One of the most fascinating aspects of historical novels is the clothing, wouldn’t you say? What did people wear? Why did they wear that particular style? How was their clothing made? This is perhaps the hardest detail to keep track of in Between Worlds.

Ancestral photos from that general time period are either sepia or black and white, so I had to rely on information from one book and photos of traditional dress worn at modern festivals. In this blog post, I’ll take you through what I do and don’t know about how Elisabeth would’ve dressed.

My Own Preconceptions

It’s important to start here. I've always enjoyed looking through old photos, and there was certainly no shortage of them from both sides of the family. In fact, given what little they could bring with them when they left Europe in the 1950s, I'm surprised at how many photos made it across the Atlantic.

For example, every photo I've ever seen showed women's and girls’ hair either covered or pulled back. In addition, a photo from Liebling, one of the feeder towns to Semlac, showed girls with their braid pinned on top of their head. The clue I didn’t recognize at the time was that the girls were wearing dirndls, which were not part of the dress code in Elisabeth’s time.

It took me a year to realize that Elisabeth’s hair was pulled back, not pulled up. She likely formed two braids—one at each side of her head—and incorporated them into a single braid down the back. In addition, she would have woven a thick ribbon through the single braid and then tied it into a bow at the bottom. I’m sure it was absolutely lovely.

Blouses in Semlac

Some old photos make it look like the women wore dresses. They generally didn’t. Instead, women wore a skirt + blouse + full apron. The blouses were hand-decorated and could have lots of notions and stitching.

The other piece of clothing worn on top was the tschurak, a somewhat tight-fitting, light jacket that extended just past the hips. It was part of the traditional dress earlier on but, according to my book on Semlac, was eventually replaced by the blouse as just described.

The following photo is from 1917. The woman seated is Elisabeta Wolf née Stefan and is X old, and standing next to her is her daughter, Katharina. Notice the crisp folds in the aprons.

Elisabeth’s Skirts

In Semlac, the coveted style of skirt for women was made of cashmere and ideally dyed blue-green. I did my best to look for photos online, but alas, despite what we all believe, Google still hasn't found everything. However, I do have this photo of Katharina Wolf, the inspiration for Elisabeth. It was likely taken during World War I. Notice how her bangs are short, but her hair is pulled back.

Footwear and Socks

Exactly what their shoes look like has been perhaps the most difficult aspect of this. The best I could find was that women wore leather slippers during the week and satin slippers for their Sunday dress. Girls wore what appear to be ankle-high boots made of black leather with laces.

Heels and buckles apparently did not enter the village until the 40s; however, the book does have a picture of girls in the 1930s wearing white shoes with buckles and heels.

Socks for girls until around Elisabeth’s time were hand-knit. In the winter, women knit socks from wool and in the summer from cotton. They had horizontal stripes: blue-black or green-black in the winter, and white-black or white-blue in the summer.

Economic Status

The next layer of difficulty is economic status. The book about Semlac says that the wardrobe and style of dress described in its pages are specific to farmers. Rich people dressed differently. Hair length was the single example I found that illustrated the difference: women who belonged to the higher strata in the village may have cut their hair short by this time.

Writing Historical Fiction

One beauty about historical fiction is reliving what life may have been like in a different time and place. I am sorry that I can’t recreate Elisabeth’s dress codes exactly. But I hope the important aspects are clear: She never wore pants (inconvenient, from my point of view) and had to wear her hair in a prescribed way.

On the other hand, her clothing showcased the handiwork crafted by the women in her family and broader circle of friends. That’s certainly something we’ve lost that would be beautiful again, isn’t it?

You’ll find more information about Between Worlds here.