Descriptions found in Roy, Utah: Our home town by Rose & Ida Dalton

“Every generation laughs at the old fashions, but follows religiously the new.” –Thoreau

How true that quote is! It doesn’t take many years to see a drastic change in fashion. Just open up your old year book and take note of what was “in” when you were in high school. In one of mine, there is a section about fashion and what was “in” at the time. When I first looked through it, I remember thinking, “Why would they include this? This is normal; this is just what people wear.” I think, somehow, I was convinced the fashion of the time would stay the same for forever. Now, looking back, I can blatantly see it was not the case.

Let’s rewind around 100 years ago and see what the people of Roy were sporting in their day. If they could look forward to our day, what fashion trends do you think they would be surprised by?
Pioneer women of Roy usually wore full-skirted, full-length dresses in plain colors or of small-figured design in black or gray. Older women wore “neubies” (shawls) and fascinators.
Black slipper-satin and heavy, black, silk taffeta dresses, and plumed hats were popular in the gay nineties.
The bride’s orchid-colored silk dress was trimmed with white lace. The groom wore a black suit, white shirt, and white tie.

Most ladies owned parasols. They were fashionable and useful.

Pioneer women’s hair styles consisted of a part in the center, with hair combed down on each side, pulled into a bob at the center back, and pinned with long, sturdy hair pins; or it was piled high on top of the head. On Sundays, the old-fashioned curling irons were heated in the front of the coal range, over the burning ‘gleads,’ and the hair was crimped. Men usually wore their hair parted on the left and pulled low over the forehead; often, it was ‘plastered down’ with water.