Disposable Fashion

by Erin Doane, Curator

In 1966, Scott Paper Company launched a marketing stunt that sparked a huge, though very short-lived, fashion trend – the paper dress.  If you sent $1.25 in to the company, you got back their “Paper Caper” dress and 52 cents worth of coupons for their other paper products like toilet paper and tissues.  The promotion was overwhelmingly successful.  They sold 500,000 paper dresses in just six months. 

Paper dress made by Paper Wear, Ltd. of Baltimore, Maryland

Paper dresses were not exactly made out of paper.  Most were made of a blend of 93% cellulose and 7% nylon to give them some degree of durability.  Some were made of cellulose reinforced with rayon with the brand name of “Dura-Weve.”  The garments could be worn more than once but cost so little that they could be easily thrown out if they tore or got stained.

 

Polyester and rayon fiber disposable dress
made by Fling-Things of Philadelphia

Hundreds of thousands of disposable garments were sold between 1966 and 1968. Lifeboy soap, Beck shampoo, and Pillsbury sold $1 paper dresses in promotions similar to that of the Scott Paper Company.  Paper dresses were sold at major department stores like Sears, Roebuck & Co. and J.C. Penney's and Saks Fifth Avenue opened a paper fashion department.  Even Hallmark got in on the trend by creating paper “hostess dresses” to match their paper party napkins and table cloths.

 

Silver disposable dress

The paper dress arrived on the market a precisely the right time.  The youth of the 1960s were turning away from the post-WWII value of durability in everything.  Disposable items like pens, lighters, plates, and cutlery were flooding the market and paper dresses seemed the next reasonable step.  The dresses themselves captured the youth culture of the time with bright colors and bold patterns and an easy, carefree silhouette.  Many believed that disposable fashion would take over the market because of the low price and convenience but by 1968 paper clothing had almost completely disappeared from the market.

 

Draper dress by Paper Ware, Ltd. of Baltimore, MD

So, why was the paper dress trend so short lived?  One might guess that the disposable nature of the dresses and the amount of waste that must have been produced might have played a part in the end but it didn’t really.  The trend probably ended because the dresses were ill-fitting, uncomfortable to wear, and the wonderfully bright colors could rub off.  Also, the dresses caught on fire very easily.  Some were treated with flame retardant to keep them from combusting.  While paper garments as fashion disappeared fairly quickly, the use of cellulose fabric continues today in disposable hospital gowns, scrubs, and coveralls.

The Smith-Lever Act: Law You’ve Never Heard Of

by Rachel Dworkin, Archivist

           On May 8, 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed the Smith-Lever Act into law.  I discovered the law while researching for our upcoming Farming in Chemung County exhibit and was surprised to find out just how important it was considering I’d never heard of it before.   The Smith-Lever Act established the Cooperative Extension Service along with the 4H, the National Sea Grant College Program and a host of other agriculture-education related programs. 

            The Cooperative Extension Service is an agency under the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) which seeks to advance agriculture and the environment, improve human health and wellbeing, and support rural communities through research, education and outreach.  The Cooperative Extension Service is managed in each state by a land-grant university.  In New York State, that university is Cornell.  So, what does the Cornell Cooperative Extension actually do? 

            Among other things, the Cornell Cooperative Extension supports research into a wide range of topics including agriculture, nutrition, forestry and ecology.  They maintain research outposts throughout the state, including the Arnot Forest facility in Van Etten.  Once a Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp, the Arnot Teaching and Research Forest is a place where people can recreate, study forest ecologies and test forest management practices.  The site is partially funded by the harvest and sale of timber and maple syrup. 



CCC Camp in the Arnot Forest, ca. 1930s

                In addition to studying forestry, the Cornell Cooperative Extension in Chemung County also helps area farmers and gardeners.  The Extension maintains a wide array of informational resources for farmers.  They also help to promote them and their products through events like the annual Taste of Chemung County dinner and farmer’s markets.

Taste of Chemung County menu, 2013

 

Wisner Market, 2013

        The Extension also has a master gardener program where you can get specially trained volunteers to come to your house and teach you to get the most out of your vegetable garden.  They also work closely with local community gardens.  There are over a half-dozen community gardens in the city of Elmira in schools, parks and empty lots. 

Katy Leary Park community garden, 2010

 

       In short, the Cornell Cooperative Extension does a lot of neat things.  To learn more about them, check out their main website (http://www.cce.cornell.edu/) and the Chemung County office site too (http://www.ccechemung.org/). In the meantime, let’s hear it for the Smith-Lever Act and the law you’ve finally heard of.