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December 6, 2019
The hoodie has been around for centuries.
 
Monks from the 12th century were known to wear cowls that would pull up over their heads as much as means of isolation as much to meditate as well as to isolate themselves from the world.
There are the tales of Robin Hood - the yeoman who stole from the rich to give to the poor.
 
And then there's the Little Red Riding Hood from the 17th century
  
So hoodies have been around for a while. They were as much for protection as for purposes of isolation.
Early 20th Century Use
 In the 1930's it was worn as a utility garment in the cold New York warehouses. The first modern version was produced by Champion for athletes and workers. In the 1970s the hip-hop culture adopted it as almost a uniform so much so that
Norma Kamali and other avant guarde fashion designers picked it up in their runway shows.
Then in the Rocky film, the hoodie really came into its own as an icon type of clothing style.
For Rock and Reality Stars
 
The hip-hop bands of the 1970s also helped make the hoodie popular. It became synonymous with being a loner, isolated and away from society.
By the 1990s, the hoodie had become a symbol of isolation. Young men, like skateboarders and surfers wore the hoodie as much as a symbol of their separateness as a garment of rebellion. Tommy Hilfiger, Giorgio Armani and Ralph Lauren used the hooodie as the primary component for many of their collections in the 1990s. As well, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg wears a plain grey hoodie as
opposed to a business suit.
But things are changing
 Just like the biker jacket of the 50's symbolized the style du jour for “hoodlums” and other rebels of the day, the hoodie is moving out of the isolation/separateness reputation into the main stream. That means, just like the leather jacket, the hoodie is coming into it’s own.
Spring Hoodie Class
This newer hoodie is what the class is all about. The old hoodie was bulky and purposely non-fitting, but the newer hoodie is more fitted and has shape and style to it. It's also transformed from the bulky fleece or sweatshirt fabric into more decorative and formal fabrics. This doesn't mean it fits close to the body (like the old Grunge ill-sized hoodie). This hoodie
has style and shape.
As an experiment I'm thinking of hoodies more as dress-up garments and at the least, a garment that can work for a semi-dress-up lunch or what might be a semi dressed-up event. The hoodie has become so normalized that the hoodie will make this jump easily.
At the last minute, I'm doing this as my go-to outfit for the holiday season and the parties lined up. But I'm following some pretty strict rules to get through this. (There more on this in the Time-Management/Commando Sewing resource in the library).
So, I like throwing in a new piece here and there to make for a really, snazzy holiday look. I also get picky about this stuff. My clothes have to earn their way into my closet (and that’s a whole other subject for another day), and that means:
• they have to flatter my figure (which this time of year is always fluctuating),
• they have to be comfortable
• they have to be fun to wear
• most of all I have to feel good in them (mentally and physically)
But the truth is that I don’t really think about the holidays till the holidays are upon me - that’s when I’m really in the spirit to do something. So here’s some things I do to help fill in the wardrobe with a little bling and a lot of style, with a limited amount of time.
- Picking a style that I know is going to work. In this case a core-pattern.
- No experimenting, well maybe a little. I’m putting a hoodie on one of my core patterns as a variation, but this isn’t really experimenting because I know most of the pattern.
- Picking a whole block of time. You can get more done in a block of time, than you can an hour here or 2 hours there.
- Picking a little break time. That said, having 10 or 15 minutes break time every 90 minutes can really refresh you.
In the end, I have a new holiday outfit. It’s not that hard! And because I'm using one of my core patterns that I've made up about 9 times, I know how it goes together, what's important and what can slide. About the only other thing I did that might be considered different is cut this a little longer. I did this cause the fabric I'm using is in panels, and to see
if it would look better longer. The truth is that no it doesn't - and you can see that in this video below.
There are lots of zipper pulls out there. This one I used was the last one, but here's a great place to start, and I love using something dressy zipper pulls that can ad a little bling in just the right place. Here, here and here
are some others to view. But I encourage you to go through and find some neat ones for you.
Here's the pattern I used. Remember I have an hourglass-ish
So don't think you're too late to do something for the holidays. If you need some more inspiration, I've done two new resources for the Resource Library that will give you great ideas. These will be taken down after the holidays since they are seasonal, but the outfits that you make will be anything but seasonal. You'll be surprised how much fun it is to dress up just a little,
even if it's simply a night out on the town!
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