Holiday Greeting: Advertisement from 1944Have a wonderful holiday season! December, 1944 advertisement: Claussner Hosiery Company, "Kleer Sheer Exquisite Hosiery" "Wear Sealed for those who like the finest" "Claussner Rayon Hose will come out this year in your letter to Santa. Their lustrous loveliness lingers long after the last carol ha…
Pointy Toe Boots: Poulaines are Alive & Worn Once More!Poulaines are those long pointed shoes that can be seen on fashionable young men in works of art from the Gothic period. I was amazed to find out that this look is alive and well in a craze from Mexico that centers around super long pointed toes on cowboy boots. These fantastical boots are worn in…
55 Thousand Dresses: When Just One Dress Won't DoNormal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 …
1938 High School Year Book: the Senior's Story1938 School Yearbook for Long Beach, CAPoly High Schhol's new campus built following the great Long Beach earthquake a few years earlierThis summer I came across an old yearbook in the stacks at a thrift store. Yearbooks have value for dating apparel, hairstyles and noting trends for a certain time…
1944 RBW Fashion Illustration: Davidow SuitsThis ink wash fashion illustration is by RBW and shows Davidow suits for winter, 1944. The signature Davidow soft tailoring is already in evidence by the soft belting and shirt-style jackets pictured here. I include this Davidow set to reference earlier designs from this label (see previous Davidow…
18th Century Hair Fashion & A Story of Changing PortraitsThe Huntington Library in San Marino, CA, has a wealth of artwork dating from the 1700's. From this collection, a recent article discussed how these paintings depict women's hairstyles from the 1700's, and that these silhouettes are known for becoming more fanciful and extreme as the years progresse…
Happy ThanksgivingHave a great Vintage Thanksgiving! illustration by John Fernie for Pepsi-Cola, Fall 1958…
Davidow: early 1960's Couture SuitsDavidow suits from the early 1960s are vintage gems. While they have great diversity in cut and style, the quality of textile makes them standout among other suits from this era. I wanted to share a copy of the Davidow brochure for Spring 1960. This issue shows what we might consider to be very …
Scrapbooking 1960 style: Clippings of Fashions & AdvertisementsThe Ceil Chapman dress advertisement I posted yesterday came from a fashion scrapbook that was probably assembled in the early 1960's. Sometimes a great source for research and design shows up in unexpected places. What looked to me like a child's paper scrapbook collection turned out to be newspape…
Ceil Chapman: 1960's Advertisement & IllustrationThis advertisement for a Ceil Chapman cocktail dress comes from the first few years of the 1960's. It was pasted into an old undated scrapbook of newspaper fashion ads that appear to be early 60's. The Ceil Chapman sheath presents several interesting features that when combined create a very figu…
Researching Lilly Pulitzer: Dating Vintage FashionWhen trying to date or locate resources for vintage fashion, seeking out originals of the same style from actual vintage documents can be difficult. One great resource for dating 20th century fashion are the many home sewing patterns published through out the century. The photo of Lilly Pulitzer ab…
House of Shroyers: Vintage Dress LabelThis "House of Shroyers" advertisement from 1960 shows dresses that seem typical for that era. The company was a long standing manufacturer of women's styles during the early to mid-twentieth century. I became interested in the label after finding a dress with this brand that was in excellent 'dea…
Lilly Pulitzer: Close-upLilly Pulitzer fabrics and fashions made a transition during the later half of the 1960's to include white trimmings that were heavy and textured. She used the popular caftan shapes that were constructed with vertical seam lines and slash necklines to create 'outlines' and seam accents. She had bee…
