Rainy Day Club

Rainy Day Club

Rainy Day Club was an American woman's organization founded by Bertha Welby in New York City, on November 5, 1896. The club's first president was Emma Beckwith. Subsequently, for 25 years, Mrs. A. M. Palmer served in that role.All members of the Rainy Day Club had to pledge themselves to wear rainy-day dress in inclement weather, the object of the organization being to introduce sanitary methods in dress, as well as to promote sanitary reforms in homes. It was the revolutionary effect of the bicycle that made this fashion movement possible. Club members denied that there would be a sacrifice of "prettiness" in the new costume. Some women seemed to think that the advantages in convenience and comfort of the costumes the club was favoring would be counterbalanced by the loss in attractiveness. However, the new dress would not be ugly. It would be a dainty, light-weight skirt reaching to the shoe-tops,perfectly fitting boots with tops two inches higher than usual. Each woman could decide for herself as to the waist, and could make her costume as attractive as any she wears.

Update this biography »
Complete biography of Rainy Day Club »