Whatever Happened to Winns? (1960s-1970s)

Though the State Library of New South Wales' online collection of Winns catalogues stops in 1955, the store (and the Library's collection of catalogues in hard copy) continued into the late 1970s.  Fortunately, I own a few Winns catalogues from the 1960s and 1970s, so let's take a quick look at the fashions Winns was retailing and find out what happened to the store.

First, from the beginning of the 1960s, two summer frocks, pretty and conventional.

Spring-Summer 1960

 

Left: SATIN COTTON DRESS.  Full circle skirt and new wide belt.  Low neckline at back.  Colours: green peonies, blue peonies or red.

Right: NINNETTE OF MELBOURNE.  Poplin shirtmaker with contrasting striped cummerbund.  In pastels French blue, French pink, beige or in lime.

Autumn-Winter 1967

By the middle of the decade things were looking decidely more "mod", even  in the mainstream.

Left: Smart Coat Dress—the new Style Setter!  Worn with confidence by all age groups from sixteen to sixty.  Double breasted step-in style.  Prince of Wales check, emphasised with black covered buttons.

Right: Streamlined skimmer frock in 100% Pure Wool.  Shaped with artful seaming and highlighted with check collar and button trim.  Long back zip. 

 

Spring-Summer 1967

 In Spring-Summer 1967 Winns offers loose-fitting dresses with "Abstract colouring blocked out like sunshine..."

At left: Caftan with the glamour of the East.  An "all occasion" shift shape.  Set-in sleeves with wide cuffs worn turned up or down.  Mod-art design, vibrant with colour focused on flame pinks, gay greens or brilliant blues.

Centre: Linen-like cotton shift with striking bursts of colour.  Square neck—lower at back.  Multi floral design on harmonising grounds with tans, lemons or greens predominating.

Right: Screen printed satin cotton.  Sleeveless caftan style.  Crew neckband finishes with bow at back opening.  Colour unlimited with emphasis on glowing pinks, orange and blues.

In 1968 The Bulletin ran a long-ish article on Winns as a business—which was apparently thriving:

For a long time Winns has be considered a conservative, sleepy, family company which has quietly made enough profit to provide a good income for the Winn family.  Actually, this is another of the sharemarket myths which get asserted as solid fact after they have been floating around for a while...

Apart from activities in retail stores, Winns is operating a highly profitable mail-order business with thousands of customers throughout Australia and the Pacific Islands.  In the mail-order business Winns is one of the top two in Australia has the distinction of being the largest user of  the Post Office's parcel post facility.  Twice yearly (end of February and beginning of August) the company mails out an 80-page catalogue containing 1200 different products in a size and colour range which lifts the contents to just under 30,000 items.  The use of six punched-tape accounting machines feeding a data-processing installation ensures ensures peak efficiency in mail-order business.

The Bulletin, 9 November 1968

It almost sounds like the Amazon of its era!

Spring-Summer 1969

Winns goes groovy in 1969.  These garments are covered in stylised daisies (a trend begun by Mary Quant) but they're a far cry from the floral frock of earlier decades!

Left: New party-going hostess culottes to help you swing through summer evenings, have their own built-in bra!  They're the ideal way to keep it casual—with flair!  Cool and oh-so-comfortable, they're going to be the favourite of your summer wardrobe.

Right: This pretty playsuit is just made for you to go sailing, sunning and partying in... go to beaches, barbeques, or just laze around looking great!  No excuses now!  You can't help being the hit of the season when you're all matched up so perfectly.

In 1971 Winns was still very profitable, and considered ripe for a takeover bid.  And on the cover of its Spring-Summer catalogue of 1972 it offered the fashions below:

Spring-Summer 1972

Left: Easy care Treilon Frock.  The low set pleated skirt and cool V-neckline finished with a smart scarf gives this frock a very youthful look.

Right: Pants Suit.  The blazer jacket puts you among the best dressed of the season.  This smartly cut style may be allied with white or navy slacks making it the perfect co-ordinating outfit.  Made in fully washable pique and "Crimplene".

Autumn-Winter 1974

Left: The plush velveteen suit has embroidered trim on shoulder and Self buttons on jacket.

Centre: Now... the look of luxury in imitation Ponyhide.  Has rich fur-like trim.

Right: Sweet Velveteen with old-world lace frill front and elasticised blousy sleeves.

Notice the short skirts!  Miniskirts remained popular in Australia (at least at the lower end of the market) long after they'd gone out of fashion elsewhere.

Meanwhile, in spite of "the look of luxury" the economy was hitting a rough patch.  "Stagflation" was making its mark, postwar prosperity was winding down, and for the first time since the war Winns addressed its customers like this:

Dear Mail Order Customer,

As you are undoubtedly aware, world wide shortages of raw materials have resulted in severe shortages in manufactured goods.  To avoid disappointment we suggest you order early, this applies particularly to apparel where a second choice should be nominated.

By 1978, Winns owed money everywhere—including $160,000 for the printing of its catalogues!  Winns' creditors agreed to let it try and trade its way out of its difficulties, but in September 1979 the firm went into receivership.

I'll conclude this entry with one last story combining fashion with finance.

ANOTHER sidelight on the amazing Alfred Y. Zion, the Melbourne businessman who has gone abroad leaving a lot of his creditors wondering when they might see something out of $8-million odd owing.

Among many of his unfortunate experiences in the business world was his takeover battle for the losing Sydney retailer Winns Ltd now in receivership.

In an effort to help the embattled staff at this down-market women's fashion group, he sent a container load of frocks up for stock.

But when the box was opened, even the Winns buyers were appalled—they were out of season, out of fashion, out of this world.

The lid was quickly put back on the container and back to Zion in Melbourne it went.  Zion sent it up a second time and again it was returned.  the unwanted consignment was laid to rest in a warehouse and an unfortunate fire later consumed the lot.

The Bulletin, 18 September 1979

"Dressing Up For South East Asia" (Sydney Morning Herald, March 20, 1978)

 Sometimes blog fodder just falls into your lap—in this case literally, when I opened a book and a news clipping someone had cut out over 42 years ago fluttered out.  It's a little snapshot of late seventies fashion at its best.  These fabulous designs seem to be a far cry from the polyester and disco fashions of popular memory!

The team that will fly off soon to dazzle the East with our Couture fashion: left to right, producer Brian Hawes, model Zorica, co-ordinator Julie Bolton, models Di Parkinson, Petrina Devlin, Alan Lewis, Denise Austin; front row, models Rakanne, Steve Trgo and Dianna Gray.

By Mary Wilkinson
Fashion Editor

ONE of the most ambitious attempts to put Australian fashion on the South-East Asian map takes place in a few weeks.

For the first time, audiences in Hong Kong, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta will have a chance to see couture-level clothes by designers such as Mel Clifford, Hall Ludlow and Indonesian-born Goet Poespa, now living in Sydney.

Couture furs by Berhard Hammerman and special designs by Carla Zampattia and George Gross will also be show.

Emphasis will be on elegance and there won't be a bikini in sight (though Speedo have provided some stylish one-piece swimsuits).

"I am not taking a skin show," said co-ordinator Julie Bolton, who has been working on the project for many months.  "It is a haute couture fashion show."

A jungle riot of blue, green and red birds on swirling cream georgette in this John Kaldor fabric, styled by Mel Clifford into a full floating cape over handkerchief-point top and long skirt.

It will be a "welcome back" for Mel Clifford, who recently returned to designing under his own label after working for a Double Bay boutique.

He has certainly come a long way from the young boy in Echuca, 250km from Melbourne, who left his job in a bank after seeing his first ballet from a touring company.

Mel trained as a dancer in Adelaide and won a scholarship for further study in England, where he joined the London Festival Ballet.

He was with the company for nine years, and after his return home in 1966 he started designing opera and ballet costumes for the Elizabethan Trust.

However, there is little trace of a theatrical background in his couture work; all is simple, subtle and restrained.

One of the Mel Clifford Designs to be shown in Asia; pure white double georgette, bare backed, superbly cut in a John Kaldor fabric.

Sydneysiders will have a chance to see the collection before it wings off on April 9.

A gala preview will be held at the Hilton Hotel on Monday and proceeds will aid the Australian Opera Auditions Committee (NSW).

Peggy Page Advertisements (1959)

 These ads were originally published as two double page spreads in a 1959 issue of (British) Vanity Fair. Peggy Page could clearly afford to place four colour full-page ads in one issue of a fashion magazine!

The firm had been founded in London in 1933 by Harry Massey, who brought an expert, Sam Krohnberg, from the United States to set up production along American lines.  His most important innovation was introducing American sizing to British ready-to-wear. 

 

 

 These dresses are typical of the youthful fashions popular in the late 1950s and early 1960s.  Fitted bodices spread out into full skirts reaching a little below the knee.  Nothing is too extreme or exaggerated.

 

 

 Also typical of the late 1950s are the brightly coloured prints.  Flowers are popular, along with stripes and geometric shapes.

Found Online: Winns Catalogues VI (1950s)

 Now for the final installment of our study of Winns catalogues.  The State Library of New South Wales takes us to 1955, just before the advent of rock n' roll.  It's a conservative era, so don't expect any dramatic changes to the fashions.

Autumn and Winter 1950

As if to make up for the scantiness of the war years, all the clothes here use lots of material.  The skirts are long and full, the jackets boxy and full.

So snug and comfy are these finger length Topper Coats of Luxurious All Wool Coatings with brushed wool effect.  An ideal any occasion coat, being equally attractive over your evening frock as with street or sports wear.

A Superior Quality All Wool Fabric is used in this Sweepingly Full Flared Skirt.

Knitted Two-Piece Jumper Suits smartly styled in all wool fancy knitted design of self colours.  The jacket fits snuggly over the hips, the skirt is cut on a flare to give that swing.

My mother recalls being an awkward teenager around this time, and finding the calf-length skirts most unbecoming!

Spring & Summer 1950

This copy of Winns catalogue has been mended, and tape covers part of the text on the front cover.  This is a pity, because the dress on the left is made of a "Wonder Fabric", but the actual name of the fabric is hidden!   A number of new fabrics (trademarked or not) were being touted as "wonder fabrics" in 1950.  Here are a few of them:

• Miltum, a silvery fabric with a metal finish on one side
• Terylene, (an early polyester) just going into production at ICI in Britain
• Celanese, an acetate fabric
• And of course, Nylon, a decade old at this point, but coming into its own as the fabric of choice for making shirts, socks, lingerie, nightdresses and, of course, stockings!

That's leaving aside the natural fibres that were now being treated to make them crease-resistant, flame-retardant, moth-proof and colour-fast. Wonder fabrics indeed!

Autumn & Winter 1951

Winter 1951 sees a full-length coat and a suit feature on the front of Winns catalogue.  

These Smartly Cut Coats are featured in English All Wool Mohair Like fabric.  Generous swing style (note inset of back which is the feature of coat).  Attractively finished with large pockets and novelty button trim.  Fully lined of course.

This Charming Tween Seasons Suit is of Smooth Satin Back Crepe, the collar and pockets of the slimly styled Jacket are cleverly trimmed with embroidered thread, popular gored skirt.

Your Little Girl's Favourite Frock for this winter.  A nice rich Corduroy Velveteen with its lace collar and velvet bows, the pockets are trimmed to match, ties at back.

The coat is very full, but the bodice of the suit follows the wearer's figure closely.  Having watched re-runs of the 1950s Superman TV series in my childhood, I always think of suits like these as "Lois Lane suits"!

Spring & Summer 1951

All Winns' summer dresses for the 1950s are going to conform to this basic pattern: short sleeves, nipped in waist, bouffant skirt, light materials.  The variations for Summer 1951 are:

New, muted brilliance and the crisp feel of fashion in Floral Organdi.  Graceful flared skirt, wide sash, pearl buttons, cap sleeves and collar are effectively scalloped.  The captivating frock for any occasion.

The prettiest frock you can wear this summer, featured in Satin Back Crepe.  The soft falling skirt is gored with an unpressed pleat in front, pockets are lace trimmed matching the yoke, pretty plastic gold buttons and neat roll collar all add to make this a classic for you.

Autumn & Winter 1952

In the upper left hand corner is a "A cosy Winter Frock in the popular Velvet Cord" for a "Winsome Maid".  For the adults:

Popular coats in pinwale Velveteen (finely corded), the all-occasion garment, being ideal for either sports, street or casual wear.  Yoke action back gives ample freedom, finished with belt at back.  

The Very Newest in Ladies' Skirts, now so popular overseas.  They are in a nice All Wool Fabric with diagonal contrasting coloured stripes, cut with twelve gores.

Smartly Cut Casual Coats in All Wool Coating, very popular box style (note inset for the very attractive back treatment).  Beautifully lined throughout, finished with two very large pockets.

Spring & Summer 1952

Summer sees more summer frocks on the cover of Winns catalogue.  The little girl at the top left is described as wearing a "Winnsome" (pun no doubt intended) spot dimity with Swiss embroidery.  Her elders are wearing a "Morocain crepe Frock... with self toned embroidery" and a "Summery Frock ... in a panel stripe and floral British crepe".

Autumn & Winter 1953

An interesting thing to note is that all the garments illustrated on this cover are made of pure wool (as is all the knitwear inside).  By the end of the decade you would expect to see at least a few of the jumpers and cardigans advertised to be made of Orlon or a similar artificial fibre: light, moth-proof and easy to wash!

Lest you get the impression this catalogue is dominated by separates and casual wear, page 3 illustrates (in colour) "dressy" frocks with pearl and bead embroidery, and classic 1950s evening dresses made of taffeta.

Spring & Sumer 1953

The word of the moment is "Everglaze", a new-ish (in 1953) method of treating cottons.  The little girl at the top is wearing a "Winnsome" (that pun again!) dress in checked Everglaze, and the woman on the right is wearing a "gaily coloured floral frock, featured in an imitation linen with new "Everglaze" finish.

Everglaze was:

...the trade name for a scientific process which imparts stiffness, spring, lustre and other permanent properties to cotton materials as well as giving them new surfaces.

The possibilites of these new fabrics in the fashion field are legion.  Suitable for round-the-clock wear, and equally attractive for beach or ballroom, the bring within the range of the budget buyer long-wearing garments with the luxury appearance of those made from more expensive materials.

(Weekly Times, Melbourne, 31st of October 1951)

Autumn & Winter 1954

Autumn and Winter 1954 sees Winns promoting suits and separates.  The little girl wears a double breasted all wool suit.  In the centre a woman models a "superbly tailored Ottoman suit" with a nipped-in waist.  At the right is a model wearing a short coat with "novelty button pockets... a perfect combination with your skirts for casual wear".  The skirt is made of flannel and has sun-ray pleats.

Spring and Summer 1954

The dress in the centre is "styled in the latest Straw Fabric" and is "strikingly different".  Though straw cloth was mainly used in the making of hats, it seems to enjoyed brief popularity as a dress fabric.

However, not all "straw" fabric was actually made of straw.  The Glen Innes Examiner of March the 17th 1954 reported:

One of the new cloths of moderate price which will be in the shops this year will be "straw" fabrics made from cotton yarn in which thick and thin yarns and coarse weave help to capture the appearance of the original straw cloth which is too expensive for the average woman.

It's up to the reader to guess whether the dress on the cover of this catalogue was acutally made in "straw fabric", or whether it was made in a cotton imitation!

Autumn & Winter 1955

The cover of Winns catalogue for Autumn and Winter 1955 is unusual, because it features fashions designed for "the larger figure".  Larger women usually don't appear on the cover of clothing catalogues, unless it's for a firm specialising in selling outsizes!  Perhaps Winns discovered that they had a large number of older women customers in 1955 and wanted to represent that part of their market.

Except in size, these shirtwaist dresses don't differ much from similar fashions for slimmer women on the inside pages of this catalogue.  Perhaps the most interesting thing to note is they're made in darker fabrics with small repeating patterns: an old trick to make the wearer look thinner than she really is!

Spring & Summer 1955

... And finally we come to our last catalogue.  

The figure on the right illustrates how haute couture got translated into inexpensive ready-to-wear.  It is described as "the new H-line, manufactured in Polished Cotton".  The "H-Line", intoduced by Dior in 1954, featured a slightly flattened and raised bust and a dropped waistline.  Here, a year later, Winns is selling a dressed belted at the normal waist, but with a bodice fitting tightly to hips where the skirt flares out.

You'll notice that the larger woman on the left is not wearing an H-Line dress.  This was a silhouette definitely not for the full figured: the Australian Women's Weekly insisted that it was preferably worn by the slender and small-boned!

"The Sports Coat is Short and Swagger" (McCall Style News, November 1932)

 

 

 

Inside this little brochure this ensemble is described as : "Ladies' and Misses' Ensemble; coat in three-quarter length... four piece skirt".  It is portrayed on the cover in some kind of tweedy check with contrasting patterned collar and cuffs.  The dress buttons on one side and has a low hip yoke: the coat has patch pockets (trimmed in the same material as the cuffs and collar on the dress).