clothing
Sliding into Spring Fashion…and More in 1915
With just one glance at the front cover of this trade catalog, it appears like Spring is on the way. A lady is surrounded by flowers. Purple ribbons accessorizing her outfit are gently blowing in the breeze. Let’s take a look at what consumers might have stumbled across in 1915 while perusing this mail order/department store catalog.
New School Year, New Clothes, 1915 Style
The beginning of a school year brings many new things. New classes, new supplies, and perhaps new clothing. What did school outfits look like over one hundred years ago? Let’s take a trip back in time to the year 1915 to find out.
Unveiling 1915 Spring Fashion Through Mail Order
Today in the 21st Century, we have several options for shopping. Two options that might immediately come to mind are visiting stores to shop in person or ordering online from home. But one nearly forgotten option is the mail order catalog. With the availability of the internet, we might not receive these as frequently as in the past, but browsing the Trade Literature Collection reveals mail ordering has been around for quite some time.
Vogue
Wrapped in Pride
Five figures showing various fashions of French Cameroon
Figure showing fashion of French Cameroun
Boots with laces and buttons
Les Robes de Paul Poiret
The popularity of the French fashion plate was revitalized in the early part of the 20th century by artists like Paul Iribe (1883-1935), working with fashion designers such as Paul Poiret. These illustrations were hand colored using the pochoir process, whereby stencils and metal plates are used allowing for colors to be built up according to the artist's vision. The fashion plate, in use for some time, was in essence an advertising toola piece of artwork used to create desire for the latest styles aimed at an audience of the fashionable and moneyed.
