Is
Still Missing: Amelia Earhart and the Search for Modern Feminism the book you'rereading? On page 106 it says:
quote:
Amelia was now supporting her mother entirely and helping her sister out financially, and she seemed to think that her financial contributions allowed her to interfere as well "Please throw away rags and get things you need on my account at Filenes." she told her mother immediately after her 1928 flight. "I can do it now, and the pleasure is mine." She was still badgering her mother about clothers in 1935. "Please remember you and Pidge attract attention as my relatives so spare me blowsies. I'd prefer you to get a few simple decent clothes, both of you, not awful cheapies, so people who don't look below the surface won't have anything to converse about."
I think
blowsies refers to cheap, shoddy clothes in that quote. I've never heard
blowsies before, but it seems she was just turning the adjective
blowzy into a noun, but she didn't seem to use it quite right.
Blowzy refers to neatness (or, rather, lack of neatness); i.e., disheveled, unkempt.
Blowsies seemed to refer to the quality (cheap, shoddy, not stylish) rather than the neatness of the clothes. I wonder if it was a common slang word in those days?
See page 745
here.
I ran across an article you might like,
WOMEN IN FLIGHT: Balloons, Parachutes, Airplanes, and the Search for Equity 
