Happy Valentine's Day

Puck Valentine's Day edition 1914

To men of early 20th C, fashionable women must have seemed much too thin.  But a glance through photos of the time shows that it was a matter of perspective.  (Below is Lina Calvieri, an opera star and great beauty, in 1914.)

Their narrow skirts made them seem like much smaller targets than they'd been some years before.  A century earlier, women of the Regency seemed half-naked in their light muslins, compared to their mothers or grandmothers in the previous century's double-wide skirts.  For more on the topic of changing fashions, I recommend you click on the "historic dress" label at Two Nerdy History Girls, the blog I share with Isabella Bradford/Susan Holloway Scot.

Lina Calvieri c. 1914

Whatever your fashion choices, I hope yours is a very sweet Valentine's Day.

Both illustrations are courtesy Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA.

Happy New Year!

We can still hope.






















Image: World peace with liberty and prosperity--1919--Happy new year, courtesy Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA

Happy Valentine's Day

Since the Valentine's Day card business started in my birthplace, it has a special historical meaning for me, which makes me love it even more.  

Yes, it's commercialized, but what isn't?  And what's so bad about commercialization that involves roses, chocolates, and—who knows?—diamonds?  Call me shallow, but I'm fine with a holiday that not only celebrates love, but does so with some of my favorite things.

This Valentine's Day also brings a new romance-friendly website, courtesy Macmillan publishing, called Heroes and Heartbreakers, where I'll be making an appearance one of these days.


Meanwhile, Happy Valentine's Day.  May yours be all about love and the people and things you love.