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Thanks, Mary--but I wasn't trying to find out what hoopskirts in general look like. I just wondered if our Betty happened to have any pictures of HER own mad party days when she wore one!

Also, regarding male teachers in olden times, there is an interesting chapter in Laura Ingalls Wilder's Farmer Boy, her book about her husband's childhood in upstate New York in the mid-1800s. She recounts her husband's memory of a male teacher confronting some serious school violence. Apparently a local gang of teenagers called the Hardscrabble Boys boasted that no teacher could last the year in that school. According to Wilder, they had actually beaten the previous (male) teacher to death. So Almanzo was afraid when he saw how puny the new teacher was. But of course the new teacher drove the gang out, using weapons of his own (a horsewhip supplied by Almanzo's father).
I think of that story whenever I hear people longing for the good old days before our society became so violent.

Joyolympia,

I knew what you wanted and I'm been hiding out since I read it. There probably is a picture of me wearing dresses like those, but the hoop is underneath of course. I will have to take a look and see what I can find - then burn them all. I would much rather send you a picture of me at 17 in a swim suit.

Mary, those gowns in Gone With the Wind were gorgeous as were the antebellum houses - you brought memories back of a very long movie from long ago.

Everyone, this has been a really lively topic, and I've enjoyed it fabulously.

Betty

Betty,
Oh, dear... having you hiding out is the last thing I would want to happen! I enjoy reading your delightful, wise posts too much for that. So I retract any request that puts you on the spot. I'm sure when you wore your prom dress you looked JUST like Vivian Leigh anyway! -Joy

Joy!

You mean I've missed all those opportunites these many years of dressing up for Halloween using my hoop skirted ballgown?

I don't stay hidden for very long, as I'm too curious to see what is going on in the forum.

You are so much fun, Joy! It's great to have you here!

Are you up to new things in performance?

Betty

Until the late 1980's, long after professional dress for women included smart-looking trouser-suits, all female faculty at the institution where I taught were required to wear dresses or skirts and blouses/sweaters. Protestations that Philadelphia area winters - albeit not as cold as those of, say, Minnesota - made the wearing of dresses or skirts uncomfortable if not a hardship were ignored.

Oddly, there were never any clothing guidelines for male faculty whose attire gradually became more and more casual as the end of the century approached. Some of us men, however few we became, continued to appear in the classroom always wearing a jacket and tie. :rolleyes:

Regards,