SEWING MACHINES IMPROVE SPEAKING
During Oscar Wilde’s 1882 tour of North America, his name was used arbitrarily to sell any number of products—there are several such advertisements on this page.
Above is another example from the Davis Sewing Machine Company asserting that Oscar’s perceived lack of ability as a “talkist” was the result of his not having purchased one of their sewing machines. It’s true that commentators noted Oscar’s untutored monotone delivery, but it’s not clear how owning a Davis sewing machine would have developed his diction—with or without basting.
Needless to say, there is no record in Oscar’s tour expenses of a sewing machine.
However, the Davis company might have had better luck arousing Oscar’s interest several years later when the women’s dress movement had loosened its stays
This is because around 1892, the Davis Sewing Machine Company started manufacturing bicycles—including for women attired very much in accordance with Wilde’s views on dress reform.
This meant an opportunity for women to sport clothes favored by the Rational Dress Society (secretary: Constance Wilde) such as roomy sleeves to enable freedom of movement, and knickerbockers or the divided skirt for cycling—as designed by Wilde’s good friend Lady Harberton (pictured).
Naturally, to promote their bicycles, more advertising was needed.
It’s not clear how much rapport there was in the industrial heartland of Dayton, Ohio with the activities of the modern woman. Suffice to say, we see below two examples of the company’s promotion depicting women engaged in those popular ladies’ pastimes of the 1890s: beach cycling and eloping.
Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge
On the other hand, old man Davis did not get where he was in the world of pedaled machinery without some business acumen.
Perhaps there was a circular genius behind the company’s diversifying into bicycles. Ladies who owned their sewing machines might now make cycling outfits and buy their bicycles; while ladies with bicycles anxious to engage in the fad might buy their sewing machines.
Meanwhile, this idea of the active woman was not how the cynics at Punch magazine saw it. They thought that women would probably still be more interested in handicrafts and fashion than actually bicycling—as this Victorian cartoon adroitly implies.
CAPTION:
Gertrude: “My dear Jessie, what on earth is that Bicycle Suit for!”
Jessie: “Why, to wear, of course.”
Gertrude: “But you haven’t got a Bicycle!”
Jessie: “No; but I’ve got a Sewing Machine!”
© John Cooper, 2024.
Okay but now I want one of those Davis ads for my sewing room/office!