Author Archives: Jonathan

About Jonathan

Jonathan Walford is a fashion historian and co-founder of the Fashion History Museum in Cambridge, Ontario. The FHM maintains a collection of nearly 12,000 artifacts dating from the mid 17th century to the present. Jonathan has authored various books and museum catalogues, including The Seductive Shoe, Shoes A-Z, Forties Fashion, 1950s American Fashion, and Sixties Fashion.

Fashion in Song – I’m Too Sexy (for my shirt), 1991

Posted on 2019-05-15 by Jonathan

Richard Fairbrass, lead singer for the group Right Said Fred, wrote the lyrics for the song as a sarcastic joke. One thing lead to another and in late 1991, the song was recorded, released, and peaked at number 2 on … Continue reading →

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Fashion Humour

Posted on 2019-05-08 by Jonathan

There were many c. 1910 postcards making fun of the hobble skirt… whether warranted or not…

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Camping It Up On The First Monday In May

Posted on 2019-05-07 by Jonathan

Last night’s Met gala event for their latest exhibition ‘camp’ was all about being ‘extra’ — tacky, over-the-top, cheesy, artificial, tasteless, ostentatious, exaggerated, and probably gender and age inappropriate… Needless to say, the fashions worn on the red carpet were … Continue reading →

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Canadian Fashion Connection – Backing the Bandage Dress

Posted on 2019-05-06 by Jonathan

Hervé Peugnet was born in 1957, and after working as a hairdresser and milliner, he turned his hand to fashion. In 1981 he got the chance to work for Karl Lagerfeld at Fendi. Lagerfeld advised Peugnet to change his surname … Continue reading →

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Canadian Fashion Connection – The Style

Posted on 2019-05-03 by Jonathan

The museum recently received this rare early Canadian copy of the August 1883 edition of The Style – a 4 page flyer of dress patterns (probably from the American pattern maker Butterick) published by Mrs. E. Guthrie of St. Catharines, … Continue reading →

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The Leotard

Posted on 2019-04-30 by Jonathan

French acrobat Jules Léotard developed the art of trapeze when he first performed a three bar aerial performance on November 12, 1859. He wore a one-piece jersey garment for his trapeze performances that was called a maillot during his time, … Continue reading →

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Victorian Fashion Tear Sheets

Posted on 2019-04-27 by Jonathan

The museum has been given boxes of clippings and tear sheets from various donors over the years. From scrapbooks with favourite dresses cut out of Vogue magazine by an anonymous teenage girl in the 1930s to a filing cabinet of … Continue reading →

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Fashion Humour

Posted on 2019-04-23 by Jonathan
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Fashion in Song – Yankee Doodle Dandy c. 1760

Posted on 2019-04-14 by Jonathan

Yankee Doodle Dandy was originally sung by British soldiers during the French Indian wars (1754-1763) in mockery of unsophisticated colonials. There were many verses and different versions of lyrics over the next few decades, but the one that stuck was … Continue reading →

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Canadian Fashion Connection – Rainbow Jeans

Posted on 2019-04-11 by Jonathan

After Joe Owen finished his tour of duty in Vietnam, he was working for an American Jeans manufacturer and was in Toronto on business when he met future business partner Richard Brown. In 1975, the two were still in their … Continue reading →

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