My great-grandmother wore what? Fabulous fashion from SLO County’s past

It’s hard to imagine a modern-day doctor strolling through the streets of San Luis Obispo in a woven wool serape decorated with flowers.

But that’s what pioneering physician William Williams Hays wore circa 1866.

“It’s a really rich blending” of Spanish, Mexican and Native American styles, said Eva Ulz, curator and director of the History Center of San Luis Obispo County.

That gaudy garment is part of the History Center’s latest exhibition, “The Way We Wore: 100 Years of San Luis Obispo County Fashion,” featuring clothing from its collections worn by Central Coast residents.

“Every one (of these outfits) has a story,” Ulz said. “We wanted to show how people’s lives were affected by what they wore, and vice versa.”

What’s more, she added, “We wanted to do something that would be visually engaging and get stuff out of our collection” that has remained out of sight for years.

Fragile textiles are so susceptible to light and dust, she added, that they can only be displayed every five years for three to six months at a time.

As an example, Ulz points to a silk brocade gown so delicate that it has to be displayed sitting down. The chemically treated fabric shows signs of “shattering,” or, disintegration.

Mary Ella Steele Brooks, wife of former Tribune editor Benjamin Brooks and niece of Central Coast cattle baron George Steele, wore the gold and burgundy dress to an inaugural ball for then-President James A. Garfield in 1881. She pulled it out of the closet seven years later for the grand opening of the long-gone Ramona Hotel in San Luis Obispo.

In comparatively good shape is an embroidered silk taffeta dress Ascension Concepcion Salazar Dallidet donned decades early, around 1850. That glowing garment worn by the wife of vintner Pierre Dallidet changes color depending on how the light hits it.

Not all of the outfits on display are quite so formal.

A comfy cotton wrapper worn by a settler from Ceylon, as Sri Lanka was once known, is 1860’s answer to yoga pants and an oversized sweatshirt.

“It’s basically like a bathrobe,” Ulz said, explaining that women would have worn wrappers while completing morning chores or chatting with servants.

Two outfits from 1890 — a sleek walking suit and a modest riding habit — represent a push in the late 19^th century toward fashion better suited to an active lifestyle.

“If you wanted to wear something sensible, something everyday,” a walking suit was ideal, Ulz said. “You could go for a walk in the woods or work in the office.”

The riding habit, made for a woman riding sidesaddle, has two pockets sewn into the skirt – one for her knee and the other for her saddlehorn. (The original wearer was unusually slim, with a 22-inch waist, Ulz said.)

According to Ulz, men’s fashion is underrepresented in “The Way We Wore” because few outfits were preserved. Among the firearms, spurs and other accessories on display is some stylish headgear — including a flamboyant “fiesta hat” that allegedly belonged to rancher Pio Pico, the last governor of Alta California under Mexican rule.

In addition to celebrating the styles of the past, Ulz said “The Way We Wore” explores how clothing choices were influenced by “technology, transportation, and other factors completely unrelated to the dictates of fashion.”

“The way individuals dressed was inextricably linked to how they saw themselves and the way they lived their lives, she said, and, conversely, their lives were “controlled by the way society expected them to dress.”

This story was originally published November 14, 2016 at 6:27 AM with the headline "My great-grandmother wore what? Fabulous fashion from SLO County’s past."