Bracing Bookmarks

by

Lauren Roberts

The same word in American English and in British English has been known to cause embarrassing confusion. Take the word “braces.” When I first came across this bookmark, I assumed it referred to the teeth-straightening device in spite of the fact that the bookmark looks nothing like that. I even wrote to the British Dental Association requesting their help while researching the history of Bee Braces. (I never received an answer so whoever saw my e-mail must have shaken his head and deleted it.)

Braces, in the case of this bookmark, refers to a clothing accessory designed to hold up a pair of pants or trousers—which makes sense when you look at the actual bookmark—though they can be and often are, in the case of beautiful ones, used as a fashion statement rather than a garment necessity.

Braces (also known as suspenders or gallowses, from the hanging gallows) first came into fashion as radical chic in the late 1780s at the time of the French Revolution. The country’s new citizens decided they needed a change of costume that would reflect their new values, something that would replace the aristocratic knee breeches that dominated up to that time. The substitute was baggy pantaloons held up with silk and satin ribbons (bretelles) fixed into buttonholes. But when the empire returned with Napoleon Bonaparte’s reign, gallowses remained popular. Even he had a pair decorated with bumblebees, a symbol of his native Corsica.

In 1820, the modern version of braces were first made and sold by Albert Thurston from his emporium at 27 Panton Street, Haymarket, London. They were almost universal in their acceptance because of the high cut of mid-nineteenth and early twentieth-century trousers that made a belt impractical. Such was their quality that when the Great Exhibition took place in 1851 Thurston received an Honorable Mention for his products. And Queen Victoria even bestowed a pair embellished with fox hunting scenes to Benjamin Disraeli.

The first ones had a “H” back, and then, in the eighteenth century the design crossed over in a “X” back. Finally in 1850, they finished in a “Y” back, made by bringing the two straps together midway and forming a single strap in the middle which then attaches to the pants in the center, which is still around today. Either way, the brace includes a buckle for personalized sizing.

What really gave braces their staying power was the new vogue for trousers. Belt loops were not to be added to trousers until the twentieth century so braces were essential. In the beginning they were made of velvet, tapestry, twill, linen or braided leather. Elastic didn’t come into use until 1843 when Charles Goodyear invented the process that prevented rubber from cracking in cold and melting in heat.

Men of all classes wore them including the military During the Civil War, soldiers had to supply their own. This gave them the opportunity for a little self-expression, but most often they were made of white linen and embroidered with bright colors in “Berlin wool work,” a type of cross-stitch popular in the 1860s. 

By the 1880s, elastic had become a standard feature of braces. In America, the all advertised suspenders in the Sears and Montgomery Ward catalogs had at least some elastic in them, though they included silk, satin, French lisle web, and leather. Colors and designs were also increasingly popular. As the nineteenth century wound its way through its last decade braces or suspenders could be bought not only in black or white, but in cream, tan, slate, navy, pearl, yellow, and flesh. Dainty polka dots, stripes, machine-embroidered vines, floral scrolls, and Persian, Oriental, or Dresden artistic patterns were also available. And some satin ones included floral sprays on backgrounds of black, blue, garnet, and even pink and lavender.

Buttons were the traditional method of attaching braces to pants until David Roth filed for a patent (#527,887) for a “Garment-Clasp” on October 23, 1894. He described it in first by its parts, then by how those parts worked as whole:

In the accompanying drawings—Figure 1 is a front face view of my clasp. Fig. 2 is an edge view of the same. Fig. 3 is a vertical section of the same.

A is a plate having a loop for attaching it to the webbing for garters, suspender ends or other uses.

B is a slotted opening in said place, narrowed toward the lower end.

C is a lever having flanged sides c and is pivoted between ears a on the plate A. On the pintle, between the flanges c is provided a coil spring s, for the purpose of throwing the lever outward, when free, as seen in Fig. 3.

D is a tongue pivoted between the flanges c at about the midlength of the lever C, and is provided with a button d at its moving and, which engages in the opening B in the plate A.

The method of applying this clasp is as follows: With the clasp open as seen in Fig. 3, place the fabric between the plate and the tongue, then press down the tongue, forcing the fabric through the opening B, the push down the lever which carries the button down in the slot with a portion of the favric surrounding the neck of the button in the slot. The tongue is then held firmly in place and cannot slip by the pulling on the fabric.

The device is very efficient for the uses to which is applicable.

Nearly twenty years before Roth filed for his patent, Samuel L. Clemens (AKA Mark Twain) received a patent (#121,992) on December 19,1871 for a substitute for suspenders, which he considered uncomfortable. His “Improvement in Adjustable and Detachable Straps for Garments” (was an adjustable strap that could be used to tighten shirts at the waist. It was attached to the back of a short and fastened with buttons to keep it in place. It was intended not only for shirts but for underpants and even women’s corsets. 

The nature of my invention consists in an adjustable and detachable elastic strip for vests, pantaloons, or other garments requiring straps . . . The advantages of such an adjustable and detachable elastic strap are so obvious that they need no explanation.

Twain did very well on this particular invention, earning about $50,000. Unfortunately, he lost more on his other inventions.

Braces remained popular until the first World War when the men in uniform became accustomed to uniform belts. Still, they were standard wear by many until the previously fashionable waistcoats became shorter jackets and braces showed, a fashion faux pas. Perhaps the declining interest also was helped along by a July 8, 1928 headline in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that proclaimed, “Il Duce, Sans Suspenders, Sets Fashion.” 

It took nearly twenty years, but even then a return to fuller-cut trousers in the 1940s, though it revived braces, did not bring them back to dominate as they had previously. In fact, it wasn’t really until the 1980s, when actor Michael Douglas popularized them in the movie Wall Street that their popularity began to soar. The British series, Brideshead Revisited, also increased their visibility and popularity And of course television and radio broadcaster Larry King is famous for his.

What helped bring them back into view was in fact their view Previously, it was considered, in traditional and formal settings, improper to show them. They were, after all, underwear, and underwear was never meant to be seen in public. Men kept their waistcoats or jackets on prior to World War I. Afterwards, the formality was loosened and men began removing their jackets in public. Though the cultural strictures that precluded the showing of braces lasted longer in Britain than in America, today braces have become fashionable outwear for men.

For women, braces have always been a fashion statement with elegant overtones. Think Marlene Dietrich pairing them with an elegant white tuxedo and top hat. Diane Keaton’s Annie Hall made them fun and quirky. And Ralph Lauren, that master of designers, promotes them for both genders. In an ad for his Rugby line, the promotional copy reads (in part):

Once saddled with the utilitarian task of just holding up your britches, the elastic-y article has finally come into its own as a taste-making accessory. On a man? Classic as a No. 2 pencil. And on a lady? A red-hot signal of a style icon, surely. Those stretchy straps possess a certain je ne sais quoi, infusing an outfit with an instant punch of both classicism and modernity.

So while Bee Braces, a company about which I could discover nothing, may be lost to history, the product it sold lives on, not only holding up but holding on. 
 
Bookmark specifications: Bee Braces
Dimensions: 5 1/2" x 1"
Material: Paper
Manufacturer: Bee Braces
Date: Unknown; likely early twentieth century
Acquired: eBay


Almost since her childhood days of Mother Goose, Lauren has been giving her opinion on books to anyone who will listen. That “talent” eventually took her out of magazine writing and into book reviewing in 2000 for an online review site where she cut her teeth (as well as a few authors). Stints as book editor for her local newspaper and contributing editor to Booklist and Bookmarks magazines has reinforced her belief that she has interesting things to say about books. Lauren shares her home with several significant others including three cats, nearly 1,300 bookmarks and approximately the same number of books that, whether previously read or not, constitute her to-be-read stack. She is a member of the National Books Critics Circle (NBCC) as well as a longtime book design judge for Publishers Marketing Association’s Benjamin Franklin Awards. Contact Lauren.