User:EmilyStein/sandbox

Rough draft of Overall article additions

They were originally made of denim (cotton), but they can also be made of corduroy and khaki. Overalls were invented in the 1890s by Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis (Levi Strauss & Co.), but they went through an evolution to reach their modern form. Initially only used for protective clothing in work settings, they have become a garment of high fashion worn by all social classes.

A Lee's Union-Alls advertisement

History

Beginnings: The exact beginnings of the wearing of overalls is unclear, but they are mentioned in literature as early as 1776 as a protective working garment commonly worn by slaves.

The first evidence of overalls being mass-produced are those made by Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis in the 1890s. The first "jeans" they invented were actually overalls ("waist overalls" or "waist-high overalls"), consisting of suspenders attached to denim pants with buttons. There was no top part with a bib. From the beginning, denim overalls were popular workers' garments due to their durability. In fact, Levi, Strauss & Co.'s slogan in the 1880s-1890s was "Never Rip, Never Tear."

A woman hanging up her husband's overalls

In 1911, Henry David Lee made the first bib overalls, made of pants with pockets (dungarees) sewn to a shirt with a bib and with straps over the shoulders. This turned into the Lee Union-All in 1913. The Union-All consisted of dungarees sewn to a work shirt. It had many pockets, cuffed sleeves and legs, and a wide collar. It was very popular with workers, and was also worn by women and children.

In 1927, Lee's developed a "hookless fastener" and created "buttonless" Union-Alls and overalls. Zippers replaced buttons. Soon after, suspender buttons were traded in for belt loops to attach over-the-shoulder straps.

World War I: American soldiers in World War I wore Lee's Union-Alls starting in 1917. They were chosen by the government because they were durable. The military also supplied the mechanic and supply units with Union-Alls.

The Great Depression: In the 1930s, the poorest segments of the American population wore overalls: farmers, miners, loggers, and railroad workers. They can be seen in many of Walker Evans's photographs.

Brands

Lee's and Levi, Strauss & Co. were not the only companies making overalls in the late 19th and 20th centuries.

• One of the oldest brands of overalls, Osh Kosh B'Gosh, founded in 1895 in Wisconsin, specialized in hickory stripe (blue and white stripe) bib overalls. The company produced bib overalls for children in the late 1960s.
• Larned, Carter & Co., a company from Detroit, called themselves the "World's Greatest Overall Makers." They marketed their products as uniforms for railroad workers.
• One of the biggest overall manufacturers was Blue Bell, which began in North Carolina in 1904. It was popular among railroad workers.
• Jellico Clothing Manufacturing Co., later renamed Big Ben, was a major competitor of Blue Bell. Big Ben bought Blue Bell in 1926 and continued under the name Blue Bell.
• Blue Bell then bought the overalls company Casey Jones.

Women and Overalls

At a time when women wearing pants was largely viewed as unacceptable, overalls were more widely accepted as garments for young children in the 1890s. They were readymade and could be purchased by mail-order catalogues. Overalls were worn for play by boys and girls, made of denim or some other durable fabric. Like overalls for adults, they were used as a protective layer against nicer clothes underneath. They also allowed for greater mobility. Still, overalls were not widely accepted on adult women until the late 1960s.

Women and World War I

A woman worker wearing overalls

A commonly recognized image featuring overalls (more specifically, Union-Alls) is that of Rosie the Riveter, from a 1943 poster used to boost workers' morale. However, women wore overalls in factories in World War I as well as in World War II. During World War I, when women assumed men's factory jobs (since the men were off at war), their loose-fitting clothes were deemed dangerous in factory conditions. Their overalls were popularly referred to as "woman-alls" when worn by women at their factory jobs. This was controversial, though, since many men were still uncomfortable with the idea of women wearing pants, and especially with them wearing overalls in public, outside of the factory. Lee and Levi, Strauss & Co. actually made specially made khaki overalls for women in 1914 and 1918, respectively.

"Rosie the Riveter" poster (1943)

Women empowerment

Overalls were often worn at, and are seen as a symbol of, feminist protests of the 1970s. They were intended as an anti-female-fashion, since overalls are not form-fitting like many other female garments. Overalls allowed women freedom of movement, and they did not have to wear a bra underneath. They reference the overalls worn by women workers during World War I and World War II. Since overalls were considered to be male garments for most of their existence, women adopted them to portray a message that they have equal authority to men, and that they are in charge of their own bodies.

Overalls in high fashion

Sarah Jessica Parker wearing overalls at the rehearsal for the 1999 Emmy Awards

Diesel Black Gold Fall/Winter 2010 Collection

In the 21st century, overalls have evolved into a high fashion garment. Designers such as Stella McCartney feature them in ready-to-wear collections for women and children. Stella McCartney's children's overalls sell for as much as $138.

Nordstrom sells overalls for as much as $1,080.

Article evaluation

Article: Little black dress

• Overall neutral, but biased where it says "ideally" what LBD should be
• Citations needed for information in "History" section, including quotations
• Everything is relevant to the topic.
• Most of the article describes praise of the LBD, not any criticism of it (which I'm sure also existed). That would be something interesting to add.
• Not all sources are reliable, and not all the links work.
  • 3 citations are listed after a single sentence.
  • One citation is for a clothing business called "Far Fetch." The link does not work, but the information is likely from an article/page endorsing its own clothes. This would be biased.
  • A popular magazine article called "Katy Perry looks stunning in slinky LBD" is unreliable and biased.
  • The biased sources are not noted as so.
  • 2 of the links under the "Further Reading" section do not work.
• The most recent source is from 2010. It might be valuable if the article included a "Current" section on the LBD, like if its original intentions of it being a timeless garment hold true.
• This article is part of WikiProject Fashion (high importance, C rating) and WikiProject Women's History (low importance, C rating).
• Users have posted on the Talk page, suggesting more citations, different pictures, and verifying sources. The copyright of images seems to have been an issue.
• The article addresses similar topics to the ones we talked about in class, with the addition of more historical information (going back to the early 18th century) and popular cultural references. Interestingly, it does not include a lot about the life of Coco Chanel and her inspirations for the dress, which we did discuss in class.

Selected article to improve: Overall

To improve this article, I will add a few sentences to the lead section and add substantial information to the History section. I also plan to divide up the History section, creating a new section called Modern Uses (or something similar) and adjusting the applicable information already there accordingly. I will also add several images, among them at least one of women in overalls and modern overalls fashions.

Bibliography

Jeans: A Cultural History of an American Icon by James Sullivan (book)

Rosie's Mom: Forgotten Women Workers of the First World War by Carrie Brown (book)

Denim: Fashion's Frontier by Emma McClendon (exhibition catalogue)

Vintage Menswear: A Collection from the Vintage Showroom by Gunn et al. (book)

The Lowdown on Denim by Tanya Lloyd Kyi and Clayton Hanmer (book)

Things That Liberate: An Australian Feminist Wunderkammer by Alison Bartlett and Margaret Henderson (book)