Housedresses are what women used to wear when they stayed at home. They didn’t flop around in their pajamas like we do today and sweats didn’t exist yet. People, both women and men, dressed at home, casually yes, but always presentable in fear of the unexpected guest.
Usually made of cotton, housedresses were a simple drop waist in the 1920s or a shirtwaist in the 1940s. The sheath silhouette in the 60s gave way to the billowy boho housedress of the 70s. Styles changed but the purpose didn’t – something nice to wear at home while doing housework or just lounging. (Men wore khaki slacks and a polo shirt, maybe jeans.) But by the 1980s women were working outside the home and the whole idea disappeared.
That is until Pandemic Year 2020. Stuck at home for months, by summertime last year women were looking for an alternative to leggings and tunics and designers were on it – the housedress.
Check back in with ODFL tomorrow when Housedress Week continues with a post about a vintage dress turned housedress.
Since staying put at home, I started pulling out some of my vintage pieces that I would only wear to an event. Because they are delicate or not as easy to move around in on pubic transport or walking to and from destinations, much of my vintage wardrobe gets only the occasional outing. But earlier in the pandemic I was showing up once a week to my fashion history class in front of my laptop – no BART rides, no long walks – so why not sport some vintage?
OverDressed for Life 