Reading a Photo

Step 3 of 3: Compare your answers with those of a historian

What do you notice about the person working in the photograph?
You:	Historian: It’s a woman, she’s wearing a dress and high heels, and she’s working alone.
What is she doing? How can you tell?
You:	Historian: She’s making a dress. There’s another dress that is half finished on the other mannequin.
What tools is she using to do her job?
You:	Historian: Scissors, pins, mirror, mannequins
Why do you think she is using a mannequin/dress form to make the dress?
You:	Historian: So it will fit a certain size person exactly – hence the idea of “form-fitting.”
Where do you think this scene takes place?
You:	Historian: A tailor or dressmaking shop, not at home.
How can you tell?
You:	Historian: There’s a mirror so you can see the dress from all angles, as well as scissors, pins, mannequins, pipes on wall, and a thermostat. There are no decorations on the walls, and there’s a coat hanging on coat rack. There are, only the tools needed for the job are in the room.
How many dresses do you think this woman could make in a day? What makes you say so?
You:	Historian: Not many, because each one is individually made.
Are your clothes made individually like this dress? How can you tell? How are your clothes made today?
You:	Historian: It is now more common to have a machine make clothing, but people still have specially made outfits that are handmade and fitted. Clothes that are bought in department stores and major clothing stores are usually done by machine and not sewn individually.
List some positive and negative points of making clothes individually versus by machine.
You:	Historian: Positive: the clothes will fit you very well, they’re made stronger and last longer,and you can get the style/color you wantNegative: It takes longer, so you would have fewer new clothes. They may be more expensive because takes longer to make.

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