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!