MARSHALL FIELDS BANS EMPLOYEE ROUGE & ROLLED DOWN STOCKINGS
Chicago, Illinois (JFK+50) On August 13, 1921, "a new set of rules" was issued by Marshall Field & Company* which "ban rouge, 'powder in excess,' extreme styles in hair dressing and 'rolled down' stockings'**."
The New York Tribune reports that these rules were added to a recent "edict to the effect that girls with bobbed hair no longer would be employed." The rules were posted on bulletin boards and passed among employees by floor managers.
The posted rules read, in part...
"Employees are asked to cooperate with us in keeping the style of dress refined and business like."
As to the bobbed hair, young women employees with it were allowed to continue their employment if they would wear (hair) nets. So far, however, 20 girls have been dismissed because they refused to wear the nets "over their short locks."
Mrs. G. Reid, head of the firm's education department, said...
"We have always had rules about the style of dress to which our employees must conform. "
These new rules, however, were necessary according to Mrs. Reid...
"because they are particular evils of this season."
*Marshall Field's (1852-2006) flagship store located on State Street on the Loop in downtown Chicago, Illinois.
**Rolled down stockings became a fashion trend among young women in the 1920s. The thigh-high stockings were rolled down to mid-thigh or just below the knee.
SOURCES
"Fields Adds Rouge and Rolled Stockings to Bobbed Hair Ban," The New York Tribune, August 14, 1921, www.chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/
"Rolled Stockings: The Popular Fashion Trend of the 1920s," BYG ONELY, www.bygonely.com/
