Time Capsule For 1924 - The Chicago Mail Order Company Catalog

The Chicago Mail Order catalogue from 1924, a window into another time. There are so many fabulous clothes it's a sensory overload for a vintage lover.

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Revisiting The House of Elliott - Love That 1920s Fashion

A look back at the fabulous 1920s fashions in BBC series The House Of Elliott. If you've never seen it, grab yourself a copy on DVD. If you watched it back in the day, it's time for another look.

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One Grandmother's Day - The 1920s Wedding

My grandparents were married in 1920. Here are some of their photos, and some more 1920s brides for inspiration.
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Au Louvre - Paris - Snapshot 1920

Sharing my Au Louvre Paris, French department store fashion catalogue from 1920. Translated from the French pour moi!!
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Night Life

A while ago now I took a long weekend and ventured down to Winchelsea to Barwon Park Mansion to view the National Trust's Night Life exhibition of formal wear from the 1920s and 1930s. It was certainly well worth the trip and a good excuse for a short break.

The mansion was built by Thomas Austin in 1867 when he learned he was to host the Prince of Wales during the next Royal visit. He was too embarrassed to entertain royalty at his modest homestead, so built the mansion. He died six months after it was completed. Austin is also credited, or rather blamed, for introducing the rabbit to Australia so they had something to hunt besides kangaroos.

Barwon Park Mansion

It provided a fitting setting for the National Trust exhibition. The lighting was necessarily dim to conserve the garments, so please excuse the lack of light in the photos.

The 1920s garments were divine. There were, of course, the elaborately beaded flapper dresses but in some ways I found the other garments more interesting, probably because I've seen so many photos of beaded dresses. This dress is one of my favourites - earlier than 1920s, about 1919 I think. I have discovered a passion for tassels.

Beaded Cocoon Coat

This dress of pearl and silver beads is so heavy that the weight of the beads has torn the fine netting to which they are stitched. These heavily beaded garments are displayed flat in cases to minimise stress to the already stressed pieces. It must have been a challenge to dance the Charleston in some of these dresses. This garment is described as an evening gown but wouldn't it have made a lovely wedding dress!

My other favourite piece in the exhibition is this Assuit shawl. In the wake of Howard Carter's discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922 everything Egyptian was the rage. This fabric, named after the place in Egypt where it was made, combines net fabric with metal strips in an ornate design.

Assuit Shawl

The 1930s moved away from beading and ornamentation. Dresses were longer, and cut on the cross of the fabric (or bias) to cling to the body's curves. There were several beautiful silk florals on display.

 One of the problems I had at the exhibition was not touching the fabrics. These fabrics are so foreign to what we are familiar with these days. When a fabric is described as glazed silk I want to touch it, but I did manage to refrain.

This interesting 1940s cotton lace dress was the youngest dress in the exhibition.

There were many other beautiful and interesting pieces that I just couldn't photograph properly in the dark, such as a fabulous piano shawl, and a cape with an amazing Art Deco lining.

An interesting section of home made garments made a detour, and visitors could  practise doing tambour embroidery in a hoop if the volunteers were there to instruct.

One day I hope to go back just to look at the mansion as much of it could not be seen due to the special exhibition. I was most fascinated by the servants' areas.

And by the nursery.

The doll's house furniture was fascinating, made with such care in amazing detail. I was reminded of Beatrix Potter's book "The Tale of Two Bad Mice".

Little wood burning stove. I put my bag there for perspective.

Tiny little ironing board and spinning wheel.

The Night Life exhibition dates  were extended but it was moved to Rippon Lea mansion in Elsternwick, Melbourne, where it is a bit more accessible to most visitors. It finishes on July 30, so be quick. There are also a series of spin off events, including a fashion parade and ball.

Night Life at Rippon Lea

1920s Fashion and Darning on Net

This week I bought a wonderful old book from the 20s on eBay - "Bestway No.175 - 3rd Darning on Net Book".

Like most people these days, I am surprised to learn of this now obsolete but very interesting and effective art. The patterns are for jumpers and tunics, which appear to have been worn as an overdress.

Just look at that fringe! So 20s.

As far as I can understand this, the method seems to be to take a regular sewing pattern in a straight style, as most of them were in the 20s, and cut it out of netting. Then a flat blunt needle is used to weave the silk or wool in and out of the net until it is all filled in. Various patterns can be introduced, as well as different trims.

 

 

 

This garment is finished with a crocheted border, and the fringe is hand knotted into the bottom row with a hook. There is a lovely big crochet covered button  on the right hip.

 

 

This garment is worked with a diagonal pattern, and the wool trim is worked as in a hooked rug, lengths of wool cut to the same length are inserted and knotted with a hook.

 

 

This garment features embroidery worked over the darning.

 

In addition to these interesting garments are the wonderful old ads. Here are two of my favourites:

 

 

If you can zoom in to read the poem about the fairy Sylvanata, do so. I guess that the artificial silk would be rayon. All of these garments were made with silk or wool.

 

 

Granny's hearth and knitting expertise, offering comfort and wisdom.

 

Another great find for me. If I can ever find netting , I might give it a go.

 

 

 

Callot Soeurs - Gatsby Inspiration

My newest addiction is Pinterest. Given time for a leisurely breakfast and I will unwittingly lose two hours trawling the net for new pins for my fashion decades pinboards. I justify this by telling myself that it's research for selling vintage fashion items, which it is, but it's still an indulgence.

The highlight of these fishing expeditions has been my discovery of the house of Callot Soeurs, of whom I had never heard until now. This Paris fashion house created the most exquisite gowns throughout the first three decades of the 20th Century, and into the 30s, until going out of business in 1937. Last night I even dreamed of Callot Soeurs.

Callot Soeurs was a French fashion house established by the four Callot sisters, Marie, Marthe, Regina and Josephine, in Paris in 1895. All four were taught by their mother, who was a lacemaker. For the next decade they made glorious Edwardian  fashions, but it is in the 1910s and 1920s that they made the garments that truly amaze me.
Here is an example:






 

 

 

This dress was made in 1908, but looks to me quite different from the prevailing fashions of the era, with their wasp waists. The waist is raised, clearly indicating the direction which fashion would be following in the 1910s. I like to think of the 1910s, at least the early years, as the Titanic era. The front panel and bodice of this gown are elaborately beaded. There is an interesting mixture of textures, with the silk, the net and beading, and the velvet yoke.

 

In the 1910s, Callot Soeurs made some extraordinary dresses. Here are a few of my favourites:

 

 

 

 

This embroidered tunic and leggings was made in 1910! It must have been a very daring if not somewhat Bohemian outfit for those days.

 

 

This stunning embroidered rose silk dress circa 1909-1910 is in New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. It has a train and an elaborate gold lace bodice. I can't decide whether I am more impressed by it, or this next one:

 

 

Another impressive train, which I would like to see spread out. This art deco gem is from 1919, and also in the Met. The bodice is silver lace, matching the lace on the train, and the skirt is silk velvet embroidered in silver thread.

 

And I can't leave the 10s without mentioning this amazing silk tie dress,  made in 1918:

 

 

 

And so into the modern era. The 1910s seems to be the time where the old, Victorian/Edwardian world was phased out, and the new 20th century world ushered in. It was probably World War 1 that had such a profound effect on the world.

 

The 1920s always seem to me the first decade of the modern era. It was certainly a time of excess, as examining these elaborate dresses has made clear to me - beading, lace, embroidery, fur, feathers, metallics, velvet, all these feature prominently in the fashions of the 20s. Here are some Callot Soeurs stars of the 20s:

 

So Deco! Evening Dress, 1924-25
Embroidery on silk.

 

I love the colours in this silk dress, and the Art Deco embroidered panel is amazing.

 

Evening dress, 1926

 

This glorious silk dress is embroidered with metallic thread.

 

So Deco, this amazing tiered, beaded evening dress, embroidered with metallic thread.

Gorgeous oriental inspired piece embroidered in metallic thread.

I would like to know whether this sheer embroidered dress was worn over an under dress, or just a slip...surely not just one's knickers and cami!!

This Callot Soeurs wedding gown is from 1926.

 I was surprised to read on Wikipedia that Callot Soeurs was not popular with American buyers, who apparently considered it unfashionable. It seems funny that anything from Paris could ever have been considered unfashionable.

Callot Soeurs continued to produce glorious gowns into the 1930s, but the Depression took its toll, and the fashion house closed its doors in 1937.

Many of these gowns are amongst the collection in New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, which has 127 Callot Soeurs gowns in its collection. You can browse them at:

http://www.metmuseum.org/collections/search-the-collections?ft=callot+soeurs&noqs=true

 Join Pinterest if you haven't already, and follow me. I have pinboards for 1900s to 1960s, plus boards for my Etsy store. But be warned, it's highly addictive!

 

http://pinterest.com/lajetsy/boards/

References:

Metropolitan Museum of Art; http://www.metmuseum.org/collections/search-the-collections?ft=callot+soeurs&noqs=true

Wikipedia

 

 

 



 

 

 



 

Don't Get Your Knickers in a Knot - Undies

Did you ever wonder when people began wearing undies? No? Well, having read a few historical novels where grand ladies didn't wear knickers under their regal skirts, I did.

In medieval times both men and women wore chemises, but no underpants. By the eighteenth century, women were wearing long pantaloons or drawers, to keep their legs hidden from a stray peep.
By the 20th century, underwear underwent a metamorphosis that caused it to get briefer, synthetic and less constricting. Fashions for underwear, as for other clothing, was linked to social change.

1900 (Batterberry)

The tyranny of the corset had endured for centuries. Women endured extreme discomfort and frequently injuries from extreme corsetting. The image of Mammy attempting to lace Scarlet O'Hara back to her pre-baby 17 inch waist in "Gone With the Wind," is one many of us will remember. Some women, like the one in this illustration, even had ribs surgically removed in their quest to achieve a waistline of less than 20 inches. This is a feat which horrifies the modern reader, and ranks with Chinese foot binding on the list of barbaric social practices.

1910 (Batterberry) 

In Britain in the latter half of the 19th Century, many followers of the Arts and Crafts movement and of the Suffragette movement,  shed their corsets and adopted looser, smock type garments as a bid for the freedom and equal rights for women. The corset survived in the milder form of the "girdle", but was certainly not compulsory.






Look what I found this week! For masochists only.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/125794897/white-sequined-corset
 

I have a fabulous book called "20th Century Fashion", by John Peacock, which is basically plates of fashion illustrations for every 5 year period from 1900-1989, with descriptions. There are plates for day wear, evening wear, sports wear, couture and accessories for each half of each decade, and I will share a few with you. I hope John Peacock does not mind.

The cotton camisole with separate petticoat were the basic items, along with long drawers, either separate or combined with the cami as camiknickers or combinations. These usually featured an open crotch for practical rather than erotic purposes! An early form of the bra features at the bottom left in a heavily boned corset and "bust supporter".









By 1910, the line of the undergarments is changing in line with the evolution of the outer garments. This underwear features machine made lace. The corset is still in evidence, but it is shrinking.

And just in case you thought all undies were glamorous in the old days, check out these knitted woollies.
(I have the patterns, if you're interested!)














By the twenties, the looser fitting style is more common, although the corset still exists, but once again with a new line.  The brassiere has appeared as a separate garment but is a soft, unstructured style. Note the chest flattening corsets. Crepe de chine was a very popular fabric for underwear at this time, taking over from wool.

Shetland Camibockers - 1928

One of my oldest newspaper patterns is from this period. These are "camibockers" knitted in the finest Shetland wool. If you live in  a cold climate, you might like to try them.




In the 1930s, the glamorous look of the slinky bias cut dress dress would have made the girdle necessary, at least for evening wear, unless one happened to be waif thin. The bra has become a more structured garment, with boning or underwires. Silk and satin have become the popular fabrics for underwear.

Onesie 

Simplicity 2 piece set - late 30s

But wool is still popular for the winter. Here are some beauties from my favourite Sun-glo book.










I think this model is so beautiful. I often wonder who the models were. Imagine finding your grandmother doing this modelling. Miranda Kerr, eat your heart out.

Coming Soon - Underwear, Part Two.

References:
Batterberry, Michael and Ariane; Fashion - the Mirror of History; 1982; London; Columbus Books
Peacock, John; 20th Century Fashion; 1993; London; Thames and Hudson