*Ahem* A Reminder - It Is *That* Time of Year Again

Nurses General Nursing

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Halloween is just two weeks away. Anyone looking to wear whites and or a cap for costume or other purposes, time is a wasting. Especially if one intends to shop on eBay or order from Kay's.

Speaking of eBay, it is always around this time of year lots of vintage uniforms and such pop up, some of it NOS.

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Then it must be Hallow'een every day in my hospital. We have one nurse manager who does whites and cap daily, and several nurses who wear whites on a regular basis.

We're tired of being considered sex goddesses....

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For Halloween a friend of mine at church wore one of those green vintage looking nurse dress she found at a military surplus store for a few bucks. Definetely not the all-white look but you couldn't mistake her costume as anything but nurse! She wore white latex gloves too. I think she wore a surgical cap instead instead of a nursing cap.

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Specializes in ER, ICU.

Yeah, as temping as it is, please avoid Sexy Nurse, it just demeans our profession. Thanks.

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Specializes in Professional Development Specialist.

I bought a genuine old school dress. I figure a good portion of my patients will remember and appreciate the nostalgia. I'm so far past sexy it surely won't even be remotely considered.

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For Halloween a friend of mine at church wore one of those green vintage looking nurse dress she found at a military surplus store for a few bucks. Definetely not the all-white look but you couldn't mistake her costume as anything but nurse! She wore white latex gloves too. I think she wore a surgical cap instead instead of a nursing cap.

Do you mean one of these?

H2green2.JPG

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Specializes in ICU.

most definately not....yuck lol

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Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.

do good- i think i would pay some serious $$$ to get a look at your vintage "stash" every time you post this stuff i get this color l o l ! :)

i agree with everyone else - respect the vintage garments - and bemoan the fact they can't tell us their story ==sniff== i think i'm getting a little verklempt. . .btw i have an extensive collection of household aprons dating from around 1910-1970 and they tell a story, too. i guess i identify emotionally with clothes!

the one vintage nurse's item i've not seen are the khaki-colored nurse coveralls of the ww2 era and warn by claudette colbert and her nurses in the movie so proudly we hail. i remember she tossed them to the new nurses - with an oh no no no - we don't wear our whites here. i always thought it would be cool to wear coveralls -- except for the going to the br part - unless there was a pj-style flap there.

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do good- i think i would pay some serious $$$ to get a look at your vintage "stash" every time you post this stuff i get this color l o l ! :)

i agree with everyone else - respect the vintage garments - and bemoan the fact they can't tell us their story ==sniff== i think i'm getting a little verklempt. . .btw i have an extensive collection of household aprons dating from around 1910-1970 and they tell a story, too. i guess i identify emotionally with clothes!

the one vintage nurse's item i've not seen are the khaki-colored nurse coveralls of the ww2 era and warn by claudette colbert and her nurses in the movie so proudly we hail. i remember she tossed them to the new nurses - with an oh no no no - we don't wear our whites here. i always thought it would be cool to wear coveralls -- except for the going to the br part - unless there was a pj-style flap there.

good morning y'all.

nurse156, don't go all pea green on my account, or at least the picture shown above. that vintage item is on ebay, and can be *yours* if you want.

my vintage *stash* isn't as large as it once was, linens are mainly my street, and as my place isn't that large sometimes things have to go.

vintage nursing gear is often easy or hard to come by just as with any other else collected. have to say am a sucker for a sob story, and often will give away, let go of, or sell an item if someone pulls my strings. caps in particular are a tough one. often you run into a grad of the school in question and get one of two stories: it's either "you didn't go to such and such program therefore have no right to that cap, but i (or my mother, grand-mother, great-grand-mother....) did, so you should let me have it. or, someone from an alumni society or hospital historical society wants vintage nursing gear for their collection. either way what can i say?

will keep my eyes peeled for us military coveralls. iirc, they were worn right up through the korean war, and maybe even vietnam. think nursing cores learned the hard way during wwi, that starched whites, and or any sort of uniform that required skirts and light clothing just doesn't cut it in field hospital work. first thing that comes to mind is the problem of laundering and ironing.

somewhere have some old nursemaid/nurse aprons from europe and uk, the "victorian" looking ones that are meant to cover long skirts. they are made from either heavy cotton or linen, and wear like steel. sadly they must be ironed and *that* is a pain.

just check thrift stores and estate sales, and of course ebay, there is quite allot of "vintage" nuring gear out there. ages ago these uniforms and such would have been passed to another nurse in a family (didn't everyone have at least one?:D), but since whites and caps have largely been replaced by scrubs, no one really wants them. scub dresses are almost too easy to find. when aorn came out against them, many hospitals long since switched to pants.

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Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.
Ages ago these uniforms and such would have been passed to another nurse in a family (didn't everyone have at least one?:D)

I have my great aunt's nursing school ring from her diploma program in 1921 at Good Samaritan Hospital in Oregon. One of my greatest treasures! :)

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I'm working on Halloween. I think I'll just put on an eyepatch and leave it at that. No stupid nurse's uniform for me, given the naughty connotations it may have.

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Specializes in Med-Surg/Peds/O.R./Legal/cardiology.

DoGood, what a NEAT hobby! I still have my nursing cap (with the black band) stored away. Worked too hard for it to throw it away! Ahhhh....those were the days! :sniff: I know there have been many threads posted on this subject, but I think we lost "something" of the profession when we left the whites. The end of an era when nurses were held in much higher regard.

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