Saratoga 1915

[bond_and_beyond]

Came across this great photo of Saratoga Springs, NY ca 1915 on Shorpy.com. Particularly love the suit on the gent in front.




I recommend seeing the full size image here http://www.shorpy.com/node/13251?size=_original#caption

BB

[Miles Messervy]

Beautiful, indeed. Almost idyllic.

As you've pointed, bond, the suit of the gentleman upfront looks very nice. Interesting how the all the vest buttons are done and to notice details such as the trousers length, with turn-up cuffs.

And to think that, at the same time, war was ravaging in Europe and on the seas!

[Luca]

Incredible picure in quality and content; thanks!
From an aestehtic standpioint, an altogether superior time, close to the apex.

[Aristide]

One could never tell that the world was in the throws of war.

[Frederic Leighton]

From an aestehtic standpioint, an altogether superior time, close to the apex.

I agree with you, Luca. At the same time I think that aesthetic subtleties must have been prerogative of a few (see here and here).

At the beginning of the 20th century surveys showed that 25% of the population were living in poverty. They found that at least 15% were living at subsistence level. They had just enough money for food, rent, fuel and clothes. They could not afford 'luxuries' such as newspapers or public transport. About 10% were living in below subsistence level and could not afford an adequate diet.

..in late Victorian and Edwardian England, where there were children dying of starvation on the streets of most big cities, where 80,000 prostitutes, most of them riddled with incurable syphilis, plied their trade on the streets of London, and where the average age of death for a working-class man was 35.

[cathach]

From an aestehtic standpioint, an altogether superior time, close to the apex.

Perhaps, I would much prefer the clothing of the 30s, 50s and 60s however, as more expression and less stiff collars became general. Bonneville's remarks, if they are his are astonishingly naive. And in a month where one of the university papers notes the admission of another 'fellow' to the Bullingdon Club part of which process involved burning a £50 note in front of a homeless man [called a tramp] let us remember that privilege and good dressing can disguise the most ugly individuals conceivable.

[Luca]

I actually agree with you on the timing, that's why I said close to the apex.

As for social injustice, yes, it abounded though you must make allowances for the fact that most social history is written with a distinctly socialist slant and based largely of tracts and journalism as primary sources. Cliometician's work usually yields a more balanced data set. As badly off as the average working man was in the 'Edwardian' era, he was incomparably better off than 20, 40, 100, 200 years prior.
But I (broadly) take your point.

[NJS]

I remember that comments are supposed to be in the separate thread and I have moved my amended post over there.
NJS