Hello all! My name is Tiffany Russel, I am a Junior with a major in English. I’m new at this whole “technology” thing, as I did not own a computer until I began college a few years ago. Quite frankly, I’m surprised I have been able to figure out how to post! Yet- I sadly  have still not figured out how to view the readings.. I am from a small town in South Dakota that is not visible on a map,  and grew up on the family farm there. I now live in New York (on a farm lol) and work in a health club full time, as well as volunteer as a firefighter and an ambulance driver. One day I hope to be an English teacher and be able to afford my own small farm 🙂

I’ve actually never studied London, so I have almost no knowledge of London at all. I chose to take this course to further my understanding of literature- including literature from London. I took a lot of information in last class, and since I couldn’t view the readings for this post, I will recap what I’ve learned about Historic London during class.

Fashion in historic London was obviously much different than what fashion is today. Women always wore dresses, and many women wore “hoop skirts” which are ankle long skirts with a plastic or metal hoop in around the bottom. This created a full look to the dress- and in a community where space is limited, women experienced a feeling of freedom- having more personal space due to the fullness of the dress. Also, I learned that very fair skin was very fashionable. I’ve learned from a former literature class that fair skin was preferred because only poor working people (who worked in the sun) had tan, or darker skin. It was a more regal look to have fair skin- since rich people who could afford not to work outdoors, and who can afford umbrellas and hats had more fair skin. It’s kind of funny to me to think that it’s the complete opposite today. Today, rich people are often portrayed as tan-skinned because they can afford to lounge outdoors by the pool for numerous hours a day.

I’ve also learned that most men were not distinguishable as rich or poor, since they mostly all wore very similar suits. This also differs from today because now there are brand names on clothing that make a “Macy’s” suit more distinguishable  from a “Versace” suit.

I hope to learn much, much more about London in this class, and I hope I can figure this “internet” thing out!