Fashion

Beauty as Duty: A Victorian Appreciation
(Manners, Culture and Dress, 1870)

The thought that one’s appearance should never be a burden for others is not entirely a Victorian concept, it was more than likely borrowed from the Greeks:

It is every woman’s duty to make herself as beautiful as possible;and no less the duty of every man to make himself pleasing in appearance. The duty of looking well is one we owe not only to ourselves, but to others as well.

Click here to read about physical perfection during the Golden Age of Hollywood.

Thoughts on Blouses
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1947)

By the time 1947 was coming to a close, an enormous shift in the fashion winds had taken place that altered the silhouette of the fashionable woman. Waists were narrow, hips were padded – and the hemline had dropped as much as twelve inches. The New Look out of Paris dictated the appearances of suits and evening wear, but blouses were left out of the revolution – everyone had to figure it out for themselves and hope that the couturiers from across the sea would come to the rescue the following season.



Jacques Fath and Elsa Schiaparelli
(Quick Magazine, 1951)

This illustrated fashion review shows four images that depicted the sophisticated offerings by Jacques Fath and Elsa Schiaparelli from their respective 1951 mid-summer collections. What the American women who gazed upon these pages learned is that the era of the padded hips was continuing its march into the next decade.

Levi Strauss and his Denim
(Coronet Magazine, 1956)

The attached piece was written in the shadows of W.W. II – a time when Levi Strauss’ famous blue jean fabric was not simply being woven for the 12,000,000 souls in the U.S. military, but also the civilian war-workers who donned jean overalls and found them ideal for the heavy, industrial labor that they faced each day.


As if this wasn’t enough to keep the factories of Levi Strauss & Co. humming happily, the American teenagers also discovered blue jeans in the around the same time and have been devoted to them ever since. The author of this article could never have known that the social revolution that made the name Levi a household word all across the globe was only nine years away.



Read About the History of the T-Shirt


An article about 1940s denim can be read here…

Shoes for Sport and Leisure
(Sears and Roebuck Catalog, 1919)

The miracle that was Volcanized Rubber allowed the well-dressed man to maintain his dashing profile even when called to compete in athletics. Two of the oldest surviving examples of a sport shoe that uses this particular style of rubber and has been in continuous production since the twenties and thirties are both made by Converse: one is the Jack Purcell tennis shoe and the other is the black canvas, high-top Chuck Taylor Basketball shoe.

From the Smartest Shops…
(Vanity Fair Magazine, 1922)

This 1922 men’s fashion article is illustrated with seven images and riddled with wise words for all those seeking information regarding 1920s backless vests, patent leather dancing shoes, madras dress shirts and kid suede gloves for semi-dress wear.

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