The business of Millinery in Victorian times
A few months ago I was browsing around the Toronto Antique Market and I came across an 1895 bound volume of the Girl’s Own Paper a now defunct magazine. It is chock full of very interesting articles advising young women and girls on various girl stuff. You know the type of thing – how to dress properly and mind your manners. There was an article by a man who essentially felt that women should not bother their heads with politics. At the time women did not have the vote but votes for women was a movement that was gaining some traction around that time. I was able to buy the bound volume for the really low price of $20 Canadian and it is proving to be a valuable source of material. As you probably know Millinery was big business at that time and there are many articles on hat styles and the hat business. There are also some lovely engravings illustrating the styles of hat then current.
I thought that you would enjoy extracts from this publication (essentially I believe that it is out of copyright at least in North America from my research – let me know if I am mistaken).(I am not a lawyer please check your local copyright laws they differ by country). Rather than put it all in a written piece I will be selecting some extracts to include in a Podcast. I believe that it is a valuable insight from the past.
The following is an article ( no author identified) on how four Milliners set up a Millinery Business in London England in 1895.
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Notes from the broadcast
It is very interesting to see the observations about the need to have money savvy not just millinery skills. This was a point brought up by Lisa Shaub in part 1 of my interview with her. Another point made in this article is that it takes seven years to become a skilled Milliner – the same point was also made by Lisa. Somethings never change 114 years on wow.
There is a comment that one of the young women volunteered that it would take 1,000 pounds sterling in 1895 to set up a proper Millinery business. This would have been equivalent to $5,000 American Dollars at the time. I was surprised how much this was. If you want to get a sense for the equivalent value today you can go to Measuringworth.com. You will find the answer there and you will be astounded. If you just use the index of retail prices from 1895 to 2008 you will find the equivalent value of over 86,000 pounds. Using an index related to average wage comparisons you get to an astounding value of nearly 481,000 pounds. Well designer Millinery was highly prized at that time but still?
By the way the article stated that the business was named after a flower but I could not find the name of the flower/business anywhere in the article – lost in time?
