Displaying all articles tagged with &ldquo#History”
While today the word apron is synonymous with women in the kitchen, throughout history they have been a workwear staple for men, and continue to be today. The word possibly comes from the french word for tablecloth “napron”. Just as a tablecloth protects a table, an apron can be useful in protecting ones clothes from wear and tear as well as keeping them clean.
In most cases the fabrics used are various qualities of canvas, woven on shuttle looms. This ensures that they are narrow goods with selvedge edges, and a rare fabrication in todays world.
We are planning to produce a small batch of aprons in the near future, using selvedge canvas, in raw natural seed also known as, greige.
Here is a small sampling of vintage work aprons from the Rising Sun archive, and we’d like to share these beautiful articles of workwear history with you.
Tailoring is an art form that has been around for centuries, and has evolved to become a highly specialized craft. Although it’s an old world trade not much has changed in the past 200 years. The businesses have usually been family-owned, where everyone pitches in to help, even the children. An item of clothing made by a tailor is personal, unique and superior, a contrast against the mass consumed, quickly made wears that fills much of todays clothing stores.
At Rising Sun, we believe and live by the code of this honorable trade. As merchant tailors, we take pride in being torch bearers of this honest hand made craft, and feel compelled to shed some light on this subject by showcasing some timeless images from the days of old.
There are a few things you may find interesting about Rising Sun’s shop besides the products. Our haberdashery’s building, 107 S. Fair Oaks, is a historic building in Pasadena. It was constructed in the late 1880′s and served as a showroom for stage coaches or horse carriages. By the early 1900′s it became the Hotel Mikado a Japanese hotel that mostly catered to Japanese Americans. By about World War II the hotel was sold to the family of Mr. Percy Carter who converted the hotel to The Hotel Carver (after George Washington Carver), Pasadena’s first hotel owned by African-Americans. Its primary clientele consisted of visitors turned away by the Hotel Green, which serviced mostly well-to-do, white clients.
During The Hotel Carver years the then well-known nightclub, The Onyx Club, which eventually became The Club Cobra, featured jazz talents of the time in the basement. Below is a picture of the wall in the basement today.
By the 70′s the building was converted to artists studios and the Pasadena Repertory Theatre, which won the LA Drama Critics’ Circle Awards for Best Director and best Screenplay for its staging of “In Celebration.” Other acclaimed creatives associated with the space include Paul McCarthy (contemporary artist), Steve Gerber (Marvel Comics creator, The Defenders, Howard the Duck), Gill Dennis (writer, Walk the Line), Betty Dore (painter), Herbie Lewis (jazz musician), and more.
Today Rising Sun does not forget the important history of Old Town Pasadena and the stories these walls would tell if could speak. With time we will perhaps weave some tales of our own for the history books.
When we worked on the space our belief was the only way to build ourselves a haberdashery was from the sweat from our own brows. The leather floors were install by Mike, friends, and family. The carved wood found in the haberdashery were done by his family. So were the tin ceilings. We pride ourselves in upholding the fighting spirit that is still very much alive in the building.
Please visit our shop at 107 S. Fair Oaks, Pasadena CA and enjoy the local history.
People often ask us what our name, Rising Sun, means. Their guesses range from Bob Dylan’s “House of the Rising Sun” to Japan, land of the rising sun. Allow us to clear this up once and for all.
The rising sun symbolizes the optimistic spirit America is founded on. So long as the sun rises and we are provided its light and energy we can labor for our passion full of freedom and hope. The idea of using the rising sun to represent this optimism comes to us from Benjamin Franklin. He is a founding father who in his time said and did many remarkable things but at the signing of the United States of America’s Constitution said something that truly inspires us. In speaking of the decorative sun on the chair of the Convention President, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin remarked sometimes wondering if the sun was rising or setting. Then with what must have been profound conviction he said he was now certain it is indeed a rising sun.
George Washington's chair
The rising sun on George Washington's chair.
As we pursue our dreams working late into the night we know we always have tomorrow’s rising sun to look forward to.
