Costume Jewelry And Paste [was Costume Jewelry.
Q: I may be over-emphasizing the current meaning of
costume -- is there
an older one -- but it seems to imply that at some
time in the past
alal jewelry was good jewelry except that used in
costumes for plays,
etc. Or maybe it was a convenient name to describe
it, or even a euphemism for cheap jewelry. Anyone know?
Merriam-Webster Collegiate dates "costume jewelry" to 1927. This did
not particularly surprise me, because I doubt that at an earlier time
the average woman would want to be associated with something with a
name which would remind people of actors and the theater (I have read
that Lizzie Borden, who was socially shunned though she had been found
not guilty of the murder of her parents, became friends with actors,
who were similarly shunned).
A:The word "costume" has obviously changed in
a century. That long ago it meant a whole
suit (suite) of clothes intended for a specific
purpose, thus Edwardians spoke of shooting
costume, (horse) riding costume, swimming
costume etc. (and the last survived in common
U-speak in Britain well past 1950.)
But the so-called "world of fashion" changed
visibly and obviously in approx. 1950-70 in
two particular respects: (1) the Americanization
of everything (so that designers and markets
from Glasgow to Sydney tended to follow
US designs and markets), (2) a contrarian
attitude towards "costume" i.e. clothes for
specific purposes. Before the change, a
sport shirt marked "Property of CalTech"
was owned by that institution and intended
to be in the possession only of its staff
and students actually rowing boats, throwing
footballs etc: after the change, a sport
shirt marked "Property of CalTech" might
be sold at any store to someone who
wanted to wear it to a wedding. Similarly
for all other official (i.e. costume) insignia etc.
This was a new contrarian aesthetic in which the
most meaningful familiar insignia (e.g.
death's head, Maltese cross, SS lightning
bolts) was marketed for decoration without
the original meaning. Under this new aesthetic
"costume" meant nothing at all: there were
no more implicit rules of either style or fitness.
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