Celebrating Americana: Let's talk about Gingham!
We often praise French fashion and the style sense of the Italians, the Spanish, the Londoner’s but wait - we Americans have our own fashion sense that is JUST as worthy of the spotlight. In fact, our fashion even has its own name… Americana!!
On days when I don’t want to think too hard about what to wear, I’ll often go straight for an Americana Look with denim jeans and a plain white T-shirt.
We even have our own print that shouts, “America!”. What would you say that pattern is? My answer to you would be… GINGHAM!
Gingham has a fascinating history. The origins first appeared 500 years ago in southwest Asia. It was a technique of blending colored yarn with undyed yarn to turn the resulting pattern into a stripe. This fabric was called genggang.
In the 1700s gingham was brought to England and America, where it eventually was woven into the pattern that is now recognizable all over the world.
In the mid-19th century, the USA started producing its own textiles and dyes - manufacturing their own gingham during a national financial crisis. Manufacturing gingham was a major boost to the economy and became an affordable option for many Americans. It became patriotic to wear gingham!
Because of its durability and affordability, gingham survived two World Wars! It was made popular by Judy Garland (as Dorothy in Oz), and was embraced by style icons like Katherine Hepburn and Brigitte Bardot. While it fell out of fashion in the 70s, it swung right back in again after Versace took it to the runway!
