Thursday, March 5, 2009

What is a jumper anyway?

I'm glad you asked!

American Heritage College Dictionary tells us it is a "sleeveless dress worn over a blouse or sweater. 2. A loose, protective garment worn over other clothes."

I agree. The jumper is sometimes called a "sleeveless dress," and some summer dresses can become jumpers when worn over blouses or sweaters, as mentioned above. A jumper is not a sweater, unless you are Colin Firth in "Bridget Jone's Diary," and your "jumper" has reindeer on it.

I had to search a bit in the OED ( past a lot of fisherman and religious movement references) to find this:


b.
U.S. A pinafore dress. Also jumper dress.
1939 M. B. PICKEN Lang. Fashion 84/3 Jumper-dress, sleeveless, one-piece garment worn with guimpe. 1967 Boston Sunday Herald (Mag.) 16 Apr. 6/1 (Advt.), Wear as a jumper over blouses. 1971 NewYorker 11 Dec. 3 (Advt.), Wear a jumper to dinner!

c. Comb., as jumper suit, (a) a pinafore dress; (b) a woman's suit consisting of a jumper and skirt.

1908 Sears, Roebuck Catal. 1149/1 An unusually pretty jumper suit made of soft striped taffeta silk. 1925
Times
29 Dec. 7/6 Sports stockinette jumper suits. 1931 E. RAYMOND Mary Leith III ii. 225 .Mary was in
a jumper suit of primrose silk.
1973 Country Life 2 Aug. 335/2 Soft jumper-suits in fine printed wools.



But I am excited to learn that the New Yorker advised its readers in 1971 to "Wear a jumper to dinner." Yes, please do!

The origins of the word "jumper" may be from the obsolete "jup" or "juppe" meaning a woman's jacket or bodice. First recorded mention of "juppe" in literature is from 1603.

Modest Clothing For Girls of All Ages

This picture is from jumpinbloomers.com, a website that sells "modest clothing for girls of all ages."  Just thought I should give them a 'shout out.'  They are not messing around!

Monday, March 2, 2009

Party time jumper

ok, this jumper breaks every rule of jumperdom because it is 
a) not frumpy,
b) lacking pockets, and
c) not conducive to extreme weight gain.

But it's still a great jumper.  

I post it here to prove to all the naysayers that jumpers and 'rock and roll' do indeed go together.  Like birds of a feather in fact.

new jumpers

I know I said my long jean pocketed jumper was my favorite, but this jumper is also my favorite, if that's possible.  It's vintage Esprit (if that's possible) and has buttons all the way down the back, or the front, you can kind of just wear it whichever way you want.  As you can see it is super cool and looks like those old rail road conductor hats we all had as kids.