Ad Campaign – Riegel Fabric, 1949

Riegel’s Fine-carded Gabardine is a ’round the year fabric for smartly styled garments that must look well, wear well… and cost less!  It has the rich “feel” that identifies quality everywhere… in a range of colors and weights for heavy outerwear or summer playclothes.

Whatever is wrong with actually dressing to fit the weather?  Can you imagine the young woman above in stiletto booties with no socks or tights, and a shaggy white fur jacket?  Or how about white wide legged pants that drag the ground, gathering snow and getting soaked through?  And my personal favorite, white print skinny jeans with four inches of bare leg between them and  white wedge shoes.  Yet in the aftermath of a snowstorm in New York City, these outfits were a common sight.

I know that there are people who spend weeks planning their ensembles for NY Fashion Week, and far be it from me to say they don’t have the right to look as foolish as they wish.  But there is a lot to be said for being a bit flexible when it comes to dressing for the weather.  Is it not possible for one to be both comfortable and fashionable?

I know that I’m missing the point here.  The purpose of dressing up for Fashion Week is so that one will be photographed.  Suzy Menkes calls it the Circus of Fashion.  The saddest part is that she is right:

Having lived through the era of punk and those underground clubs in London’s East End, where the individuality and imagination of the outfits were fascinating, I can’t help feeling how different things were when cool kids loved to dress up for one another — or maybe just for themselves.

 

Elegance Magazine, Mid 1960s

I’ve mentioned several times in the past what a great resource the old American Fabrics magazine is for people who love old clothes and textiles.  The inclusion of fabric swatches give a much more complete picture of what a fabric was actually like as to texture and color.   And while, as the name suggests, most of the fabrics were of American manufacture, the publication did sometimes feature fabrics from other countries.  But to see the crème de la crème of European fabrics, the publication to get was Elegance.

I never knew about this gem until fellow vintage fan Susan let me know she had three of these that she is selling from an extensive collection of vintage clothing related items.  From her email about them:

…they appear to be a collaboration between Elysee Fabrics, a German company that supplied couturiers and clothing manufacturers, and Vogue patterns;  typically, the magazine has full page, full color photos of Paris couture by really famous photographers like Helmut Newton, with an actual swatch of the Elysee fabric the couturier used, and then a sketch of a Vogue pattern that resembles the photographed couture garment, plus , other, similar Elysee fabric swatches that would also make up well in that pattern.  Sometimes they just make up a Vogue pattern out of the fabric and have it photographed. 

These are now for sale at ebay, and yes, they are a bit pricey.  That is because they are very desirable and hard to come by.  Even if you can’t afford to buy them, definitely take a look at all the lovely photos.  And if it leaves you wanting more, you might check out Paper Pursuits, where they have quite a few issues for sale.  And be sure to put this magazine on your shopping radar.  You just never know when a few copies might show up at the local Goodwill.

Here are a few pages that I loved.  Be sure to click for the enlarged image.

All photos copyright Susan Grote

Ad Campaign – Lorraine Worsteds, 1946

A big difference in advertising now and in the past is that 60 years ago consumers seemed to have a much greater knowledge about fabrics and fibers.  Today it would be really strange to see an ad for a fabric, but up through the 1970s these ads were commonly found in fashion magazines.  I’m betting that most people these days don’t even know what worsted is.

If you need to brush up on your fabric and fiber terminology, you are in luck.  As I announced earlier, the Vintage Fashion Guild now has a Fabric Resource, and you can learn quite a bit by just reading through it.  For example, worsted happens to be “Fabric made from high-twist, worsted yarns that have long, smooth fibers.”  And don’t forget to click on the fabric samples to see the enlarged fabric.

Ad Campaign – Wesley Simpson, 1949

Wesley Simpson was a fabric designer, and was the husband of designer Adele Simpson.  Today he is probably known mostly for the scarves he designed and produced in the late 1940s.

Today most consumers would be hard pressed to name even one maker of fabrics but in the mid 20th century, the fabric used by a maker of clothing was often a big selling point.  Clothing manufacturers and fabric makers often teamed up for joint ad campaigns, and it is not uncommon to see a fabric label along with the maker’s label in a high quality vintage garment.

I love the matching shoes, which were made by Joyce.  The swimsuit is by Cole of California.

Protect Yourself – Springmaid

I actually wrote and posted this piece six years ago, back when I had about ten readers and five of those were members of my family.  So I hope the ten of you won’t mind a summer rerun with updated images and a few changes to the text.

This is the middle of Southern textile country.  I live about 30 miles from where Beacon made their famous blankets and robes, 60 miles from the Swirl wrap dress factory, and 100 miles from Springs Mills, which produced mainly fabrics and sheets.  All around me were hundreds of small textile and clothing manufacturers that blanketed the South before they all up and moved to Mexico, Korea or China.

But this is all about Springmaid.  For some time I’ve had a little book called Clothes Make the Man written by Elliott White Springs, who was the president of  Springmaid in the 1930s through 50s.  It’s actually a collection of his letters, many of which discuss a famous ad campaign that Springmaid launched in 1947.  The ads featured pin-ups and risque wording in the ads.  So I was very pleasantly surprised when I turned up a length of  fabric that Springmaid developed as a result of the popular ads..

The pin-up ads actually got their start with an in-house beauty contest, Miss Springmaid, in 1947. The winners were taken to New York where they were sketched by leading illustrators, with the sketches to be used in advertising. By early 1948, Colonel Springs (a real colonel!), had remembered a cover of Esquire magazine which had three ice skaters warming themselves before a performance. Springmaid acquired the rights to that picture to use in advertising a fire-proofed fabric they had developed during the war.

It wasn’t so much the picture that caused all the fuss – it was the ad copy. Written by Colonel Springs, there were phrases such as “the false bottom and bust bucket business” and “be protected by the Springmaid label on the bottom of your trademark.”

Within a few months the furor died down somewhat and the company began to notice copycat ads from other companies. In a September 1, 1948 memo, Col. Springs instructed the ad department to make a montage of the Springmaid girls. It was to be used first for the jacket of the latest edition of Clothes Make the Man, and later to be printed on cloth. According to Colonel Springs, “It will make a terrific bathing suit or beach jacket.”

There were later prints made also, including one called Holiday, which had smaller girls and no stripes, and Harem, which had an Oriental flair. There is also a mention of a Persian print, but it could possibly be the same as Harem.

In June of 1951, the company built a new railroad terminal for  their 28 mile railroad which connected the two main factories in Chester and Lancaster, SC. They got Gypsy Rose Lee to do the official unveiling. Special men’s sports shirts and billed caps were made from the harem print, just for the occasion.

And just a few months later, Springmaid announced that they had contracted with various clothing makers to do a line of women’s sportswear using the prints. Inspired by Gussie Moran, the famous panty-baring tennis star, the company released one of the prints as tennis and swim panties. They were made by Cole of California.  At least one dress and a swimsuit were designed by sportswear designer Carolyn Schnurer using the Harem print.

In 1951, a new Springs Mills office complex was built in Fort Mill, South Carolina. Much of the furniture was fashioned from old mill parts, and the furniture was upholstered in the Springmaid Girl prints.

Like it or loathe it, Colonel Springs was definitely doing something right.  His company has weathered the horrible times in the US textile industry, and is still producing textiles in Fort Mill, SC.  And I’m used to having to really dig for any information concerning most older manufacturing companies, but this was almost too easy, with the book and all.  I’m also happy to report that there is an excellent record of the history of Springs Mills, as the company donated many of their papers to the textile archives at Duke University.

I found this fabric in Charlotte, NC, about ten miles from the Springs Mills factory.  It is the very same print that was used to upholster the company furniture in 1951.

Artist Designed Novelty Print fabric – 1950s

Back in April I posted photos of my latest novelty print gathered skirt, the cruise ship themed one above.  As so often happens in blogging in this case, the comments turned out to be more interesting than the post itself, because reader lemur178 drew the conclusion that this print was from the same “A Regulated Cotton – Never Misbehaves” series as several other prints, two of which I also have, Tinhorn Holiday and Oasis.  She also noted that these seemed to be from the illustrator, Saul Steinberg, due to the similarity in style to a fabric known to have been drawn by him, Paddington Station.

Tinhorn Holiday

Oasis

Fortunately, lemur178 had the opportunity to attend an event that put the pieces of the puzzle together for us.  She writes:

Went to the ‘Artists’ Textiles 1940 – 1976′ talk and book launch last night at London’s Fashion & Textiles Museum.  Most interesting and lots of very beautiful fabrics to admire.

I was initially going there to find out about the Saul Steinberg prints as you may remember. According to the authors (something which was confirmed to them by John Rombola, I think), although Steinberg had a licence with Piazza Fabrics for his work, he found the lure of money somewhat hard to resist and entered into various ‘unofficial’ deals with other manufacters, more specifically the Regulated Cottons – “Never Misbehaves” prints used for so many skirts at the time.  This explains why the prints are so recognisably his, yet his name never appears.  The book features several expamples, including an opera one I’d never seen before.  It didn’t have your boat, but when I spoke to one of the authors afterwards, he said they did have a boat one that they hadn’t featured in the book.  Presumably this is the same as yours. 

So, thanks to lemur178, and the research of the authors of the book, we now know that Steinberg did design this line.  The book is Artists’ Textiles 1940-1976, by Geiff Rayner, Richard Chamberlain and Annamarie Phelps, and it  seems to be available on Amazon.  I have been watching the page for the book, and it has been saying that the book will be released in the USA on July 16, but it now says that it is currently in stock.  I’ll be buying a copy soon and will do a review of it.

This really points out just how important blog comments are.  Several weeks ago there was a post on the Independent Fashion Bloggers site that asked the question, “Has blogging lost its community?”  

In other words, people are noticing that their blogs are not getting as many comments as in the past.  I’ve noticed it here, but not to a huge degree.  Still, I do hope that whenever you read something here or on other blogs and you can add to the conversation, that you will take the time to  post and share your knowledge and thoughts.  That is what really adds value to any blog.

Some details of the prints:

Not Vintage, but Bought It Anyway

When I spotted this fabric recently I immediately thought “vintage” and then just as quickly I began to have second thoughts.  The muted colors, especially the brownish green, and the old-fashioned motif put me in mind of a fabric from the early 1960s, but something was not quite right.  That something was the “hand” or the way the fabric feels.  A dressmaker cotton from the early 60s would usually have a very smooth texture, but this fabric felt more like a quilting cotton.

It wasn’t until I checked the selvage that I knew with certainty that this fabric is recent.  Printed there I found “Jinny Beyer for Mr. R.J.R. Fashion Fabrics.”  I’m not familiar with Jinny Beyer, but just the way it was worded let me know that this is a modern designer quilting fabric.

Still I bought it as I like the print and there is over two yards of it.  One can never have too much good novelty print, even if it was made yesterday.

Call me old fashioned, but I do not have a smart phone.  But for you who do, I hope you are using your phones when shopping.  This is a perfect example of how useful a smart phone can be.  Use it to google names on labels and on fabric selvages.  I even know of a group that twitters their thrift store finds using #thriftbreak as a hash tag.