Guest Author - Norma Shephard

Accessorizing Period Costume with Hankies

While going through the archives today I pulled a darling little pink brocade sheath from the fifties and attached by safety pin to the three quarter sleeve was a dainty cotton handkerchief from the same era. It caused me think about the use of handkerchiefs in fashion and the manner in which they were utilized as an accessory at various times. In this age of disposable tissues we don’t often think about handkerchiefs, but they were a necessity and a fashion staple until about the 1960s.

Over the decades, these little squares of cotton and linen were carried in handbags, given as gifts, and pulled out when tears were about to be shed, or a sneeze was on its way. They dabbed at lipstick, were sprinkled with perfume, and were even dropped in strategic locations to be picked up by that certain person.

The practice of accessorizing a ladies costume with a particularly nice hanky goes back a long time, in fact an old Irish proverb advised “Always carry two handkerchiefs, one for show and one for blow”. Since the age of Kleenex™, the only hankies “on show” today are those prized by collectors. But that doesn’t have to be the case. To utilize hankies in the recreation of a 1930s, 40s or 50s look, consider the following:

• Attach a brightly colored cotton handkerchief to the bodice of a 1930s bias-cut dress with a brooch from the same era.
• Tuck a hanky into the deep cuff or turned back collar of a 1940s suit jacket or coat.
• Tie a lace hanky to the handle of a 1950s patent leather handbag or slip one into your vintage clutch purse.

Handkerchief Bazaars

The history of handkerchief bazaars is an interesting one which made headlines on more than one occasion. During the first two decades of the twentieth century, thousands of requests for handkerchiefs were printed on penny postage postcards and mailed to women across the North America. One of the most famous of these resulted in the following New York Times Headline:

Mrs. Roosevelt Stops Gifts; Declines to Send Handkerchief to the Women of Minnesota.

The Minnesota Territorial Pioneers Association could thank the women of Texas for Mrs. Roosevelt’s decision to abolish the White House Handkerchief Bureau after a group of Austin women labeled her donation to their handkerchief bazaar, “a cheap cotton rag”.

In fact, a lace-trimmed linen handkerchief, said to have been hemmed by Mrs. William Howard Taft, received much greater appreciation when it was mailed to the Working Girls’ Auxiliary of Evansville Indiana in 1908. The hanky was expected to fetch upwards of $100 at the charitable women’s bazaar.

Making the Case for Hankies

Beautiful women’s handkerchiefs continued to be valued through the Edwardian age, In fact, Canadian soldiers during World War I who found time away from the trenches to shop for souvenirs of France were eager to purchase hand-embroidered silk hanky cases to send home to their sweethearts. Vintage hanky cases and the treasures they contain are a wonderful addition to a textile or vintage costume collection.