Fashion – Page 16 – Old Magazine Articles

Men’s Straw Hats from the Early Forties
(From a 1941 Magazine Ad)

Attached are pictured six straw hats from a 1941 color ad promoting the Stetson Straws that appeared on the glossy pages of one of the more bourgeois American magazines just seven and a half months prior to the day when the bombs fell on Pearl Harbor and the bad-old days of World War II kicked-in for that rare breed of man known as homo-Americanus.

There can be no doubt that the fun-loving fashion-fan who was pictured sporting these organic chapeaus would soon find himself wearing one of Uncle Sam’s over-laundered denim stitch-brims, peeling potatoes and remembering wistfully the day that this ad was shot.

We hope he survived the carnage.

Wool of the 1940s
(Click Magazine, 1945)

The attached 1945 article was intended to serve as a suit-buying-guide for all those young men who were in the throes of trading in their military uniforms for civilian attire.

The one kind of wool that is not discussed in this article is worsted: this was the wool that was specifically reserved for the uniforms of the U.S. military (enough to outfit 12 million souls) and there wasn’t a single thread of it that could be purchased on the civilian market.

British Girls Loved ‘The New Look’
(See Magazine, 1948)

Weary of restraints imposed by more than a decade of war followed by the austerity program…British women have now cast aside the old look, are stampeding West End shops for the built-in New Look.

Summer Fashions
(Vanity Fair Magazine, 1918)

Six very fine fashion drawings illustrate what was generally perceived to be the chic silhouette during the August of 1918.

There may be some women who can get along without satin frocks, but it is exceedingly doubtful..

Click here to read about military influeneces of feminine fashions.

Vera Maxwell and Claire McCardell
(Quick Magazine, 1952)

From the Great Minds Think Alike Department came this small piece about two American sportswear designers, Claire McCardell and Vera Maxwell and their admirable approach in creating a light weather coat that served to both keep women warm in springtime gales, yet accommodate the full, billowing skirts that complemented their feminine forms (as well as the hip padding that accompanied many skirts of the Fifties).

The Milliner’s Collaboration
(Collier’s Magazine, 1951)

In 1951 the finest minds in American millinery were asked to put their collective craniums together and design some hats; each brought something unique to the table – the most humorous design element that appeared in each hat included a telephone!

Collaborators in the struggle to produce a taller plume, a more involved bird’s nest, are the hat designer’s – to whom carrots and cornstalks, bean bean pods and bumper-shoots are all perfectly acceptable decorations for the head.

Tango Fashions
(Vanity Fair Magazine, 1913)

The urgent word from Belle Époque Paris on the matter of proper Tango gowns was published in this 1913 article and accompanied by seven illustrations.

What shall you wear to the Tango Teas? Let me whisper to you a secret, only to be revealed when it is found out, my dear, there is no Tango in America, or, at least in New York. But it is quite different in Paris and it is for Paris and the Tango that the French dance frocks are made.

Click here to read about feminine conversations overheard in the best New York nightclubs of 1937.

History of the Necktie in America
(Men’s Wear, 1950)

This illustrated column points out a number of interesting historic facts about ties in America; most notably that up until 1865 the preferred form of neck wear in the U.S. was a pre-tied bow that fastened in the back. In the 1920s the United States became the premiere manufacturer of men’s neckties – a record that was comfortably held for some time afterword.

Click here to read about the fabric restrictions imposed on
the American fashion world during the Second World war.

Setting the Trends from Paris
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1951)

So much had changed in the world as a result of the Second World War, and although those shifting sands had moved much of the fashion industry to New York, the heart and soul of women’s fashion was still in Paris. This article is all about the fashion kings and queens who remained in the French capital. These columns explain what all the finest French designers were up to: Dior, Balmain, Schiaparelli, Fath, Balenciaga, Lanvin etc, etc, etc…

To read further about post-war Paris fashion, click here…

Paris, 1919 : To Make the World Safe for Top Hats
(Literary Digest, 1919)

The least important aspect of the Versailles Treaty is discussed in this article. Many scholars have looked far and wide to find such a trivial concern, but the crack team of post-debutante archivists at OldMagazineArticles.com have succeeded where the learned have failed.