Golfer Imagery, 1920 or 1970s?

I’ll go ahead and say that this image of a 1920s woman golfer is from the early 1970s (or possibly late 60s).  There are lots of clues why, but the best way to see them is to look at an actual 1920s graphic.

The figures in both images are wearing sweaters, scarves, and cloche hats. But a closer look shows the authentic 20s woman wearing sporty argyle stockings and what look to be oxford shoes. The 70s golfer is stockingless (or maybe wearing sheer hose, not the best choice for golfing) and inappropriate (though really cute) shoes.

Another great clue is the Twenties woman’s lips. She has that “bee stung” look made famous by silent stars such as Mae Murray and Clara Bow. The Seventies woman’s lips have the more natural shape of that decade.

Both of these images come from new additions to my collection. The Seventies item is a bag for golf shoes. It has two joined pouches for the shoes with a red heavy twill tape handle. The seller listed the bag as an item form the 1920s, but I bought it knowing that was not the case. I’m not criticizing the seller, as it’s just not possible to know everything, especially when the image is clearly that of a “1920s” woman.

It is a great example of how popular the idea of nostalgia was in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Fashion has always borrowed from past styles, but what makes this trend in the Seventies so interesting is how the imagery of 1920s people was updated to fit the Seventies aesthetic. You see a bit of this in children’s wear of the 1950s, with scenes of cowboys and Indians, and in the novelty prints of the late 1940s and into the 1950s, but not until the late 1960s did graphics showing the fashions of the past become a major fashion trend.

My other recent find was this tin. All four sides show different scenes of the Twenties sporting woman. In the 1920s, sports for women were gaining in popularity, and one finds imagery of this modern woman in lots of 1920s media and products. The covers of women’s magazines often featured a sportswoman. And this is the second tin I’ve found with the sides covered with women engaged in sports. (One more and it will be a collection.)