Seven Decades of Women’s Style with Pendleton

A Seven Decade Celebration

We celebrated seventy years of classic Pendleton style for women on September 9, 2019 at our downtown Portland store. A fantastic time was had by all.

Interior of Pendleton store with row of mannequins wearing vintage Pendleton women's clothing

This Fall’s women’s line has a capsule of archive-inspired pieces, so we brought out the original garments and some other favorites to show how good design is timeless–and a lot of fun.

People were transfixed by the details.

customer in Pendleton store reading placard describing pendleton vintage clothing

customer in Pendleton store wearing white gloves as she inspects the hem of a Pendleton vintage skirt

Special Treats

The catering was excellent! We want to thank Delilah’s Catering for getting into the spirit of the party and helping us design a menu that reflected the best of decades past. We also hope guests enjoyed the special cocktail developed just for us–“The 49’er”, of course!

refreshments at party in Pendleton store: deviled eggs, petit fours, fruit skewers, paper plates, serving tongs

vintage pendleton ad of woman on bicycle placard with hole in face area where customers can put their own faces

We were delighted to see people wearing vintage Pendleton pieces and caught photos of a few, including this beautiful reversible skirt in tartan red and cream.

woman in red Pendleton skirt studies vintage pendleton clothing at pendleton store party, including 2009 Opening Ceremony coat

Lindy Dancers Cut Loose

This plaid wool western shirt on one of the Lindy Society Dancers is a classic. And we think the navy plaid skirt is Pendleton, too!

Linday Hop dancers dancing on sidewalk in front of pendleton store, one woman, two men

The Portland Lindy Society dancers set the tone of the evening. Their swing music put everyone in the mood to celebrate.

Lindy Hop dancers on sidewalk in front of Pendleton store, dancing, one woman, one man

crowd of people inside Pendleton store at party

customers studying Pendleton vintage clothing at pendleton store

Food, gifts, dancers, cocktails and music. What more could you ask for? Thank you to everyone who joined in the fun and made this a success.

Here’s to seventy more!

round seal that marks celebration of pendleton womenswear's 70th anniversay, includes "celebrating pendleton womenswear 70 years of style - 1949 - 2019

It’s a Pendleton party! Come Join us this Friday, 9/6/19!

Seven Decades

Fall 2019 marks seven decades of style from Pendleton. And we are having a party!

The event details are here: Seven Decades of Style party

You can also register at Eventbrite: Pendleton party, Seven Decades of Style

08_2019_PAW_70th_Anniversary_V3.inddWe can’t wait to share the archive inspirations for this year – vintage clothes are encouraged, so put on your ’49er, bring a friend and have a blast.

 

See you there!

National Parks Memories: Babies

National Park Memories

We are closing out this fantastic year of celebration with some more National Park memories. These two memories come from Pendleton employees.

The Grand Tantrum

Erin is one of our designers. She has this to say about this photo:

Although I don’t remember this, it is a popular story at family get gatherings. This is a picture of me at the Grand Canyon with my mother (Nancy) and aunt (JoAnn). I am recovering from a massive tantrum because my mother would not release me from her toddler hiking backpack. I really wanted to cross the guard rail to get a better look at the Grand Canyon! Obviously my request was not met and I went into a hysterical crying tantrum.

A 1980s photo of two women and a crying toddler at the Grand Canyon

Mt. Hood Moms

And, for our last post of the year, here’s a classic shot given to us by Robin, who is head of our bricks-and-mortar stores division:

Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood:  The year was 1957, I was 4.5 years old.  I was visiting my West coast grandparents from New York with my New York City grandmother, Rose Raskin in the Pendleton 49’er jacket, my mother, Mary Bonetta,  and little sister Hillary, age 2. I recall only the gift shop, where I was to receive a totem pole.  Who knew then I would work for Pendleton 45+ years later.  Wish I had that 49’er jacket!

A 1957 photo of a family at Mt. Hood's lodge

Two wonderful memories, two fabulous photos and two babies for the New Year.

Happy New Year from Pendleton Woolen Mills!

National-Park-Collection-100_Color-Logo

Pendleton Wool Decade Shirts for Women: Steal His Shirt

Boyfriend Style

Women have been carrying on a love affair with men’s style since the 1940s.

1940s teenager in Pendleton wool shirt. We won't apologize for the cigarette, because everyone smoked in the 1940s, including doctors while they performed surgery.

Call it Boyfriend Style, call it Menswear-Inspired, call it dressing like boys or whatever you want to. Women have always loved wearing male-inspired fashion and men’s garments. Especially, it seems, men’s Pendleton wool shirts.

Photo courtesy of Rachel Comey Boots

Boyfriend style is hot right now, but it’s not new. The Pendleton 49’er grew directly from this trend. To quote our blog post on this iconic jacket:

Pendleton’s success with men’s shirts had happened twenty years earlier, but during WWII, men were not the only people enjoying distinctive plaids and ombres in pure virgin wool. Women began to borrow men’s work shirts for both work and warmth.

1940s women in Pendleton wool shirts. The fetching ax-wielder on the right looks like Mad men's Peggy Olson AKA Elizabeth Moss, doesn't she?

 It’s possible that by wearing their husband’s shirts, women kept the memories of their husbands, fiancés and brothers close, though many undoubtedly needed some serious work wear that was simply not available for women at the time. Whatever the reason, women loved Pendleton shirts.

We answered this love by introducing the Pendleton 49’er jacket in (you guessed it) 1949. (As an aside, how much does the woman on the right resemble Peggy Olson?)

ICONS!

Women loved the 49’er, but continued to raid men’s closets. Here are two 1950s icons of femininity, rocking their Pendletons.

Marilyn Monroe in a Pendleton wool shirt.
Jayne Mansfield in a Pendleton wool Board shirt. With chihuahuas. Cooking breakfast, because that's how all chihuahua owners cook their eggs.

These photos of Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield offer a clue as to why Boyfriend Style was so popular in the 1950s.  It was associated with relaxation, home, comfort, ease, the outdoors. It probably offered them a break from their sexpot styling, though this Life magazine series of Jayne Mansfield cooking breakfast in a Pendleton shirt still manages to radiate her kittenish allure.

Jaynex3

(As another aside, clearly Jayne inspired today’s selfie-pout).

The desire to steal his shirt didn’t end in the 1950s. Diane Keaton’s Annie Hall style showed up in the 1970s, creating a wave of skinny-tie-and-vest wearers. Women tucked shoulder pads under the bigger shoulders of men’s shirts and jackets and belted them tightly to create the signature silhouette of the 1980s. The 2000s brought the rise of thrifted style. Countless women reworked shrunken men’s Pendletons into their looks. And when we introduced our Fitted line, market intelligence informed us that a surprising amount of these slimmer-cut shirts were selling to women. Women still love wearing Pendleton men’s shirts.

Today, with Nine Decades

When we decided to celebrate our Nine Decades of Pendleton Wool Shirts, we knew that women would want to celebrate this milestone, too. So we developed three Decade Shirts for women using plaids from our archives.

WEB_WomensDecadeShirts

Three styles, five fabrics, all available at pendleton-usa.com. The Prineville is a popover with a 3/4 placket. The Ranch Hand is based on our Men’s Canyon model, the original High Grade Westernwear shirt. The Ponderosa uses our beautiful Sir Pendleton worsted fabric, meaning there’s almost a mile of yarn in every shirt.

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To finish things nicely, because we love to do that, each shirt has a special Decade Shirt label in the placket. We wanted to give you everything you love in our Men’s shirts with Women’s more fitted shaping.

Here are the Decade Shirts for Women in action.

Photo by Lauren Field

You can see the special Decade label in the shot above. Copyright 2014, Lauren Field All rights reserved by Pendleton Woolen Mills

Brother and sister in pendleton shirts

Copyright 2014, Lauren Field All rights reserved by Pendleton Woolen Mills

photo by Blaire Russel A woman stands in front of a waterfall

Copyright 2014, Blaire Russel All rights reserved by Pendleton Woolen Mills

photos by Travis Hallmark, woman in wheatfield

Copyright 2014, Travis Hallmark All rights reserved by Pendleton Woolen Mills

Our Decade Shirts for women celebrate our past and inspire our future. But even so, we know from experience that you’ll continue to steal his shirt.