Why I Love the Internet

I posted this great cover last month, as some of you will remember.  Earlier this week I got an email from a nice woman in California who had been looking for this particular issue of Charm.  As it happens, her mother worked for the magazine in the early 1950s, and in some correspondence she mentioned this particular issue.  She was an editorial assistant, and she helped write the articles that appeared.   In particular she mentioned ghost-writing a “beauty bath article by Kay Torrey.”

Well, I got the magazine and quickly found the article in question:

The assistant’s name was Lois Isde.  According to her daughter:

“After graduating from Valparaiso University (Indiana) in the early 1950s (with a degree in geography), my mother moved to NYC to pursue a career in publishing. She had brief stints at Charm magazine and Women’s Wear Daily, before meeting my father who was a graduate student at Columbia University. They eventually moved to Madison, Wis., and then Chicago and she stopped working to raise my 2 brothers and me. After we were grown, she worked for a medical publishing company in St. Louis. She always loved those years in the 1950s when she wrote about  fashion, beauty, women’s issues, etc, in New York City.”

Rarely am I persuaded to sell things that I post about here, but this was just too special not to pass along to Lois’s daughter.  The internet has been with us for quite a few years now, and sometimes we take it for granted.  But when I’m able to connect with a reader in this way, I remember just how great the power of google is.

 

Glamour, May, 1943

From the cover notes:

In previous years, necks this low were usually seen on evening dresses.  Now they come right out in broad daylight and, combined with the briefest of sleeves, signal a new type of day-or-date dress that is this summer’s favorite.

In 1943 it was becoming increasingly necessary for the clothing budget ( and ration coupons) to be stretched as far as possible.  Clothing was often advertised as being multi-purpose, much like this “day-or-date” dress.  And while not exactly office-appropriate, it does seem like just the thing for an afternoon out shopping  or for a  casual dinner date.

This issue of Glamour was full of wardrobe stretching ideas:

* To save wear on your work clothes, change into slacks or hardy cottons when you arrive at home after work.

*  Keep your clothes repaired and clean.  ”A stitch in time saves nine.”

*  Cover up the moth holes in your old wool swimsuit with flower appliques cut from colorful cotton.

*  Make a sturdy housedress by adding a skirt to the bottom of an old shirt.

*  Fasten a bunch of fresh flowers to a plain hat.  It’s like a new hat every time you wear it!

Photographer:  Lemus

Model: Not credited

Copyright: Condé Nast

Mademoiselle, April 1943

This year’s young bride has a new style – as simple as the wood violets she carries, as fresh as the wood violet cologne she chooses.  Her wedding dress, designed by MLLE, with no train, no veil, and a look of utter innocence, is of imported organdie,  floor length all around, over a rayon taffeta slip.

I chose this cover today partly because of the cap the young bride is wearing.  It is a form of the Juliet cap, which poster Bonnie mentioned she wore to the prom in the 1960s.

As in the 1960s, the 1936 film version of Romeo and Juliet triggered a fashion for the Juliet cap, or calot.  Juliet was portrayed by Norma Shearer, who did justice to the little cap.   It was considered to be a romantic hat for weddings or evening wear, and was often made of lace or mesh.  I know so little about hats that I always turn to Susan Langley and her excellent Vintage Hats & Bonnets 1770-1970, and so thanks to her for the nice information about the Juliet cap.

Photographer:  Jerry Plucer
Model:  Not credited
Copyright:  Condé Nast

Charm, April, 1952

It’s that time of year when spring is still trying to decide if it wants to come out and play, and people look at their closets and scratch their heads.  If you are like me, you are desperately wanting to lighten up the wardrobe, but I’m afraid that if I get too optimistic then winter will return and I’ll be caught out in the cold unprepared.

It’s an old problem, and I imagine that in 1952 it was even harder to cope with a changing season as most people did not have the extensive wardrobes that we do today.  The model above has put away the heavy woolens, and has opted for a “three season” suit – one made of lightweight wool or heavy cotton in a neutral color.  Just add season appropriate accessories and the look is complete.  (20 inch waist, optional)

 

Photographer:  Serge Balkin

Model: Not credited

Copyright: Condé Nast

Fashionable Dress – May, 1927

Here’s a stunning springtime look from 1927.  That print is so typical of the mid to late 1920s.

It seems like everywhere one turns these days there is an article or reference to the 1920s.  I’m sure the up-coming Gatsby film from Baz Luhrmann has a lot to do with the interest.  You would almost think this was a Twilight movie with all the buzz that is surrounding it and with the release date less than a month away, the interest is growing.  A new trailer was released last week, and with it the lines have been drawn between those who are determined to love it, and those who have vowed to hate it.

I think to key to loving it is to just forget everything you know about fashion in the 1920s, and just enjoy the spectacle that is a Luhrmann film.  Go into the theater knowing this is fantasy, not American Lit and certainly not fashion history.

This is the fifth time The Great Gatsby has been filmed.  I have not seen the 1926 version (considered to be a lost film) nor have I seen a 2000 made for TV version, but the 1949 and the 1974 films neither accurately captured the fashions of 1922, when the book was set.  The clothes in the 1949 film pretty much look like they are from 1949, and the 1974 clothes look like they are from later in the 1920s when skirts had risen almost to the knee.

Of course the problem is that people seeing the film who are not that familiar with the fashions of the early 1920s will now have a visual reference, however misleading,  much like the 1974 version crystallized a vision of the 1920s for my generation.

Illustrator:  Evelyn Browne

Copyright:  Not known.  The Fashionable Dress Publishing Company (1915-1930)  was absorbed by Fashionist in 1931.

Glamour, March, 1946

I love this cover from March, 1946, though I’ll admit it does confuse me a bit.  By March most people are tired of brown, even if it is this pretty soft dark taupe.  Where are the pastels, the pink?  Why such dark gloves (even though they do match her eyes) and hat?

No matter, I love the strong makeup, the gold earrings and the up-swept hair.  I’m not too crazy about the shoes, and I’m sure that by 1946 most women had had it with such sensible shoes.  And those are shoulders that simply cannot be ignored.

So, should they have saved this one for September?

Photographer: Constantin Joffé
Model: Not credited
Copyright: Condé Nast

Cosmopolitan, April, 1913

It’s a warm and beautiful day in the southern mountains.  It’s enough to make one want to put on the sporty duds and crank up the motorcar for an adventure in the country.

In 1913, Cosmopolitan was a very different magazine from the publication Helen Hurley Brown transformed in the mid 1960s.    Established in 1886 as a family magazine, by the time William Randolph Hearst bought it in 1905, it was primarily a literary publication.  Besides Jack London, contributors included Willa Cather, H.G. Wells, Upton Sinclair, Edith Wharton, and Ida Tarbell.

The magazine was also known for their beautiful covers which featured illustrations by artists such as James Montgomery Flagg, Francis Attwood, and Harrison Fisher, who did this cover.

Illustrator: Harrison Fisher
Copyright: Hearst Corporation