Motoring Gear

Not long ago, as we were driving to New York, this guy passed us on the highway.

IMG_3525It reminded me of fashions people used to wear when autos first came out. I have blogged before about how the first models were open to the air, so passengers wore goggles and “dusters,” and women often wore big, sweeping, net veils over their hats and faces. Here’s one more picture that I came across in the Library of Congress archives, from around 1910:LC-USZ62-74640Pretty awesome, isn’t it?

You can read more about these fashions in my upcoming book, Why’d They Wear That? (National Geographic, February 2015.)

image: LOC LC-USZ62-74640