who landed on the Norman Coast on June 6, 1944, and the following horrific days.  It was a horror that can hardly be imagined, and US troops there, together with troops from the UK, Canada, and yes France, deserve to be remembered.

But it's hardly recalled that June 6 was also the opening phase of another big battle in France in which American troops would also serve valiantly, arguably save France, and die in large numbers.  The Battle of Belleau Wood.

French refugees in Paris, June 7, 1918.

On another topic, I've (rather obviously) been posting a lot of photographs from 1918.  And something really shows in them.

It's sort of a triviality, but women's fashions changed enormously in the two decades between the Great War and World War Two.  

Indeed, they'd changed enormously by the 1930s, and for younger women, by the 1920s.

The photograph shown above is a tragic scene.  But only the little girls in the photo could be misaken, maybe, for a little bit later era.  Everyone else is definitely clothed in a pre 1925 fashion.  What happened to cause that?

Glass Eyeglasses

These are my eyeglasses.

I need to get a new set of glasses.  The lenses on these are very badly scratched and, to add to it, I haven't been to the eye doctor for quite awhile.  I'm going soon.  I know that my correction has changed and, given as my lenses are so badly scratched, I need to get a new set of lenses anyhow.

The frames for these glasses are Bausch and Lomb rimless frames.  This particular set of frames probably dates from the 1950s.  They could be a bit older.  I really like this type of frame, of which I have several, as they're nice and light, and the lens is not very large.  When I started wearing eyeglasses, in junior high, it seemed that all the frames were enormous at the time, and it always bothered me.  I was afflicted with that type of lens, with periodic attempts to wear contact lenses, for many years.  It wasn't until I happened upon the idea of pressing my father's old frames into use that I finally found a type of frame I liked.  I was in law school at thee time.

These frames are also "temple frames".  I don't know the origin of the name, but temple frame glasses feature the hook type ear piece, which I also really like. Temple frames were originally designed for horsemen, as the glasses that featured them would not come accidentally, or at least were less likely too.  In my experience, this is absolutely correct.  I've come off horses wearing glasses, but I've never had the glasses come off.

Now, I'm afraid, I'm faced with a dilemma.  When I first started wearing glasses of this type, you could still get them made with real glass.  This is no longer true.  All rimless frames feature plastic lenses now due to safety concerns.  I don't know that there were really very many tragic accidents attributable to glass lenses in this type of frame, but the lenses will not pass a required test, which features dropping a steel ball on the lens from a certain height.  As glasses of this type either have a notch cut in the lens, or have a hole drilled in the lenses (two of each, actually) they have a built in weakness.  

Indeed, I had thought, some time ago, that you couldn't get real glass lenses at all, but I now believe that's not correct.  You can.  But not in rimless frames.  So my dilemma is whether or not to go with plastic again in these frames, which I really like, or to go with glass in some other frame.  If I did that, frankly, I'd look for an old pair of round wire rim glasses, which have a similar shape and profile, but which aren't quite as classy, in my view.  Or, alternatively, I could get plastic again and also try contact lenses again, thereby putting less wear and tear on the lenses.

Probably all involves a lot more pondering than most people bother with, for their eyeglasses. But then, I've been using these frames for over 20 years,  and they're over 50 years old, which is unusual in and of itself, no doubt.

Today In Wyoming's History: August 9

A fashion trend noted on today's Today in Wyoming's History site:

Today In Wyoming's History: August 9: 1895  According to my Wyoming History Calendar, "New Woman" appeared on the streets of Thermopolis wearing "bifurcated skirts".  Bifurcated skirts were suitable for riding, and  seem to have made their appearance about this time.  I'm not really sure from this entry, however, if a Thermopolis newspaper was noting the arrival of the "New Woman" as a type in Thermopolis, or if they were actually noting a singular new woman.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

For whatever reason, women seem to have been plagued for much of history with impractical clothing to some degree.  Because of that, there's always also been a counter trend trying to address it, or in some instances women have just resorted to men's clothing.  This item addresses skirts, which were closely associated, in this instance, with riding styles. That is, a bifurcated skirt was suitable for riding a man's saddle.

Post World War One, it seems, women's clothing has evolved, generally, towards being more practical, and today it's generally equally practical as men's, if there's any difference at all.  On the flipside, as fewer and fewer men have had job's requiring practical clothing, men's clothing has evolved into being more "fashion" than at least in other recent eras.