Monday 19 December 2016

Nylon shirts?

I have just been reading a novel by Sian Thomas (the late wife of Robert Preston the economics journalist  BBC) called An uncommon murder. She sets the atmosphere well in 1946/7, especially the grey post war with rationing. BUT at least two of the male characters are described as wearing nylon shirts.

My husband and I compared memories and could not recall nylon shirts being worn by males in our families before the 1960s. I can't find any clear information on the Web either only that there were nylon stockings of course.  Can you remember when nylon shirts became commonplace?

We enjoy reading a lot, getting through 5 or 6 books a week, and often discuss how well books are written and their accuracy!


12 comments:

  1. https://www.tailorstore.com/ca/en/history-of-bespoke-shirts
    The modern shirt

    At the end of the World War 1 the shirt went through a major transformation. It was only at that time the modern shirt with buttons all along the front became popular, even if the first buttoned shirt was registered by Brown, Davies & Co as early as 1871. In the 1930’s the shirt with the fixed collar revived and it has been with us ever since. Twenty years later the nylon shirt was introduced and during the same period of time the more daring short sleeve shirt became high fashion. In the 1960’s the chest pocket was introduced as a consequence of the vest under the suit jacket becoming more and more uncommon.
    I think this makes it sound that they came to be in the 50's.

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    1. I agree it must have been late 1950s for nylon shirts. Other characters in the book had shirts with separate collars. And they wore suit jackets even though it was suppose to be hot!

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  2. Just the thought of Nylon shirts or worse - Nylon sheets - makes me feel all peculiar!
    Common enough in the 70s but I doubt not in the late 40's

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    1. It was such a silly error in otherwise well written book! Uk nylon sheets - worse - brushed nylon!

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  3. Eeeewwww I remember nylon sheets and they make me go all peculiar too....even worse when slept in wearing a nylon nightie as I remember doing in the sixties.

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    1. In the 1990s we were Bed and Breakfasting round the west of Ireland and one place had NYLON sheets with a crazy rose pattern. Oh gosh, the night I wished I had not drunk that bottle of wine with dinner!!!

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  4. Crimplene dresses, nylon shirts and sheets, fibre glass curtains, brushed nylon nighties. The static was awful, the sparks hilarious. Give me natural fibres any day.

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    1. Crimplene - it was so easy to work with and lasted forever unless you snagged it and pulled a thread - ruined!

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  5. I didn't think nylon was readily available until well into the 1950s. I remember wearing white Nylon school blouses in the late 1960s - early 70s. I hated them because they'd go off-colour compared to my friends cotton ones, but for my mum they were easier to wash and dry than cotton.

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    1. I cant recall nylon shirts before the late 60s either. Isn't it strange what sticks in your mind about school? Not usually the learning - the uniform and the school meals!

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    2. My father bought a nylon shirt in 1957 in M&S in Hull when we were staying in Easington (East Riding/Yorkshire) and hated it!

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    3. I surprised they lasted as long as they did. I suppose the next question is when did we get cotton and poly mix?

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