"The National Money Saving Style Book" (1923)

The National Cloak and Suit Company was founded in New York in 1888 as a mail-order house specialising in—you guessed it!—women's cloaks and suits.  It expanded through the decades until it dressed men and children as well as women, and by 1917 it was:

"generally regarded as the Sears, Roebuck company of the wearing apparel field".

In 1923, the year of this catalogue, the National Cloak and Suit Company had net sales of $52,399, 782.   Despite its prosperity, however, the National Cloak and Suit Company was already in its final years.  It merged with Bellas Hess Co. in 1927 and thenceforth traded as "National Bellas Hess".

The dresses on these pages aren't quite what people picture when they think of 1920s fashion.  They have the straight, low-waisted silhouette typical of the decade, but the skirts are longer and fuller than the "flapper" dresses usually depicted in popular media.