Hey friends, this is *not* the last episode! Episode 6 comes out next Wednesday June 7th, where you'll get to see me exploring the Lower East Side that was Carolina's world, in the dress. See you then!
It's so cool! We don't give nearly enough credit to ordinary people's fashion sense. I never even liked this silhouette for myself until I made this dress and put it on.
The ingenuity of the lower classes is often overshadowed by upper class or the ultra poor. We don’t hear about those who managed to get by because they left little to no impact on the world around them. Yet, these people were given very little and somehow managed to feed and clothe their families to such a degree that they escaped notice as vagabonds in society.
This whole series was honestly beautiful to watch. I’m a Jew myself, and though my great grandparents would only emigrate in the 20th century, I would like to imagine this would have been a universal experience for my working class ancestors.
I remember learning about the Jewish settlements when I was taking women's history course and this video has giving me chills and I'm already on the verge of tears because I'm getting to see you explore your ancestors life through textile history has just been amazing! I'm so glad that I get to watch you grow your channel!
My greatgrandfather was a tailor and even own a shop, that had it’s very own labels. It’s unlikely, but i would love to one day find an antique piece of clothing, that was made there
What a beautiful tribute to your ancestors, your lineage, and yourself. I’m totally tearing up. This series has reignited my interest in my own family history. Especially so I can share it with my daughter, to give her ties to her history and our family. Ties that go beyond our heirloom bedroom set that she sleeps on and her name (she’s named after both her great grandmothers on my side).
Just love how practical Victorian underwear is. It’s like wearing your pyjamas all day because they’re comfy. Also, after gardening for 5 hours and taking breaks while standing up, I can relate to the “wearing a corset for back support” part. We (modern humans) are lazy and don’t have to do much physical work, but I’m sure some modern equivalent of a corset would be helpful to prevent that burning sensation in your muscles when your back is exhausted.
Shabbat Shalom, Carolina! This project was incredible to follow from start to finish, and caused me to reflect on my own ancestors' way of dress and their personal histories - fashion really is such a personal yet communal aspect of our lives, today as yesterday, and seeing it brought to life in such a heartfelt manner is absolutely incredible.
Wow. This gave me goosebumps. What a special way to pay homage to those that came before.. my mom just came for a visit and let me know she has my grandmas wedding dress from the 40's/50's (it was home sewn and worn by all four of her and her sisters in turns) I'm super excited to get it and hopefully recreate it too!
beautiful possible reconstruction of your ancestor's dress! you wear it well, both the dress and the history. it's a pleasure to see the best attire of an ordinary working person, as opposed to all the ball gowns and couturier dresses so often featured. both are lovely and important to history, but the finery of the wealthy class seems over-represented. your respect for Carolina shines through in this video---she would be proud!
That's one of the reasons I wanted to do this project! I can understand wanting to make the pretty silk dresses if this is a hobby, but it does lead to regular people's clothing being under-represented.
You almost had me crying there at the end with you singing and smiling like you were connecting directly with Carolina. This is what my relatives would have had there in Brooklyn and the lower east side. Also, my sister works at the tenement museum! I'll have to send her this video and see if she knows about it!
How good and how pleasant it is for siblings to dwell together in peace and in unity. Thank you for sharing this work with us - I cried a little thinking of all the sacrifices and work my family had to do to get me to the point I am now. By walking as Carolina, you make young Esther real for me.
I don't know why tears came to my eyes when I heard you humming in the intro, but that song is what I'll be carrying with me for the next few days into my own Shabbat.
I found this series to be incredibly touching. Many of us, myself included, often don't consider what our ancestors went through in order to pave the way for us. Their lives were ones of sacrifice and hard work. Their sacrifice was for their children, and therefor for us. I can't imagine the courage it took for your great-great-grandmother to leave all she knew to come to America. Staggering. Thank you.
I have loved this series. There is Jewish ancestry in both my daughters from their fathers. There have been family connections since the 1910s with the Jewish community. I loved seeing the fashionable transformed for working class minority women.
Its wild how we are all so connected and incredibly likely that my great grandmother and her family knew yours. When they came to New York they were also in the tenements. This was a beautiful video. Please keep going with these ❤
This whole series has been awesome! The dress itself is beautiful, and your journey made me want to know more about what my own ancestresses (Catholic Volga-Germans, Northern Italians, Spaniards, and Anglo-Scottish reavers) would have worn upon arrival in Argentina in the 1860s and 1870s, though I don't have pictures or journals to work from.
Of course, the dress and the practical-history are great, but I want to add that the venue is phenomenal, and your glasses evoke the period, too. Thank you for this.
Ahhh these glasses are the bane of my existence! So uncomfortable, but I couldn't get a contacts perscription in time. I'm glad they look right at least 🤣
An exquisite ending/reveal for this amazing series. The text, the singing, so warm and rich, love this so much! When you were talking about the over skirt I remember when my aunts sewed church dresses for me and my family, if you were making something with an over skirt or a tiered skirt with ruffles, it was seen as more luxurious if you made it all from the ''fancy'' fabric instead of piecing it with the lining (focusing on what would be seen). But I imagine that in a historical context it made more sense having the option of making a ''plain'' skirt that could also be worn by itself rather than a sole garment with a ''faux'' underskirt (even though I'm not sure about how much mixing and matching working class people would do in this period or if they preferred singular ensembles).
On the one hand, piecing it with the lining would have been economical assuming she’d always wear it with an overskirt, but on the other hand, making the whole skirt in the fashion fabric would be insurance against changing trends that might not use overskirts, in which case the skirt on its own wouldn’t be _as_ out of fashion as it would be if worn with the overskirt, so that was a choice she’d have to make in each case.
Basically what Ragnhild said! I've seen examples where the underskirt is made of cheaper plain cotton all the way to the knee, but that means less versatility. This way, she can wear all three pieces separately with other bodices and skirts, especially as they wear out or the weather changes.
@@SnappyDragon Thank you (and Ragnhild) for the explanation, that makes so much sense! And considering that they wore each garment for so much longer than we do now, I can easily see the underskirt going well into the 1890s when worn by itself!
Hello from a fellow NYC jew from Hungarian via Ellis Island immigrant blood! You've taught me so much about the life my ancestors led so that I could be comfortable, thank you endlessly x
This is absolutely beautiful. It was also fascinating to learn how your great great grandmother would put on her boots, corset, bustle, bodice and skirt! Thank you for sharing this lovely series with us, and for again teaching us about fashion history 💞
Mad respect for your great great grandmother, and for all of the immigrants who have been brave enough to come to a land with every thing stacked against them, with racial and religious prejudices coming from every corner of said new land, to forge a better future for themselves. Mad respect 🫡 Mad respect 🫡
This entire series has been amazing. Thank you for all your time and energy. I've been reading up on my Jewish history and doing something like this sounds like a fun way to reconnect with my history.
This gave me goosebumps too! It's been an incredible journey to bring your ancestor to life in such a visceral way, and the music really added something special.
I LOVED this!!! I adore how you focused on the story of the person who would have been wearing the clothes. And the fact that it's your ancestor makes it all the more better! I sincerely hope that many, many people copy you and this style of dress history video becomes a trend. GREAT work!!
Loved how you wove a beautiful story with sewing. The singing at the end made my heart kvell and I think I shed a tear or two of joy. I rarely see my families story played out. My great grandfather came to California from Russia as a “cutter”.
This makes me think about the lives of my great great grandparents who immigrated as a family from Norway to the Seattle area in the 1890s I think. They were homesteaders and worked in the lumber industry. My family is lucky to have a couple photos of my ancestors back then, looking very austere in what must have been their Sunday best.
Having a photo taken was a serious (and expensive) thing to do. And the early cameras would blur if you moved, so many photographers had metal stands that people would stand in !
It's great that you got to connect with your history through this museum. Unfortunately, tenement buildings aren't a thing of the past, they're still here with similar shabby conditions as they were before. I'm not throwing shade at you, just that the setup by the museum doesn't evoke the crowdedness of multiple families struggling to get by in that one space, the crumbling paint on the walls, the smell of only having one washroom for the whole building. The conditions are still here in NYC, in the LES, just with (some of the time) running water and electricity.
What a lovely way to honour your ancestor. Just like any other young lady, Carolina would have wanted to be fashionable within her means. But whereas today’s 18 year olds would most likely be buying cheap imported fast fashion, Carolina was creating her own durable styles, learning new techniques along the way, skills she could be proud of. Progress is not always positive!
Chances are her job was in creating the equivalent of fast fashion for her time! But I do prefer not to have other young women insulted by comparison to me.
@@SnappyDragon I didn’t mean to insult anyone. I was merely lamenting the fast fashion phenomenon, which is driven by corporate interests. I’m sorry you were offended by what was meant to be a very supportive post.
I think I understand what you are saying here...? One of the things definitely lost through the shift to complete fast fashion is this direct connection to creation of garments we wear, and thus a clear understanding of what value they may really entail...or lack!! In some ways mass market fashion as it's developed from Karolina's era onwards has provided a lot more options for personal choice, in terms of cost & access? But esp. as it's usually combined with a loss of personal sewing/alteration skills, it also means that choices for young people in particular are very much limited to what's cheap & in vogue in the shops, unless they take up thrifting or sewing themselves. I think one of the reasons so many people are now becoming interested in more diverse historical fashions is a realization that what's in style at any one time in history just won't necessarily suit everybody's tastes, figures, or even health needs...? A home-sewn outfit like the one V is recreating here is still necessarily dependent on the skill level and available materials of the wearer (& possibly their friends/family), and some fairly strict social mores around modesty, shape, and materials. But it certainly allows a much greater level of potential personalisation & fitting than when buying an off-the-rack garment. And that feeling of achievement & uniqueness in successfully making your own clothing is definitely something I value a lot myself! ❤
My grandmother, may her memory be a blessing, came here in 1913; making the trip alone at age 13 to reunite with her family from Hungaria. She landed in New York and quickly started working while attending school ( with the small children for 3 years). She worked hard, and it wore her down given the expectation that she suport her brothers. I can imagine through this video the promise that a new land held.
Just so lovely to see the dress, I feel blessed to come on the journey! Also Carolina's journey across the Atlantic and setting up her new home in a strange new country. The confidence the new dress brought with it must have helped her so much.
this is such a moving and meaningful project--the kind of story i wish more historical content creators would tell :) my own ancestors were displaced indentures & i couldn't help but reflect on their journeys as you narrated carolina's! thank you!
Beautiful dress and presentation…only one flaw to note - Carolina would probably not have rebraided her hair on the Sabbath, as this violates one of the 39 rules regarding ‘work’. Otherwise, just gorgeous and I’m so impressed with how you have done this project and brought the whole world along to give kavod (honor) to her courage and memory. I’m certain her neshama (soul) is rising higher and higher with your efforts. ❤️🥰
Wild that a recommended video after this was a "life of pioneers 1880s" video. The range humans lived at the same time is always a big stretch to think of! Especially around the world. A great job on this historical clip ❤
This whole video was super beautiful and honestly brought tears to my eyes. Universally, we can all imagine what it must be like to be alone, perhaps a bit out of our depths, and tasked with making it all work no matter what and that is really the unifying human factor of this story, but I think even beyond that something that I'm going to take away from this is the awareness that your situation may be such that you are alone. It may feel incredibly daunting, and you may have moments of despair where you are completely overwhelmed by what you have to accomplish. However, one thing you can also do, is make the decision to create something beautiful for yourself; to put in the time for it despite being exhausted because doing something for you is just as important as working hard for everyone else in your life. Then when it's all finished, giving yourself permission to feel some joy in what you've done, and allow a smile to creep across your face every time you get to enjoy it again and again. Making sure you take the pleasure especially during times of stress and pain is inexpressibly important.
Thanks for posting 😢this. Not the same nationality, but definitely the same Era and location. I'm weeping, you have touched the nerve of my ancestors. May the Good Lord bless you 🙏
I love watching your videos. This one elicited a string of emotions. If I were your ancestor, I would be filled with pride and joy to see this. What a lovely way to pay homage to them!
My great-grandfather came to the US from what was then a part of Hungary (today it is Slovakia) in 1908. He was 15 and came over with his younger brother. So this video series has resonated a lot with me, even though my family isn't Jewish. It's an amazing feeling to almost reach back through time and connect with your ancestors.
My grandmother was also a Hungarian Jewish immigrant to the Lower East Side in the 1880s. She married a tailor and their wedding photo was taken on Essex St. Thanks for this video. Many Hungarian Jews lived on east Houston street, nicknamed Goulash Row.
This is so beautiful on so many levels. Thank you for the great work you put in your projects! I dont know much about my own ancestors, because it was dangerous to talk about these things in soviet union. My only knowledge about my Jewish great grandfather is that he changed his name from Moses to Mikhail to better fit in after he was orphaned. We found out that he worked as an apprentice in a shoe making store for some time, but thats about all. In fear of prejudice my family lost a lot of knowledge not only about traditions and customs, but even the facts about where he was from originally, just some village behind the pale of settlement. Im now working on collecting all the different stories of my family so that hopefully one day I can share them with my children or nephews.
Russian Jews had various relations + Bolshevik (Majority) Party, later CPSU In late 1800s early 1900s many (most?) were Russian Jewish---most famous was Leon Trotsky. But many were killed in Revolution + Civil War + 10+? 20+? foreign powers invasion. During Josef Stains era.relations between Soviet Jews + CPSU, then + much less Jewish leaders + followers. For example, Soviet Jews were given Birobidhan area by Stalin. but after WW II he denounced alleged Jewish doctors plot vs. him (real?. or W propaganda?)
@@tymanung6382 I know that he joined Red Army in the revolution at the age of 16-17 ofc lying to them about his age and changing his name to Mikhail. I don’t really know why he changed it, we just have documents that he was Moses in the orphanage and Mikhail in the Red Army. I don’t really know much about politics of that time in detail, just know that it was frowned upon if you were religious or from any ethnic group other than slavic. Not to trauma dump here, but we know he was an orphan bc of violence to Jewish people, so it makes sense that he wanted to protect himself from possible repressions.
@@tymanung6382 about history I know there was constant back and forth with rights of Jewish people in that time period, on one hand right after the revolution they said antisemitism was bad and belonged in the past, but on the other hand they wanted to assimilate all Jewish people and eradicate knowledge of Hebrew and religious customs. So yeah, kinda opposite messages.
Even as late as the late 1960s, early 1970s, our home had many items that you never find outside an antique store now, and were sometimes useful: a buttonhook, hat pins, several pairs and kinds of gloves, a shoeshine kit, garter straps for stockings and lots of shoehorns. I don't think we were weird at all, just had a family that spanned several generations.
Thank you for this! My maternal great-grandmother came to the Lower East Side from Genoa in 1886. Her daughter, my grandma, was born in 1894 and was a garment worker. They lived in an apartment much like the ones on display in the Tenement Museum on Orchard St.
This is really lovely. I always get excited when I see regular people clothes on historical fashion channels, since none of my ancestors were anything close to rich until you go back to, like, the Crusades(were standard bearers rich?), so the rich people stuff is nothing I can imagine wearing. XD Thank you so much!
I love to watch you exploring this and giving voice to the people who enriched this country so much and went through such trials to be here I hope they stop being largely being ignored by popular narrative, because the past was so much more diverse than people imagine this is such an important story to tell, and I thank you for sharing it with us
What a beautiful video! It’s rare to see someone recreating outfits of the working classes, as many other Swedes I have distant relatives who emigrated to America at around the same time as Karolina, so I imagine they would have worn something similar. This outfit is beautiful, and so are you! It’s great to see your Jewish heritage as well, the detail of the different neckline and the Star of David buttons are beautiful!
i sit here having a bad chronic illness day, my lungs have decided we don't get to do anything today, so I'm admiring the singing and the effect. are you happy with it?
It’s interesting how stockings weren’t just for show like now. They protect the skin from the elements. Also I had no idea overskirts were a thing. I thought the whole thing with the elaborate design was the whole skirt. Learn something new every day.
The history of LES is so interesting because so many immigrants passed through there. My ancestors were in the generations before your Carolina, part of the Little Germany crowd. I've seen letters my ancestor Maria wrote back to Munich about life in NYC during the civil war.
I absolutely love how you personalize this video. Incorporating your own family history into this was so much more personal and real. I love looking into my family tree and trying to work out what life was like for my ancestors. This was beautifully done. Loved it!
Woot woot! Fyi, I learned from a former coworker that the apartment you were in was the recreation of the Gumpertz (german jewish family - badass single mother whose husband deserts her). A friend of mine wrote a song about her, aptly called Dressmaker! I’ll DM you the music video
What a wonderful video! I love the setting you chose. You must feel such a close connection to your ancestor now that you have gone through the research and made this dress. Those buttons are exquisite!
Thank you for giving me a glimpse into the forgotten part of my roots. I have an Orthodox Jewish great grandmother (Askenazi) who was disowned by her family when she married the man she loved. I only found out about her when I was 12, so I never knew her or very much about that part of my heritage.
This was incredible! Thank you. I’m half Ukrainian and half Sicilian, but much of my family first came to America in the 1880s as well. SO cool to see how people dressed. Definitely going to check out the series on your journey making it!
Just love this video. Your dress is beautiful. Thank you for takeing us along on this journey. It gives insight. Shows how much alike we all really are. Including our faith. Much love.
This has been a wonderful series to follow along to. It must have been very special to get to shoot in such an appropriate location, too! It would have been covered in coal soot and dust from the air of at the time industrial New York... And it would have been one more hard task on already burdened women to scrub the flat clean week after week. To appear respectable and even just clean was hard work.
If she wasn't busy with factory work, chances are Carolina had spent the previous day helping scrub all that coal soot away to prepare the house for Shabbat on Friday evening!
It's interesting to see how you turn into your 19th Century Jewish ancestor. To have a inkling into the past, into your ancestors' lives, is amazing. I wish I knew more about my family's past. I didn't even know my grandparents except one grandma who died when I was a child. I have no idea who my other ancestors were. I only know they were Polish and I'm Polish, of course, and my mom's dad had mixed Polish and Austriac background. It would be great to explore the past and reveal the mysteries that remain hidden to my curious mind. Greetings from Chile! 😁
My ancestors weren't Jewish but they were working class. My great-great grandmother would have probably dressed the same. Thank you for this glimpse into the past.
I love this video! I love how it portrays both women's dress in general as well as how this specific person would have dressed because of her background. Very informative!
Shabat Shalom and happy pride! This is a beautiful dress and a wonderful series. I'm so glad you got to connect with your ancestors a bit and the filming location was absolutely lovely as was the song.
Wonderful Vi! 😀👍💗 Without knowing her story im sure great grandmother Carolina would have loved the story you created honouring her in her ' best dress' I can even picture the two of you in heaven one day sitting together on a bench holding hands and both talking a mile a minute of this special moment 😊❤ So cool that you got to film in the tenement museum. That is a gorgeous lace fireplace cover! 😮 May God continue to bless you in your story/ dressmaking . 🩷🇨🇦
I really do love seeing this, and knowing this is similar to how my own ancestors may have dressed and felt moving from Hungary to Denmark around this time.
It occurs to me, actually seeing this kind of bustle put on (especially the later style): one thing may have been to just add a bit of padding when sitting down. Earlier, more fancy and decorative bustles may have to served..... other ideas. But this style of bustle seems to have some practical uses.
This was enthralling, made all the more enjoyable by witnessing your journey of making the dress- and I’m no sewist! However I love history, crochet, and women’s history in particular, and this just fed my soul. Well done, SnappyDragon! What an achievement!
Hey friends, this is *not* the last episode! Episode 6 comes out next Wednesday June 7th, where you'll get to see me exploring the Lower East Side that was Carolina's world, in the dress. See you then!
What I really love is even now having a pocket in the dress is like the best thing ever!
It's Wednesday, but I still have a strong urge to say Shabbat Shalom to Karolina.
You have no idea how warm and fuzzy this makes me feel 💚
❤
What a beautiful herstory and dress
Shabbat Shalom, Karolina and Snappy! ❤❤❤
I feel like this most days. Why is Shabbat so far away?
Even though it’s a lower class dress I still find this incredibly stylish and beautiful. Wonderful job on the construction
It's so cool! We don't give nearly enough credit to ordinary people's fashion sense. I never even liked this silhouette for myself until I made this dress and put it on.
The ingenuity of the lower classes is often overshadowed by upper class or the ultra poor. We don’t hear about those who managed to get by because they left little to no impact on the world around them. Yet, these people were given very little and somehow managed to feed and clothe their families to such a degree that they escaped notice as vagabonds in society.
I loved seeing Karolinas creative skill come 2 life. I enjoy the fashions of the 1880s + this was a wonderful treat!
This whole series was honestly beautiful to watch. I’m a Jew myself, and though my great grandparents would only emigrate in the 20th century, I would like to imagine this would have been a universal experience for my working class ancestors.
My dads family came to New York in thw 40's from Poland.
I remember learning about the Jewish settlements when I was taking women's history course and this video has giving me chills and I'm already on the verge of tears because I'm getting to see you explore your ancestors life through textile history has just been amazing! I'm so glad that I get to watch you grow your channel!
I just looked it up because I remember reading the bread givers and was so moved!
My greatgrandfather was a tailor and even own a shop, that had it’s very own labels. It’s unlikely, but i would love to one day find an antique piece of clothing, that was made there
Ahhhh that would be so cool!
@@SnappyDragon yeah. I haven't met him, but I like to imagine that he was the best tailor in the town and shopping in his shop was a big deal
Have you tired EBay & Etsy ?! Even just a Google search might send you "down a rabbit hole" 🐇 🕳
Good luck searching !
What a beautiful tribute to your ancestors, your lineage, and yourself. I’m totally tearing up.
This series has reignited my interest in my own family history. Especially so I can share it with my daughter, to give her ties to her history and our family. Ties that go beyond our heirloom bedroom set that she sleeps on and her name (she’s named after both her great grandmothers on my side).
It's so amazing that you still have and use that! I'd love to see it, if you have any pictures please post them and tag #threadsofourancestors
This warms my heart up so nicely. I'm so glad you were able to film at The Tenement Museum, and bring your ancestor to meet us. Powerful.
Just love how practical Victorian underwear is. It’s like wearing your pyjamas all day because they’re comfy. Also, after gardening for 5 hours and taking breaks while standing up, I can relate to the “wearing a corset for back support” part. We (modern humans) are lazy and don’t have to do much physical work, but I’m sure some modern equivalent of a corset would be helpful to prevent that burning sensation in your muscles when your back is exhausted.
I have literally worn Victorian underthings as pajamas! Highly recommend.
Shabbat Shalom, Carolina! This project was incredible to follow from start to finish, and caused me to reflect on my own ancestors' way of dress and their personal histories - fashion really is such a personal yet communal aspect of our lives, today as yesterday, and seeing it brought to life in such a heartfelt manner is absolutely incredible.
Thank you so much 💚
Wow. This gave me goosebumps.
What a special way to pay homage to those that came before.. my mom just came for a visit and let me know she has my grandmas wedding dress from the 40's/50's (it was home sewn and worn by all four of her and her sisters in turns) I'm super excited to get it and hopefully recreate it too!
beautiful possible reconstruction of your ancestor's dress! you wear it well, both the dress and the history. it's a pleasure to see the best attire of an ordinary working person, as opposed to all the ball gowns and couturier dresses so often featured. both are lovely and important to history, but the finery of the wealthy class seems over-represented. your respect for Carolina shines through in this video---she would be proud!
That's one of the reasons I wanted to do this project! I can understand wanting to make the pretty silk dresses if this is a hobby, but it does lead to regular people's clothing being under-represented.
You almost had me crying there at the end with you singing and smiling like you were connecting directly with Carolina. This is what my relatives would have had there in Brooklyn and the lower east side. Also, my sister works at the tenement museum! I'll have to send her this video and see if she knows about it!
Ahhh small world! Tell her hi from me 😊
@@SnappyDragon apparently she was away when you filmed this but totally knew about it! Very small world!
How good and how pleasant it is for siblings to dwell together in peace and in unity.
Thank you for sharing this work with us - I cried a little thinking of all the sacrifices and work my family had to do to get me to the point I am now. By walking as Carolina, you make young Esther real for me.
We really need to do a dressed-as-the-ancestors photos series when we get together!
I don't know why tears came to my eyes when I heard you humming in the intro, but that song is what I'll be carrying with me for the next few days into my own Shabbat.
A friend led the song at a non-Jewish song circle, and I couldn't get the idea of including it out of my head.
Don't know why this makes me cry.
I'm glad I wasn't the only one who felt teary!
I found this series to be incredibly touching. Many of us, myself included, often don't consider what our ancestors went through in order to pave the way for us. Their lives were ones of sacrifice and hard work. Their sacrifice was for their children, and therefor for us. I can't imagine the courage it took for your great-great-grandmother to leave all she knew to come to America. Staggering. Thank you.
I must say Carolina’s accommodation looked positively luxurious in comparison to the squalid condition of the tenements I’ve heard described.
I have loved this series. There is Jewish ancestry in both my daughters from their fathers. There have been family connections since the 1910s with the Jewish community.
I loved seeing the fashionable transformed for working class minority women.
Its wild how we are all so connected and incredibly likely that my great grandmother and her family knew yours. When they came to New York they were also in the tenements.
This was a beautiful video. Please keep going with these ❤
It's entirely possible! The neighborhood was really crowded, so not *everyone* knew everyone, but people did still cross paths.
This whole series has been awesome! The dress itself is beautiful, and your journey made me want to know more about what my own ancestresses (Catholic Volga-Germans, Northern Italians, Spaniards, and Anglo-Scottish reavers) would have worn upon arrival in Argentina in the 1860s and 1870s, though I don't have pictures or journals to work from.
Of course, the dress and the practical-history are great, but I want to add that the venue is phenomenal, and your glasses evoke the period, too. Thank you for this.
Ahhh these glasses are the bane of my existence! So uncomfortable, but I couldn't get a contacts perscription in time. I'm glad they look right at least 🤣
An exquisite ending/reveal for this amazing series. The text, the singing, so warm and rich, love this so much!
When you were talking about the over skirt I remember when my aunts sewed church dresses for me and my family, if you were making something with an over skirt or a tiered skirt with ruffles, it was seen as more luxurious if you made it all from the ''fancy'' fabric instead of piecing it with the lining (focusing on what would be seen).
But I imagine that in a historical context it made more sense having the option of making a ''plain'' skirt that could also be worn by itself rather than a sole garment with a ''faux'' underskirt (even though I'm not sure about how much mixing and matching working class people would do in this period or if they preferred singular ensembles).
On the one hand, piecing it with the lining would have been economical assuming she’d always wear it with an overskirt, but on the other hand, making the whole skirt in the fashion fabric would be insurance against changing trends that might not use overskirts, in which case the skirt on its own wouldn’t be _as_ out of fashion as it would be if worn with the overskirt, so that was a choice she’d have to make in each case.
Basically what Ragnhild said! I've seen examples where the underskirt is made of cheaper plain cotton all the way to the knee, but that means less versatility. This way, she can wear all three pieces separately with other bodices and skirts, especially as they wear out or the weather changes.
@@SnappyDragon Thank you (and Ragnhild) for the explanation, that makes so much sense! And considering that they wore each garment for so much longer than we do now, I can easily see the underskirt going well into the 1890s when worn by itself!
What a beautiful way to honor and celebrate! Carolina, and all other strong Jewish women who sacrificed so much so we could have a better life! ❤
Hello from a fellow NYC jew from Hungarian via Ellis Island immigrant blood! You've taught me so much about the life my ancestors led so that I could be comfortable, thank you endlessly x
This is absolutely beautiful. It was also fascinating to learn how your great great grandmother would put on her boots, corset, bustle, bodice and skirt! Thank you for sharing this lovely series with us, and for again teaching us about fashion history 💞
Mad respect for your great great grandmother, and for all of the immigrants who have been brave enough to come to a land with every thing stacked against them, with racial and religious prejudices coming from every corner of said new land, to forge a better future for themselves.
Mad respect 🫡
Mad respect 🫡
This entire series has been amazing. Thank you for all your time and energy. I've been reading up on my Jewish history and doing something like this sounds like a fun way to reconnect with my history.
You have inspired me to explore the history of the women in my family. Mostly farmers and factory workers in the south..
Very well done by everyone involved. I am glad you had enabling friends of friends to help include the folk song that added a whole new layer.
My crew are the BEST. I will accept no arguments 💚
This gave me goosebumps too! It's been an incredible journey to bring your ancestor to life in such a visceral way, and the music really added something special.
Yes, this has been such a wonderful project and this video (and the music) is just lovely!
I LOVED this!!! I adore how you focused on the story of the person who would have been wearing the clothes. And the fact that it's your ancestor makes it all the more better! I sincerely hope that many, many people copy you and this style of dress history video becomes a trend. GREAT work!!
And with this base skirt she can perhaps sew another overskirt and bodice out of plain fabric. Like wool for cooler weather
Absolutely! Mixing and matching was part of the appeal of separate overskirts, she could use this to dress up a plainer bodice and underskirt.
Loved how you wove a beautiful story with sewing. The singing at the end made my heart kvell and I think I shed a tear or two of joy. I rarely see my families story played out. My great grandfather came to California from Russia as a “cutter”.
I loved this series. Mixing experimental archeology with your family history is beyond awesome. BTW-your dress is beautiful.
This makes me think about the lives of my great great grandparents who immigrated as a family from Norway to the Seattle area in the 1890s I think. They were homesteaders and worked in the lumber industry. My family is lucky to have a couple photos of my ancestors back then, looking very austere in what must have been their Sunday best.
Having a photo taken was a serious (and expensive) thing to do. And the early cameras would blur if you moved, so many photographers had metal stands that people would stand in !
The singing at the end brought tears to my eyes. Thank you for sharing your ancestor’s story.
Listening to you sing Hine Ma Tov made me cry
It's great that you got to connect with your history through this museum. Unfortunately, tenement buildings aren't a thing of the past, they're still here with similar shabby conditions as they were before. I'm not throwing shade at you, just that the setup by the museum doesn't evoke the crowdedness of multiple families struggling to get by in that one space, the crumbling paint on the walls, the smell of only having one washroom for the whole building. The conditions are still here in NYC, in the LES, just with (some of the time) running water and electricity.
What a lovely way to honour your ancestor. Just like any other young lady, Carolina would have wanted to be fashionable within her means. But whereas today’s 18 year olds would most likely be buying cheap imported fast fashion, Carolina was creating her own durable styles, learning new techniques along the way, skills she could be proud of. Progress is not always positive!
Chances are her job was in creating the equivalent of fast fashion for her time! But I do prefer not to have other young women insulted by comparison to me.
@@SnappyDragon I didn’t mean to insult anyone. I was merely lamenting the fast fashion phenomenon, which is driven by corporate interests. I’m sorry you were offended by what was meant to be a very supportive post.
I think I understand what you are saying here...? One of the things definitely lost through the shift to complete fast fashion is this direct connection to creation of garments we wear, and thus a clear understanding of what value they may really entail...or lack!!
In some ways mass market fashion as it's developed from Karolina's era onwards has provided a lot more options for personal choice, in terms of cost & access? But esp. as it's usually combined with a loss of personal sewing/alteration skills, it also means that choices for young people in particular are very much limited to what's cheap & in vogue in the shops, unless they take up thrifting or sewing themselves.
I think one of the reasons so many people are now becoming interested in more diverse historical fashions is a realization that what's in style at any one time in history just won't necessarily suit everybody's tastes, figures, or even health needs...? A home-sewn outfit like the one V is recreating here is still necessarily dependent on the skill level and available materials of the wearer (& possibly their friends/family), and some fairly strict social mores around modesty, shape, and materials. But it certainly allows a much greater level of potential personalisation & fitting than when buying an off-the-rack garment. And that feeling of achievement & uniqueness in successfully making your own clothing is definitely something I value a lot myself! ❤
It's these little nuggets of everyday social history that I love to learn about, thank you for making this video. The music is lovely too.
My grandmother, may her memory be a blessing, came here in 1913; making the trip alone at age 13 to reunite with her family from Hungaria. She landed in New York and quickly started working while attending school ( with the small children for 3 years). She worked hard, and it wore her down given the expectation that she suport her brothers. I can imagine through this video the promise that a new land held.
Just so lovely to see the dress, I feel blessed to come on the journey! Also Carolina's journey across the Atlantic and setting up her new home in a strange new country. The confidence the new dress brought with it must have helped her so much.
this is such a moving and meaningful project--the kind of story i wish more historical content creators would tell :) my own ancestors were displaced indentures & i couldn't help but reflect on their journeys as you narrated carolina's! thank you!
Amazing storytelling! Kinda reminded me of O. Henry’s short stories, except yours is real.
This was excellently done and the end result is beautiful.
It has been a joy to see you re-create your great-great grandmother's life through clothing. Thank you.
in the 1880s : spending a lot of time to get ready and wearing layers of elegant clothing
now : hoodie and sweats 🧍🏻♀️
It brought tears to my eyes that you honoured your ancestor like that. Its so beautiful, you did well.
Beautiful dress and presentation…only one flaw to note - Carolina would probably not have rebraided her hair on the Sabbath, as this violates one of the 39 rules regarding ‘work’. Otherwise, just gorgeous and I’m so impressed with how you have done this project and brought the whole world along to give kavod (honor) to her courage and memory. I’m certain her neshama (soul) is rising higher and higher with your efforts. ❤️🥰
Wild that a recommended video after this was a "life of pioneers 1880s" video. The range humans lived at the same time is always a big stretch to think of! Especially around the world. A great job on this historical clip ❤
The pride and joy on your face is well earned. Amazing series, amazing dress.
My grandfather was a Hungarian Jew. This is the story of my great-grandmother whom I never knew. I actually found myself crying at the end. Thank you!
What a beautiful tribute to your ancestor. Thank you V for sharing this ❤
This whole video was super beautiful and honestly brought tears to my eyes. Universally, we can all imagine what it must be like to be alone, perhaps a bit out of our depths, and tasked with making it all work no matter what and that is really the unifying human factor of this story, but I think even beyond that something that I'm going to take away from this is the awareness that your situation may be such that you are alone. It may feel incredibly daunting, and you may have moments of despair where you are completely overwhelmed by what you have to accomplish. However, one thing you can also do, is make the decision to create something beautiful for yourself; to put in the time for it despite being exhausted because doing something for you is just as important as working hard for everyone else in your life. Then when it's all finished, giving yourself permission to feel some joy in what you've done, and allow a smile to creep across your face every time you get to enjoy it again and again. Making sure you take the pleasure especially during times of stress and pain is inexpressibly important.
Thanks for posting 😢this. Not the same nationality, but definitely the same Era and location. I'm weeping, you have touched the nerve of my ancestors. May the Good Lord bless you 🙏
I love watching your videos. This one elicited a string of emotions. If I were your ancestor, I would be filled with pride and joy to see this. What a lovely way to pay homage to them!
The fabric of the dress is fantastic, the colors and the pattern.
How happy she is to put her new dress on that she’s saved and laboured over. Thank you for this story
My great-grandfather came to the US from what was then a part of Hungary (today it is Slovakia) in 1908. He was 15 and came over with his younger brother. So this video series has resonated a lot with me, even though my family isn't Jewish. It's an amazing feeling to almost reach back through time and connect with your ancestors.
Such a beautiful exploration of history and culture! That song had me tearing up 🥲
My grandmother was also a Hungarian Jewish immigrant to the Lower East Side in the 1880s. She married a tailor and their wedding photo was taken on Essex St. Thanks for this video. Many Hungarian Jews lived on east Houston street, nicknamed Goulash Row.
This is so beautiful on so many levels. Thank you for the great work you put in your projects!
I dont know much about my own ancestors, because it was dangerous to talk about these things in soviet union. My only knowledge about my Jewish great grandfather is that he changed his name from Moses to Mikhail to better fit in after he was orphaned. We found out that he worked as an apprentice in a shoe making store for some time, but thats about all. In fear of prejudice my family lost a lot of knowledge not only about traditions and customs, but even the facts about where he was from originally, just some village behind the pale of settlement. Im now working on collecting all the different stories of my family so that hopefully one day I can share them with my children or nephews.
Russian Jews had various relations +
Bolshevik (Majority) Party, later CPSU
In late 1800s early 1900s many (most?)
were Russian Jewish---most famous was
Leon Trotsky. But many were killed in
Revolution + Civil War + 10+? 20+?
foreign powers invasion.
During Josef Stains era.relations between Soviet Jews + CPSU, then +
much less Jewish leaders + followers.
For example, Soviet Jews were given
Birobidhan area by Stalin. but after WW II
he denounced alleged Jewish doctors plot vs. him (real?. or W propaganda?)
@@tymanung6382 I know that he joined Red Army in the revolution at the age of 16-17 ofc lying to them about his age and changing his name to Mikhail. I don’t really know why he changed it, we just have documents that he was Moses in the orphanage and Mikhail in the Red Army. I don’t really know much about politics of that time in detail, just know that it was frowned upon if you were religious or from any ethnic group other than slavic. Not to trauma dump here, but we know he was an orphan bc of violence to Jewish people, so it makes sense that he wanted to protect himself from possible repressions.
@@tymanung6382 about history I know there was constant back and forth with rights of Jewish people in that time period, on one hand right after the revolution they said antisemitism was bad and belonged in the past, but on the other hand they wanted to assimilate all Jewish people and eradicate knowledge of Hebrew and religious customs. So yeah, kinda opposite messages.
Even as late as the late 1960s, early 1970s, our home had many items that you never find outside an antique store now, and were sometimes useful: a buttonhook, hat pins, several pairs and kinds of gloves, a shoeshine kit, garter straps for stockings and lots of shoehorns. I don't think we were weird at all, just had a family that spanned several generations.
Thank you for this! My maternal great-grandmother came to the Lower East Side from Genoa in 1886. Her daughter, my grandma, was born in 1894 and was a garment worker. They lived in an apartment much like the ones on display in the Tenement Museum on Orchard St.
Wonderfully done and a nice tribute to someone who made a difference.
Koralina is slaying in her new fancy dress
This is really lovely. I always get excited when I see regular people clothes on historical fashion channels, since none of my ancestors were anything close to rich until you go back to, like, the Crusades(were standard bearers rich?), so the rich people stuff is nothing I can imagine wearing. XD Thank you so much!
I love to watch you exploring this and giving voice to the people who enriched this country so much and went through such trials to be here
I hope they stop being largely being ignored by popular narrative, because the past was so much more diverse than people imagine
this is such an important story to tell, and I thank you for sharing it with us
Can’t text through the tears. Thank you
What a beautiful video! It’s rare to see someone recreating outfits of the working classes, as many other Swedes I have distant relatives who emigrated to America at around the same time as Karolina, so I imagine they would have worn something similar. This outfit is beautiful, and so are you! It’s great to see your Jewish heritage as well, the detail of the different neckline and the Star of David buttons are beautiful!
i sit here having a bad chronic illness day, my lungs have decided we don't get to do anything today, so I'm admiring the singing and the effect. are you happy with it?
I am, thank you! I'm not a trained singer so it came out decently given that.
What an incredibly beautiful way to honor your ancestors.
It’s interesting how stockings weren’t just for show like now. They protect the skin from the elements. Also I had no idea overskirts were a thing. I thought the whole thing with the elaborate design was the whole skirt. Learn something new every day.
The history of LES is so interesting because so many immigrants passed through there. My ancestors were in the generations before your Carolina, part of the Little Germany crowd. I've seen letters my ancestor Maria wrote back to Munich about life in NYC during the civil war.
I absolutely love how you personalize this video. Incorporating your own family history into this was so much more personal and real. I love looking into my family tree and trying to work out what life was like for my ancestors.
This was beautifully done. Loved it!
Woot woot! Fyi, I learned from a former coworker that the apartment you were in was the recreation of the Gumpertz (german jewish family - badass single mother whose husband deserts her). A friend of mine wrote a song about her, aptly called Dressmaker! I’ll DM you the music video
What a wonderful video! I love the setting you chose. You must feel such a close connection to your ancestor now that you have gone through the research and made this dress. Those buttons are exquisite!
Thank you for giving me a glimpse into the forgotten part of my roots. I have an Orthodox Jewish great grandmother (Askenazi) who was disowned by her family when she married the man she loved. I only found out about her when I was 12, so I never knew her or very much about that part of my heritage.
I love learning about historical fashion and day to day life, and seeing you connect in such a way with your ancestors is really special.
This was incredible! Thank you. I’m half Ukrainian and half Sicilian, but much of my family first came to America in the 1880s as well. SO cool to see how people dressed. Definitely going to check out the series on your journey making it!
Wunderschön! Dei Dress ist sehr akkurat und liebevoll. Ein grosses Kompliment 😊👍
Wow! This is so moving! I love the music and the song. You should be proud, Snappy Dragon, your ancestors surely are! Beautifully done. ❤
What a beautiful tribute to your (and many others) hard working ancestors
Just love this video. Your dress is beautiful. Thank you for takeing us along on this journey. It gives insight. Shows how much alike we all really are. Including our faith. Much love.
This has been a wonderful series to follow along to. It must have been very special to get to shoot in such an appropriate location, too! It would have been covered in coal soot and dust from the air of at the time industrial New York... And it would have been one more hard task on already burdened women to scrub the flat clean week after week. To appear respectable and even just clean was hard work.
If she wasn't busy with factory work, chances are Carolina had spent the previous day helping scrub all that coal soot away to prepare the house for Shabbat on Friday evening!
It's interesting to see how you turn into your 19th Century Jewish ancestor. To have a inkling into the past, into your ancestors' lives, is amazing. I wish I knew more about my family's past. I didn't even know my grandparents except one grandma who died when I was a child. I have no idea who my other ancestors were. I only know they were Polish and I'm Polish, of course, and my mom's dad had mixed Polish and Austriac background. It would be great to explore the past and reveal the mysteries that remain hidden to my curious mind. Greetings from Chile! 😁
My ancestors weren't Jewish but they were working class. My great-great grandmother would have probably dressed the same. Thank you for this glimpse into the past.
I love this video! I love how it portrays both women's dress in general as well as how this specific person would have dressed because of her background. Very informative!
This was so enjoyable - I really love when costumers look at the dress of ordinary working people.
Loved, just lovely!
What a personal project, I could really feel your passion and pride.
This is charming - and very real. Our immigrant Greatgrandparents had much more courage and optimism - and pride - than we do now, I think.
This legit gave me goosebumps. This was an amazing series.
This is such a beautiful tribute to your ancestor!
Shabat Shalom and happy pride!
This is a beautiful dress and a wonderful series. I'm so glad you got to connect with your ancestors a bit and the filming location was absolutely lovely as was the song.
Thank you 💚
Wonderful Vi! 😀👍💗 Without knowing her story im sure great grandmother Carolina would have loved the story you created honouring her in her ' best dress' I can even picture the two of you in heaven one day sitting together on a bench holding hands and both talking a mile a minute of this special moment 😊❤
So cool that you got to film in the tenement museum. That is a gorgeous lace fireplace cover! 😮 May God continue to bless you in your story/ dressmaking . 🩷🇨🇦
This video is so beautiful it made me cry! This whole series is amazing! You have created something so honest and magical.
I really do love seeing this, and knowing this is similar to how my own ancestors may have dressed and felt moving from Hungary to Denmark around this time.
I hope you'll make the winter equivalent!
It occurs to me, actually seeing this kind of bustle put on (especially the later style): one thing may have been to just add a bit of padding when sitting down. Earlier, more fancy and decorative bustles may have to served..... other ideas. But this style of bustle seems to have some practical uses.
This was enthralling, made all the more enjoyable by witnessing your journey of making the dress- and I’m no sewist! However I love history, crochet, and women’s history in particular, and this just fed my soul. Well done, SnappyDragon! What an achievement!