[HN Gopher] Disposable paper dresses were a trend in the 1960s
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Disposable paper dresses were a trend in the 1960s
Author : textread
Score : 74 points
Date : 2021-03-07 13:10 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (timeline.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (timeline.com)
| ctrlp wrote:
| Reminds me of Isabelle de Borchgrave's incredible paper dresses.
|
| https://www.vogue.com/slideshow/for-artist-isabelle-de-borch...
| sn_master wrote:
| and now they're used for people in suicide watch..
|
| https://abcnews.go.com/US/ghislaine-maxwell-paper-clothes-co...
| bootlooped wrote:
| They have some on display at The Henry Ford Museum right outside
| of Detroit.
| teddyh wrote:
| Briefly referenced in _The Andromeda Strain_ (the movie from
| 1971):
|
| -- Hard on the taxpayers, isn't it, they way we burn up uniforms?
|
| -- They're paper.
|
| -- I'd swear it was cloth.
|
| -- New process.
| klyrs wrote:
| In the 80s, tyvek (a plastic fabric that feels like paper) became
| popular for windbreakers for athletic events. As far as I know,
| they're still in use. Not exactly high fashion, but the trend
| didn't exactly perish.
| fy20 wrote:
| Is that the same Tyvec that is used a water barrier on
| buildings?
| jacquesm wrote:
| Yes, and if you still have 5 1/4" floppy disks lying around
| (assuming you're old, like me) then you may have some tyvek
| sleeves. It feels a bit more slippery than paper, and it is
| much harder to tear.
| mattkrause wrote:
| Yes! It's a brand of polyethylene fiber.
|
| Tyvec coveralls/jumpsuits are also sometimes used when doing
| something gross that might contaminate your regular cloths.
| CPLX wrote:
| Indeed, and the most common use case most people will have
| a tactile connection to is Fedex envelopes.
| JonathonW wrote:
| Disposable wristbands (the type used for stuff like event
| ticketing) are also generally Tyvek-- water resistant and
| doesn't easily tear (so not likely to fall off and get
| lost), but does cut easily with scissors.
| pridkett wrote:
| This is still popular before marathons. In my last few I got a
| Tyvek set of pants and hoodie that was lightweight and
| disposable. About 30 seconds before starting the race I
| stripped them off, bundled them up, and tossed them into the
| first trash can I saw. They were great for keeping the wind off
| you and surprisingly good at keeping you warm.
| sidpatil wrote:
| The article mentions that paper fashion came to an end due to
| environmental concerns, and also mentions that the subsequent
| fast-fashion trends were even _worse_ from an environmental
| standpoint.
|
| Paper's damaging environmental footprint is due to its
| _production_ , not its _disposal_. Virgin paper production
| involves chopping down trees (this is somewhat ameliorated by
| sourcing from managed forests, though many managed forests are
| monocultures, leading to its own set of issues), bleaching
| (though unbleached paper is an option), and lots of water /energy
| usage (improper water management can turn it into a pollutant of
| sorts [1], and energy production from fossil fuels leads to air,
| water, and land pollution). Paper from recycled materials causes
| less of these issues, and has become better in quality over the
| past decades.
|
| Assuming there are no harmful or non-biodegradable additives or
| materials added to the product, paper will disintegrate quite
| fast if left outside, and even faster if composted.
|
| [1]
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1990_Interstate_75_fog_disaste...
| grawprog wrote:
| >Assuming there are no harmful or non-biodegradable additives
| or materials added to the product, paper will disintegrate
| quite fast if left outside, and even faster if composted.
|
| The article did mention the dresses were 7% rayon.
|
| It's not a large percentage but not totally biodegradeable.
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rayon
|
| >A 2014 ocean survey found that rayon contributed to 56.9% of
| the total fibers found in deep ocean areas, the rest being
| polyester, polyamides, acetate and acrylic.[41]
| schiffern wrote:
| According to the article, rayon is biodegradable. It's made
| of 100% cellulose.
|
| >Rayon was found to be more biodegradable than cotton, and
| cotton more than acetate.
| hyperpallium2 wrote:
| This explains the paper suits in Larry Niven's stories.
| PaulAJ wrote:
| See also https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/paper-dresses
| twobitshifter wrote:
| Thank you for providing some sorely needed color photos!
| tengbretson wrote:
| I'd be interested to hear just how many times the average dress
| gets worn now and what percentage of them only ever get worn
| once. I suspect it's a significant percentage.
| doggodaddo78 wrote:
| Almost disposable dresses can be bought on Aliexpress for a few
| dollars.
| mywittyname wrote:
| I bet this was popular mostly due to the ease of printing clever
| designs on them, which was difficult/expensive with cotton at the
| time.
|
| The modern equivalent would be those silly christmas suits or
| t-shirts with 10,000 tacocats printed all over them.
| Lammy wrote:
| I bet it was popular due to the ease and methods of removal
| considering nobody had heard of HIV yet :p
| chris_st wrote:
| Commentary from the 60's: There was a young
| girl named McCall Wore a newspaper dress to a ball
| The dress caught fire And burned her entire Front
| page, sporting section, and all.
| homero wrote:
| That sounds deafening noisy, was it really like poster paper?
| itronitron wrote:
| A classmate of mine in high school brought in a paper dress
| that her mom had saved. If I remember correctly, it was
| slightly thicker than card stock and had the texture and
| flexibility of felt wool.
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