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Front of uniform without apron.
Maid's Uniform with Apron
Front of uniform without apron.

Maid's Uniform with Apron

Clothing MakerMade by Unknown
RetailerSold by Lord and Taylor American
Dateabout 1970
MediumUniform: Machine-stitched cotton, with metal zipper Apron: Machine-stitched cotton and polyester
DimensionsPrimary Dimensions: 42 x 30in. (106.7 x 76.2cm)
Component (length x width of apron): 16 1/4 x 18 1/4in. (41.3 x 46.4cm)
Component (apron width with ties outstretched): 76 1/2in. (194.3cm)
ClassificationsCostume
Credit LineGift of Gloria Holtsinger
DescriptionBlue and white chambray cotton uniform dress (.a), with short sleeves, cut one with the dress, and center front twenty-inch zipper. The dress is fitted only with diagonal darts from the side seams. The round neckline is decorated with white bias tape stitched down to simulate a pointed collar. The front of the sleeves are similarly decorated.

An apron (.b) was purchased by the donor to be worn with this uniform dress. (The apron was used, while the uniform went unworn.) It is a white cotton apron, with a short, rounded shape. The edge of the apron is trimmed with white rickrack and a two-inch wide band of self-fabric, stitched flat so it appears like a hem. The waistband is 1 3/8" wide and extends 3 1/4" beyond the top of the apron edge. The 28 1/4" long ties are wider than the waistband, and so are pleated into the waistband ends. The ends of the ties are turned up to form a point.
Object number2001.76.11a,b
MarkingsUniform: Woven tape tag stitched at back of neck: LORD & TAYLOR / FIFTH AVENUE"; also a smaller, printed tag in the same spot: "LOT 120 / SIZE 10".

Apron: Woven polyester label stitched on right side of the waistband: "WHITE SWAN/ UNIFORMS (R)/ QUALITY GUARANTEED/ ALL COTTON". In the center is a triangular design of a swimming swan.
NotesHistorical Notes: Gloria Holtsinger said that she purchased the uniform and apron intending them to be worn together. But while the uniform is used, the apron does appear to have been used.
The uniform was worn by Paulette Poirier, a young woman from Maine, but who was of French Canadian origin. She worked in the Holtsinger home from the late 1960s to the early 1970s while the Holtsinger children were young.
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