A History of Blouses Part 4 (1920s)

When writing about blouses, the 1920s is a challenging decade.   For the first time in  my little history they fell out of fashion (though not entirely out of use!)

Sears "Bargain Counter" sale, 1920

This assortment consists of good quality, stylish and serviceable all silk Georgette and all silk Crepe de Chine waists.

This decline didn't happen all at once.  At the beginning of the decade the blouse was as popular as ever (and as decorative and dainty).  Catalogues had pages of blouses for sale, often illustrated in full colour.

Perry Dame catalog, Winter 1920-21

6W295.  A fascinating new style slip-on overblouse of GEORGETTE pattern Flowered Voile.  Made with a "Pierrot" frill collar and the three-quarter length sleeves have cuffs to match.

6W597.  A beautiful hip-blouse for dressy occasions.  It is the luxurious combination of an exquisite fabric and a lovely unusual design... Made with a collarless "Grecian" neckline which fastens in back with a ribbon bow.

A6W299.  Here is a handsome Silk Blouse at a great saving... Designed with a sailor collar and long sleeves.  Embroidery attractively trims the blouse as pictured.

6W259.  Frills—such as are exploited on this attractive blouse of French Voile will give just the right feminine touch to a tailored suit or separate skirt.

Another notable thing about the 1920s was the way in which overblouses almost entirely replaced the traditional tuck-in styles.  Year by year in these catalogue pages you can see the ratio of overblouses to traditional styles increasing.

National Cloak & Suit Co., Spring-Summer 1921

GT 375—Figure Printed Voile.  Here is one of the newest versions of the fashionable Overblouse—a smart and becoming Tuxedo coat-effect model...

GT 377—All-Silk Georgette Crepe.  Fashionable wool trimming, smart simplicity of style... make this blouse a handsome and dressy model.

GT 378—All-Silk Georgette Crepe.  ...It is made with a beautiful front panel trimmed with double hemstitching and good quality lace in effective Irish point pattern.

GT 379—All-Silk Georgette Crepe.  The front of this handsome... Blouse is trimmed with chenille-and-silk hand embroidery and French knots.

GT 380—All-Silk Georgette Crepe.  It is a fashionable kimono-cut model, and the front has a distinctive design embroidered in self-and-harmonizing colors.

GT 386—All-Silk Georgette Crepe.  One of Fashion's most popular Overblouses is presented in this smart model... Both the front and back panels are attached to a sash-belt which ties at each side.

"Blouses have come up in the world.   It's different than it used to be when "shirtwaist" meant a feminine addition of a man's shirt. One shirtwaist was as near like another as two peas in a pod. Now you couldn't count styles in blouses—the glorified shirtwaist—on two hands."
Isabel DeNyse Conover  A Complete Course in Dressmaking Lesson IV: How to Make Blouses (1922)

National Cloak & Suit Co. Spring and Summer 1923

6 W 713.  You have only to see the serviceable quality of the Cotton Voile used in this Smart Tailored Blouse to fully realize what a splendid value it really is.

6 W 714.  This new and very becoming Hip Blouse of Tricolette is one of the most attractive styles we have ever sold... The material is knitted from Fiber Silk (artificial silk) and is very lustrous and rich looking.

6 W 715.  ... Smart semi-tailored style marks the becoming which features the popular tucked effect.  The Peter Pan collar and turn-back cuffs are embroidered in self-color...

6 W 716.  A dressy yet practical Blouse is this stylish and becoming model made of a good quality All Silk Pongee—an excellent suit blouse.

6 W 717 ... Newest Fifth Avenue style is displayed in the novel sleeves and the All-Silk Crepe de Chine in paisley design...

6 W 718.  Here is a dressy new style Hip Blouse... Blouse is a slip-over model with new style collar, hip band and and sash ends of contrasting color tussah.

6 W 719.  This stylish basque-effect overblouse is a popular slip-on model... Note the dainty style of the new short kimono sleeves with self-material bows.

This was as much for purely practical reasons as anything else.  The decade started with a fashionably high waistline, but by 1923 it had dropped to the hips.  It was difficult, if not impossible, to keep a separate skirt in place while it was suspended from the hips.  Add to that the flat, straight figure that was modish in the 1920s and it became impossible to keep a blouse tucked in as well.

National Cloak & Suit Co., Spring-Summer 1924

6X 521.  A Dainty, Quality Blouse with Peter Pan Collar.

6X 523.  For wear under your sweater or suit when continued freshness is a necessity this dainty Porto Rican Hand-made Hip Blouse of fine White Cotton Batiste is an ideal choice, for after each laundering it appears in all its original freshness.

6X522.  This dainty Porto Rican Hip Blouse is all hand-made, with that skill in needlework that will delight you who love beautiful blouses.  The material is fine White Cotton Batiste and is a desirable model to wear with suit or sweater because of the pretty finish the Tuxedo collar gives.

6X 524... Porto Rican Hand-made Slip-over Hip Blouse.  The material is fine White Cotton Batiste and the blouse is made and ornamented entirely by hand.  Collar and front are trimmed with hand-drawn panels in padded effect.

Charles William Stores Fall and Winter 1925

24 R C3144.  A beautiful Blouse of heavy quality Crepe-de-chine.  The attractive design in front is beaded by hand , making the beads much more secure.

24 R C3139.  Printed overblouses are very popular this season, especially when made of Rayon Silk.

24 R C3147.  Soisette fashions this youthful Overblouse with its neat collar and fine pleating of self-material.

24 R C3149.  Isn't this a charming Overblouse?  It's made of All Silk Crepe-de-chine with faggoting on the sleeves and two rows down the front of the blouse...

By the middle of the decade there were few pages dedicated to blouses in the catalogues and sewing magazines—and in some smaller publications they were omitted altogether.   One piece dresses (sometimes with dickies that mimicked a blouse effect) and matching two-piece dresses became fashionable for day wear instead.

Australian Home Journal, June 1926

Jumper, 11,018.  A delightful style for a sports jumper ornamented with oriental trimming.  The deep revers provide for a V neck with which a small vest is worn.  Set-in sleeves extend to the wrist: these may be gathered into a narrow cuff.  Small buttons add a further trimming to the front and sleeves.

Jumper 11,021.  A cosy winter jumper with deep revers and a roll collar; these are faced with contrast fabric as is also the base.  Set-in sleeves to the wrist may be left loose or finished with a turn-back cuff.  Patch pockets are both useful and ornamental.

There's some interesting terminology here.  In modern Australian/British English, a "jumper" is a knitted pullover (a sweater in American English).  In American English a "jumper" was, and is, a sleeveless dress or tunic  meant to be worn over a longer-sleeved garment (aka a "pinafore").  However, in 1920s Australian/British English, a "jumper" appears to have been a casual pull-on overblouse, similar to the American "middy"!

McCall Style News, April 1927

4883.  Original Model by Jenny.  Ladies and Misses' Sport Blouse.

("Jenny" was a French fashion house, well-known in 1927 but forgotten today.  The blouse pattern they designed for McCall's was accompanied with patterns for various kinds of sports clothing, including a pair of knickerbockers!  Note the design details meant to keep the blouse tucked in to the wearer's outer garments during strenuous activities.)

The blouse has become a different garment.  Lingerie sweater-blouses are the accepted wear with flannel suits, and mousseline blouses with coats and skirts of heavy silk.
Dainty blouses are made of frilled linen, or linen and crêpe-de-Chine mixed.  Sometimes they are tucked all over.  Sports blouses have little ships embroidered on them.  I've seen a silk blouse worn with a simple tailor-made that had a white linen handkerchief scarf appliquéd at the neck, and on this was embroidered a bright blue ship.

Fashions For All, May 1928

Fashions For All, May 1928

Pattern No. 42, 325.  The blouse sketched above is such an attractive design for wearing beneath a tailor-made with its softly falling pleated fichu and turn-back collar.

Pattern No. 42,326.  Below you see a very smart jumper-blouse of a striped silk material or striped Tricoline.  The collar has long scarf ends slotted through a buckle at the neck to match the one at the waist.

Pattern No. 42,327. The new yoke effect is the smart feature of the above jumper.  It is cut in a pretty slanting line finished by a bow.  Made in a patterned artificial silk... it would be delightful with a plain pleated skirt.

One thing to note is, that by the later 1920s blouses were being made, for the first time, in artificial fibres.  Rayon (also known as "artificial silk") was now a part of every woman's wardrobe.

Weldon's Ladies' Journal, April 1929

No. 80311.  For wearing with your new Spring suit, you will want a smart jumper, and perhaps you would like to copy this Model with narrow belt and envelope pockets.  I should like to it be of Marichine or Thierline artificial silk, matching the skirt, and finished with ribbon bow in a contrasting colour.

No. 77898.  For slipping on in the morning or for sports, I can imagine no more suitable style of jumper than this high-necked model.  Spun silk, Luvisca or Delysia artificial silk in ivory would be my choice, with ribbon tie, introducing the necessary touch of contrasting colour.

No. 80316.  A really dainty Blouse, tucked in at the waist, for which I have in mind ivory Celanese crépe-de-chine or Celanese satin, or, if preferred, beige or grey, which will go with any skirt.

 And so we come to the end of the 1920s.  Blouses were creeping back into regular day wear, mainly as an accompaniment to suits.  They were to become part of the standard costume of "business girls" in the 1930s.