Saturday, August 31, 2013

Sepia Saturday

 
Had fun today and wasted a lot of time browsing through photos to find some that fit today's theme.

Along the way I had a huge stroke of luck. One of the old albums has a lot of small photos and those I have taken out have not been named. Neither do they look like family, so I haven't spent too much time on them. Today, quite by chance one of the photos slipped out and unbelievably on the back were names, written in my great aunt's handwriting. Even more unbelievably it was a photo of two little boys from the branch of the family that moved to Melbourne and we have been unable to trace. The very next photo in the album had a similar background and sure enough it was of the two girls in the family. A missing link because from it I was able to identify yet another photo that I didn't think was a family shot.  Very exciting.

But, back on task. My search for neckties yielded some results, though not for 'braces'. I don't think my family went in for casual shots of  people in anything less than formal attire. So, a fashion parade of necktie fashions  from the late 19th and early 20th century.

 Many of the young men sported thin ties tied in bows.  I loved the photographers spiel on the back of this photo - "This carte is adapted for enlarging (even to life size) and can be finished in either oil, water colour or sepia.

 Another bow tie, but much wider and quite casual looking.  This photo was taken in St Louis, so have no idea why it appears in the album unless it was a young man who went o America to study at one of the Lutheran Seminaries.
 More formal look with stached collar and a neat tucked in necktie.  He appears to be sporting a tie pin. Note the very small lapels on his jacket.

 A knotted tie this time in a rather casual style. Very narrow collar on this one. This fellow looks like a poet or a dreamer.

 A dapper older gentleman with a tie style that appeared on several other photos.

 This photo really fascinated me and not just for the flowing, voluminous tie. It was taken in Guatemala in 1901. My great grandfathers' brother was involved in a duel in Germany and fled to South America to evade the authorities - or so the family legend goes. This photo had nothing written on the back, but the companion photo, presumably of his wife had a greeting in German addressed to my great aunt and signed Therese. My GA has written on the back - "Tante Therese". So obviously it was her aunt, hence this must be her uncle.

And I doubt whether this old fellow even needed to bother with a tie.

I did actually find one photo in my husband's album which fit the theme. His father and grandfather in the 30s all dressed up in suits, ties and hats.


And even the kids wore ties and caps in the forties when they went to the zoo. Can you imagine that happening these days!!!


Liz Needle  - linking with Sepia Saturday
 


12 comments:

  1. What a great find on the back of that photo! No such luck with any in my old album which was discovered in my aunt's garage a couple of years ago. Thankfully it survived the Christchurch earthquakes without damage, although my aunt's flat was uninhabitable afterwards.
    I love that Guatemalan tie!

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  2. The boys at the zoo are pretty dressed up for an occasion like that -- do you suppose it might be a school uniform? Love the shot of your father-in-law and his father; they are so much alike!

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    1. Country kids down for a day in town and going to the zoo. Big occasion. But, kids did dress like this in the forties when they were going out somewhere. Ladies wore hats, stockings and gloves, men wore suits, ties and hats.

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  3. I still favor a man dressed in a white shirt and tie....catches my eye every time.

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  4. After seeing all these all photos of ties I now wish they would come back into fashion. Some great photos there. I love the little boy on the left in the last photo.

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  5. Interesting to see the different neckties, some are still worn today.
    No I can not imagine today's children dressed up like this going to the zoo. Dress was very important. We had Sunday dresses and shoes, which is a bit ridiculous when one thinks how fast children grow.

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  6. There is something about the Guatemala photo that attracts me. It is more than the tie, ears and eyebrows (which stand out). There is a hint of smile and a very intelligent, knowing but cheeky look in the eyes.

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  7. I like the old-fashioned bowties.

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  8. I like the look of the white-bearded gentleman - he has a twinkle in his eye.

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  9. An interesting collection Liz, but it's not the ties which grab my attention, rather it's the faces, which are so full of character.

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  10. You are lucky to have such a good collection of family portraits. The portrait of Great Grandfather's brother could could lead to quite a story, all by itself!

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  11. Great how Sepia Saturday makes us look at our photos in a different way - I don't think I'd ever looked closely at different ties etc before this week.

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