I adore old newspapers. Whether I’m looking for an ancestor or researching something for work, I always find something intriguing. This week was no exception. I especially love advertisements. They really give me a sense of what life was like during a certain time period. Case in point…this 1895 advertisement for French Crepons. That’s not what initially caught my eye, but being me, I had to look it up to see precisely what kind of fabric it was. Crepon is a heavy crepe fabric, and it has lengthwise crinkles (thank you, Merriam-Webster). With that mystery solved, I moved on to the original curiosity…the “newest shades of the season.” There were some obvious popular colors like olive, cream, tan, navy, and black. The others were begging me to find out more!

Courtesy of Merriam-Webster, here’s what I found out:

Myrtle – One of the definitions was periwinkle, which led me to look up periwinkle. Myrtle is a light, purplish-blue.

Acier – First known use was in 1875. Its origin was French, and it meant steel. The dictionary definition is quaker gray. This would be a favorite of mine!

Heliotrope – One definition of heliotrope was bloodstone – very vivid imagery – and another was moderate to reddish purple.

Ardoise – The definition for this one was interesting – a grayish purple that is stronger than telegraph blue, bluer and deeper than mauve gray, and bluer and paler than average rose mauve. Clear as mud?!

Even Webster has lost track of all these colors. Trappiste and pilote were not in the dictionary, and a quick Google search didn’t reveal anything.

A thought to leave you with…there’s always something new to discover in the old.