"For the Lighter Side of Life" (Delineator, December 1916)

 The First World War was raging in Europe, but fashion still went on its merry way.    

You'll note the new wartime silhouette—wide skirts, now well clear of the ankles, and an absence of tightly laced corsets.  Fashion historians often claim that this more relaxed style was a result of the war itself.  Women doing war work needed clothes that didn't hamper them.  However, looking at this picture it becomes clear that the new styles were also perfect for dancing.  Ragtime had already made its mark, and now these young ladies look ready to foxtrot and one-step their way into the Jazz Age.

From left to right:

The Isles of Greece never produced anything quite so smart and fascinating as design 8832— a dress in Grecian style made for a modern goddess.  The one-piece gown can be drawn in, in Empire fashion; or a lower waistline, if more becoming is equally good style and effective... A dress of satin, veiled with tulle is very beautiful for Winter functions.

Keeping step with Fashions's swiftly revolving wheel is easy work when one chooses such a model as design 8824-8820.  The basque effect in the waist is very pretty and becoming for evening wear.  And the standaway, flyaway look of the new collar is extremely smart and striking.  A slightly raised waistline is always becoming, but a regulation one is also offered.  The soft fulness of the handkerchief overskirts contrasts prettily with the bodice lines of the waist.

When is a dress not a dress?  When it is a smart evening frock (design 8813-8820).  Says that leading lady—Fashion—there is a subtle distinction that gives this model its chief charm.  The girdle, which can be cut in two different outlines at the bottom, gives individuality to the waist.  A sleeve made in cape effect is very unusual and striking... One or two handkerchief overskirts make the skirt...

"Gowns For Daily Use" (McCall's, February 1914)

 The remarkable thing about these "gowns for daily use" is how smart they are—what a contrast to the everyday fashions of 2024!   By 1914 fashion had well and truly left the curvy Edwardian silhouette behind and women were striving for a flattened and more streamlined look.  Skirts tend to be narrow and taper towards the ankles, but note the carefully placed pleats allowing some wearing ease.

NO. 5687, LADIES' DRESS⸺This is an unusually new model, wide tucks being combined with sleeves in semi-raglan fashion.  This frock, made of deep red serge, would make a practical addition to the winter wardrobe.  Revers of red-and-white plaid silk, with a crushed girdle of the same would be very smart.  Long, tassel-finished sash ends would be an attractive feature.

NO. 5699, LADIES' DRESS⸺The simplicity and good style of this frock would make it especially adaptable for business women.  

NO. 5671, LADIES' WAIST⸺Kimono or peasant styles still hold sway.  They are simple in construction and lend themselves to various styles.  The blouse illustrated, developed in heavy lace with tunic of the same, is very striking.  The fullness of the blouse is gathered at the neck, giving an entirely new effect.  The V-shaped neck and surplus waist is especially becoming to slender figures.

NO. 5697, LADIES' ONE- OR TWO-PIECE SKIRT⸺Dame fashion has given her approval to large waists, exaggerated hips and extremely narrow skirts around the ankles.  We have no model that so fully carries out this fashionable outline as this illustration.  The drapery at the sides of this skirt accentuates the outline of the hip.

Home Fashions (July 1914)

 Here we are, a couple of months out from the First World War, and looking at these summer blouses it's clear that the process of simplifying women's clothing is already well under way.

Clockwise, from the striped blouse on the left:

Pattern No. 18,998... an example of the newest and simplest shirt blouses.  The smart roll-collar is so arranged that it can be rolled high or low as desired.

Pattern no. 18,999.  The top centre figure represents a pretty crossover blouse, with the sleeve set in.  The collars and cuffs of a contrasting material form a pleasing finish.

Pattern No. 19,101 shows the popular new yoke which is cut in line with the sleeve.  The fronts cross over slightly, while the wide revers add a smart touch to the blouse.

Pattern No. 19,100, a dainty design for embroidery.  Cut all in the one-piece, with added collar and cuffs.

The diagonal closings are novel, but the most noticeable thing about the blouses is that they no longer have the high, boned collars and excessive ornamentation so fashionable only a few years earlier.

Concerning Coats I (1910s)

 Winter has set in, and I need some kind of warm clothing to protect me from the icy winds.  This lead me to investigate how women in earlier eras have kept out the cold.  In various eras women have covered themselves with coats and capes, shawls, ponchos and assorted knitwear, but in the end I decided to look at the history of coats.  I'm starting from the 1910s, a decade of great change, and  I'm going to ignore fur coats, raincoats and jackets in my survey because there would be too many digressions along the way (and besides, they deserve a survey of their own!)

Anyway, let's get going.  1910, and fashions are still very Edwardian with few signs of the changes to come.

Australian Home Journal, June 1910

The correct thing in this season's coats is for the buttons to begin at the waistline or a trifle below it.  This gives long, gently curving lines that are becoming to everyone, and suggests a deep opening, though the chest is not left so exposed as one may suppose.  In many of the coats the opening is really double-breasted, the revers being great shawl-collars, and the right one runs to the waistline or a little below it which gives the long, sweeping line.  Even where the coat is single breasted this lapping is cleverly manipulated and only the usual V of the blouse is exposed and it is filled with a jabot or frill.

 The Australian Home Journal, June 1910

Weldon's Ladies' Journal, August 1911

The fashions of 1911 appear to have narrowed.

A slip on coat, for cool or damp days, is almost a necessity in our variable climate. Light-weight woollens, linen, tussore, or serge may be employed, the square collar and revers facings of satin, silk, etc.

Weldon's Ladies' Journal, August 1911

The new models will appeal to buyers because they are smart in effect and while following the new, straight lines, there are no freak features to make sales difficult.  The collar is a very important feature and sailor or pointed collars and large revers are freely used... Serges, tweeds, homespuns, satins, mohairs, Rajahs and linines are the leading coat fabrics.

"Preparing for Coat Season", Dry Goods Review (Canada), January 1911

National Cloat & Suit Co., Spring-Summer 1912

The double-breasted coats of 1910 seem to have disappeared altogether, as none appear in this catalogue.  Some coats, however, overlap, fastening just above the wearer's left hip.

 

In January The Delineator prophesised:

The longer coats that have been worn have been a pleasant change, but I doubt if they will hold for Spring... For all coats, the big collar and revers remain as popular as ever.  Even the conservative morning hacking suit feels their influence and shows it in a reasonable enlargement of the revers of its notched collar...

"The Silver Lining" by Clara E. Simcox, The Delineator, January 1912

Both longer coats and a reversible coat are shown on this page of the National Cloak and Suit Co.'s catalogue!   

Advertisement, 1913

LONG COATS.  Long coats are most graceful.  They are draped and gathered around the form in classical folds, and it is difficult to define by the mere method of words any accurate idea of their exquisite simplicity and gracefulness... Once you have experienced the convenience and comfort of the roomy long coat you will never want to be without one, for it is the garment, next to your tailored suit, which fills the greatest needs.  

Australian Home Journal, June 1913

 

Home Fashions, June 1914

THE ODD COAT, or the coat that is worn with skirt of a different colour and material, is having a vogue such as it has not known for many years.  The wonder is that it is not always as popular, for it supplies a long-felt want, and its uses are many.

These odd coats can roughly be divided into three different classes—the SPORTS' COAT proper, the WRAP COAT, and another which has evolved from the real sports' coat, and still calls itself by that name, but which partakes a little of the nature of the wrap.  This style is the most popular of all, because having the characteristics mentioned it can be worn on so many different occasions and also because it is made in bright and pretty colours to give relief to dull monotony.

POCKETS are made a feature of the sports' coat, just as though, having been without so long, we are doing our best to make up in number on one single garment.  There are BREAST POCKETS, POCKETS ON THE BROAD BELT, SLIP POCKETS concealed by the belt, and BIG PATCH POCKETS below the belt that ever-present feature of the coat.

Home Fashions, June 1914

La Mode, September 12 1915

 

 

The central figure is wearing "Manteau en drap froncé à la taille sous une ceinture formée de 3 pattes boutonnées" or, to put it in English, a "cloth coat gathered at the waist under a belt formed by 3 buttoned tabs".  By 1915 narrow coats were definitely "out", new, fuller coats were securely belted rather than negligently fastened on one side.  In keeping with the times, this woman's coat has a slightly military air.

 

 

W&H Walker, Bargains for Fall of 1916

The separate coat has followed very naturally in the wake of the popularity of the separate skirt.  The sweater and sports coat fad paved the way for its acceptance among smart women.  The one-piece serge dress will be worn later in the season with a long coat of wool velours, corduroy or broadcloth.  These coats usually hide the entire dress or else are so long that only a few inches of hem appear below them.  They ripple generously either from the shoulders or from a yoke below the waistline.  Big collars are characteristic of the new coats...

"Straight from the Shoulder", The Delineator, October 1916

W. & H. Walker offers inexpensive but fashionable coats in (clockwise from upper left) wool mixed coating with a large "beaver fur cloth collar", all-wool coating in the "new "Broadway Knockabout" style", baby lamb cloth with a shawl collar and velvet trimmed wool mixture with "convenient slot pockets".  The coats are not long by the standards of the beginning of the decade—but then again, neither are the skirts, which are now calf-length! 
 

Eaton's, Fall and Winter 1917

Wide coats are of course much worn, and the belt is an essential ornament.  There are all sorts of belts; some are strips of the same material as the coat, and go all round the waist.  Others are only put on the sides and seem to maintain the fullness of the coat.  The front and back are then flat.  Sometimes the front and back only are crossed by a kind of "martingale" and the sides are "vague".

There are still some pockets, huge ones mostly, which are put for trimming more than for practical use.  With these, of course, every fancy will be nice.

"Letter from our Paris correspondent", Dry Goods Review (Canada), February 1917

Sears, Fall and Winter 1918

Coats show a nice variation in straight loose lines.  There is no curve inward to indicate a waistline, though smart effects are produced in many cases by cutting the waist and skirt portions separately and joining them in novel lines.  There are some belts shown, but these do not draw the coat in.

"Variety the Key-Note in N.Y. Spring Fashions", Dry Goods Review (Canada), January 1918

As usual with the Canadian trade demand is swing strongly towards coats, and it seems as if fewer women are planning to purchase both coat and suit for the cool weather than ever before, due of course to the prices prevailing... As was predicted earlier in the year the highest priced coats and suits will dispose of a good deal of fur.  Huge collars and cuffs are the chief source of consumption.

"Suits and Coats", Dry Goods Review (Canada), September 1918

Skirts are now reaching mid-calf!

Perry, Dame, Fall and Winter 1919

Women have learned the satisfactory ways of separate coats and dresses so thoroughly that even the promised vogue of the tailored suit will not interfere with the popularity of coats and wraps for motoring , traveling and general wear.   Hacking coats will be made of tweeds, checks and mixtures.  For afternoon and general day use the smartest materials will be duvetyn, velours, fur cloth, plush, camel's-hair cloaking, broadcloth and cloaking satin.

"Autumn Fabrics and Fashions", The Delineator, September 1919

And here we are in 1919, looking very different than we did in 1910!

"La Mode" (19 Décembre 1915)

Hems had been rising steadily since the beginning of the 1910s.  At first they only revealed the tips of the wearer's shoes, then they stealthily rose to her insteps, before clearing her ankles around the start of the First World War.  Here, just shy of eighteen months into the War they have risen to around the bottom of the wearer's calves—much to the shock of older and more conservative members of society!

This cover also illustrates, right at the end of 1915, an early version of the "war crinoline".  Unlike Victorian crinolines, these wide skirts weren't supported by a wire under-structure.  They remained fashionable through 1916 and most of 1917, before deflating towards the end of the war.

If these costumes look rather plainer than the fashions of 1910, it was because war shortages were starting to bite.  The editors of La Mode comment:

"La difficulté des approvisionnements on étoffes, passmenteries, dentelles impose forcemént des limites a l'imagination de nos grandes faiseuses."

["The difficulty of supplying fabrics, trimmings, lace, necessarily imposes limits on the imagination of our great creators." ]

"The Country's Call" (McCall's Magazine, July 1917)

 Women have always worked, but in total war the working woman suddenly becomes more fashionable than the lady of leisure.  In the summer of 1917 McCall's issued a number of patterns for the patriotic war worker.

At the top (and to the top) we have a "nurses' or maids' cap and aprons" and a "nurses' uniform".  By 1917 nursing was a conventional career for a woman, and the uniforms depicted above would not have been considered startling by anyone.

The figures at the bottom, however, are more challenging.  On the right is a woman wearing a "waist" and a "ladies' sports skirt" for working outdoors.  The skirt is very short by the standards of 1917 (see the nurses uniforms by way of comparison) and the outfit is completed by a pair of "bloomers" and leggings worn underneath.  The leggings can be seen peeking out from under the skirt.  The recommended material for this costume was khaki. 

On the left is an even more shocking innovation: pants!  Or, as the magazine puts it, a "ladies' and misses' overall suit".  In its dressmaking column, McCall's Magazine goes to some length to sell the garment to potential wearers: 

The woman with the hoe is becoming more and more a familiar figure; but the hoe and the skirt, these two which have always been antagonistic, are yet to be reconciled.  The fact is that skirts must be dispensed with, however short they may be, you cannot get away from the fact that they are always a handicap in the work that farming or gardening entail.  The only practical and comfortable thing to wear for working in the fields is the overall suit with roomy bloomers, which many women have adopted.  Even if your gardening activities are limited to a small backyard only large enough to supply the vegetables for the needs of the family, you will find that you need overalls.  If you think about that shabby old skirt you had hanging in the closet ever so long and wanted to get rid of by wearing it out this summer, will do just as well, you are mistaken.

And, here may I say that many women have learned the value of using overalls for work about the house.  They are also used by women workers in factories.

Suits III (Weldon's Ladies Journal, April 1911)

 A decade further on, and we can see how the skirt suit continues to evolve in line with other fashions.  These late Edwardian examples from Weldon's Ladies' Journal combine rather masculine jackets with straight skirts reaching the instep.  The effect is severe, but the outfits are topped by some extravagantly feminine hats!

From left to right:

"In our variable climate a tweed coat and skirt is always a necessity to our wardrobe, and here is show a most useful style for spring and summer tweeds and suitings..."

"A smart little suit for morning, country, or seaside wear, made in spring tweed, serge, fancy or plain cloth... Three gored skirt and semi-fitting double-breasted coat."

"...the pleated skirt is an excellent model for tweeds, serge, homespun, etc.  Four-gored skirt, pleated side and semi-fitting coat."

Once again from left to right:

"One of the new coats for the new spring woollens... with velvet faced collar."

"A most useful style for cachemire, tweeds, fancy woollens, hopsack, serge, cloth, trimmed braid.  Six-gored skirt, pleated panel back and front.  Semi-fitting coat."

"A dressy coat and skirt for ribbed serge or tweed... Two piece skirt with inverted pleats at side.  Semi-fitting coat."

"Promenade d'Automne" (Le Petit Echo de la Mode, October 7 1917)

 By October 1917, World War I had ground on for over three years.  Though today we think of the War as it affected the men in the trenches, it also had profound effects on the civilian population.  In particular it lead to harsh shortages on the home front as men were called away to fight and resources were diverted from civilian use into the military.

The coats depicted below show how wartime conditions affected fashion.  They are warm (essential in a time of fuel shortages) and practical (well off the ground and with big pockets!) and are noticeably plainer than they would have been before the War.

1.  Heavy jersey coat, straight fit, with corner closed by a buckle covered with the same fabric.

2. Tailored suit in wool velvet.  Long, straight frock coat, with two large pleats behind and in front passing over a buttoned belt.

3. Duvetine coat, straight and solid shape, with a high belt decorated with buttons.

4. Coat for girls in terry fabric, straight shape with a buttoned belt.  Scarf shaped collar, draped, closed  with a button.

Camisole ("Home Fashions", July 1914)

 Underwear isn't often shown on the cover of fashion magazines, but that's what Home Fashions did in July 1914 when it offered this free pattern for a camisole to its readers.

A camisole was a sleeveless (though this version is shown with cap sleeves) bodice worn as a protective layer between the corset and the outer garments.  Home Fashions advised its readers that this camisole was "suitable for wearing beneath a blouse or bodice of semi-transparent material" and recommended piece embroidery, spot net or sprig muslin for making it up.

Camisoles came briefly back into fashion as outerwear in the 1970s as part of that decade's fondness for nostalgia.

Land Girl (1917-8)

 This real photo postcard can be dated almost to the year, because the sitter is wearing the uniform of the (British) Women's Land Army.  The Board of Agriculture created the Land Army early in 1917 to replace the farm workers who had gone off to war.  The uniform they finally settled on consisted of a sou'wester had, knee length coat, boots, leather leggings—and "breeches with wide posteriors, tapering to fit tightly around the calves, and sealed by gaiters."  The Land Girl in this photo appears to be showing off her crisp new uniform—and daringly, she is smoking a cigarette! 

Not surprisingly, the uniform was considered shocking, particularly by the older generation:

"The Land Army demanded references, so Annie approached the elderly wife of the canon who lived in her village, to be told: 'Do you know what it involves?  You'll be dressed as a man, and I object to that—it's a disgrace to show your ankles.'  Annie recalled the interview sixty years later, and was still not wholly convinced the canon's wife was wrong, adding, 'And it was [a disgrace], I had my skirts to the ground.'"

From Kate Adie: Fighting on the Home Front (2013)

 

"Anyone for tennis?" Sports Costumes 1919-1939

 When lawn tennis first became popular in the 1870s, women wore their everyday dress to play—complete with bustles, corsets, petticoats and trains:

Punch, July 7th 1877

In time a specialised costume started to evolve for women tennis players—beginning with protective aprons with pockets to hold spare tennis balls!   By the turn of the century some women were playing competitive tennis, usually dressed all white tennis outfits consisting of skirts and blouses.  Unfortunately these women were still encumbered by long skirts, stiff collars and corsets.

By the end of the First World War, however, women's ordinary clothing had become much less cumbersome and restrictive.  Naturally their sportswear followed suit!

Le Petit Echo de la Mode, Juillet 6 1919

[Left: "Dress for a young girl aged 14 to 16, in two-toned jersey, shirt-shaped with turndown collar, closed with a fancy tie.  Short kimono sleeves and narrow waistband tied and finished with wool pompoms."

 Centre: "Tailored suit in twill.  Straight jacket with long lapel collar, decorated with pockets and closed with a belt.  Narrow, plain skirt."

Right: "Jersey dress with collar, lapels and short sleeves in white jersey.  Long waisted bodice over a lightly gathered skirt."]

At a guess, these outfits would have been worn for a social game rather than a competitive tournament.   The silhouette is the same as fashionable dress, but the dresses are made up in plainer fabrics with less ornament.

Miroir des Modes, Juillet 1924

Blazer, blouse and skirt—all available from Butterick.  The look owes a lot to contemporary men's sportswear; only the skirt is distinctly feminine.

 

Fashions For All, June 1928

Summer is coming!  So all prepare your tennis outfits.  This white dress with strap sleeves is smartly cut, and has two box-pleats in the skirt, which are arranged in a new pointed fashion at the waist.  Happily there is the cardigan included in the pattern—to slip on when the game is over.

Judging by other illustrations in the magazine "strap sleeves" appears to mean "sleeveless".  Made up in more colourful materials, this design would have easily served for a day dress of the period.

Pictorial Printed Patterns, May 1933

These three girls from Pictorial Patterns appear to be playing tennis in ordinary sun frocks—with bared backs to get a fashionable tan.  Each dress came with its own jacket or cape (not show here) to be donned after the game.

Weldon's Ladies' Journal, June 1936

From 1936 Weldon's advertised patterns for "Your Smart Sports Kit... Crisp lines, trim details, and plenty of room for play".    The two illustrations on the right are not of dresses.  No. 98193 in the centre is for

"Shorts and shirt—the perfect choice for games on deck or on shore"

While on the right pattern no. 97573 is described as 

"A trouser-frock is as smart as it's comfortable; nobody could say more!  And if you don't want shorts, yet find a skirt hampering, it's an ideal solution of your problem."

Le Petit Echo De La Mode, 18 Avril 1927

["Set for sport, consisting of jacket... and dress.  Fitted jacket, buttoned in front and lined with tailored flap pockets. Turn-down collar.  Sleeves gathered at the shoulders.  Plain wool dress is adorned with a waistcoat inlaid with the same fabric as the jacket..."]

Once again I get the impression that this outfit was intended to be worn for social games rather than competitive matches: the puffed sleeves and coloured trim would have been unusual wear for a tennis tournament.

Wakes catalogue, Spring and Summer 1939-40

In 1939 Wakes advertised "this cool white petal crepe with its slim-making pin-tucked bodice, young square neck."  This hem of this dress has risen above the player's knees to give her freedom of movement.  From this point on, nearly all tennis dresses be this length or shorter, no matter where the fashionable hemline sat at the time!

"La Mode" (29 August 1915)

Looking for something to post I realised that this was published exactly 105 years ago today.  It seems like an omen—so here goes!

1.

   1. Robe de lainage.  — Jupe plisée devant avec empiecement  gansé, corsage blouse en mousseline avec bretelles de tissue.
 2. Costume tailleur pour fillette. — Jupe garnie de plis creux sur le devant.  Jaquette droite le découpée devant agrémentée de larges revers.
3. Robe princesse à 3 volants en forme — Elle est garnie dans le dos et la devant d’un large pli rond. 

 

1. Woolen dress.— Skirt pleated at the front with braided yoke, chiffon blouse bodice with fabric straps.      
2. Tailored costume for a girl. — Skirt with box pleats on the front. Straight jacket, cut in front with wide lapels.    
3. Princess dress with 3 shaped ruffles — It is trimmed in the back and the front with a wide round pleat.

"Something New From Something Old" (Ladies Home Journal, March 1918)

Through the years I've posted a lot about "make do and mend" as it was practiced during World War II.   It hadn't occurred to me that people would be tackling the same kinds of shortages during World War I, until I found this article from 1918 giving women suggestions for remodelling their old clothes into new fashions.

Of course, women had been re-making clothes long before the First World War, and would continue to do so after the Second.  However in peacetime this kind of economy was slightly embarrassing: it didn't make its way into the fashion magazines or the glossy women's service magazines.  In wartime it became both fashionable and patriotic—a matter for pride!

"At last the rumors are out, and by next autumn they say we shall be allotted just so many years of material to make our dresses with, and there will be no big, roomy pockets, no fascinating dangling girdles and no plaits hidden away to consume extra yards.  How to make a smart and warm dress with a minimum amount of woolen fabric will require a maximum amount of skillful planning, and here is a whole page of pretty ideas which will help you begin your early training in economizing right now."

"There are all sorts of ways to save wool, but the smartest way is to eke it out with soft silk.  One must have a least one warm dress for the crisp spring days, and the combination of silk and wool, which Paris has been so quick to sanction, provides an economical as well as attractive method of using an old silk dress which nearly everyone has , with a few yards of woolen material, which is all one can afford to buy in these days.  This smart little frock (no. 1507) made such clever use of the old beige crêpe de Chine dress on the left for its chemisette and the back and front of the side-opening skirt... A remnant of navy blue jersey cloth made the blouse and skirt yoke..."

"Below is a black satin skirt which gave itself up unreservedly for the blue serge coat dress (no. 1494).  Even though you may not have a black satin skirt exactly like the one below to use as a foundation, don't despair, as almost any old two or three gored pattern may be narrowed down to the straight lines of the new silhouette..."

"To keep up with the times this four-year-old charmeuse made no protest at being transformed into a graceful tunic blouse.  Very few new materials are being produced at the present time, in consequence of which the French designers are showing their ingenuity in using old materials in new ways and combinations.  The lovely blouse shown here (No. 1497) was copied from a French design, and it is one of the war-necessity blouses, being made for ease at the armholes and comfort of fit, so that one can slip into easily and work unrestricted whether at sewing, bandage making or knitting.  It is deeply pocketed, too, for unexpected overflow contributions."

 

"Have you an old broadcloth evening wrap like this one... too good to discard and yet too dowdy to wear?  If you have, this good-looking topper coat ... (No. 1493) is one of the things you can make it over into.  It is not always possible in making over to use two old garments for this purpose, and a yard or two of new material of matching or contrasting color in a different weave will often cover deficiencies which the old material may have.  In this coat... a bolivia with its twilled weave made a pleasing contrast with the smooth surface of the broadcloth."

"There are more ways than one of making an old coat-suit into a one-piece dress than you dreamed of in your philosophy.  One of the newest ways is illustrated just below in the good-looking street dress (No. 1487), and a glimpse of what it used to be before this great change took place in its life is shown in the little sketch on the left below.  Almost any type of coat which is not cut away at the front may be adapted to this design, and the ubiquitous black satin, which goes so smartly with everything will make the foundation skirt, collar and sash ends... In remodeling a coat into a dress, the sleeves usually must be taken in at the seam and the coat at the underarm to give the slimness essential to a one-piece dress if you wish it to be smart."

It was fortunate that the fashions of 1915-17 were so ample: it gave the  dressmakers of 1918 who wanted to remake their old clothes into new ones plenty of material to work with!

Found Online: The Gender and Women's Studies Collection at the University of Wisconsin (1910s-1930s)

You sometimes find fashion and costume history resources in the strangest places.  One of them is in the digital Gender and Women's Studies Collection at the University of Wisconsin.  The name of this site is enough to tell you that the scope of the collection is wider than fashion alone, but such is the importance of clothes and style in women's lives that there are plenty of things to explore if that is where your main interest lies.

Here are some of the highlights!  Click on the images to go to the publications.

What Well Dressed Women Will Wear This Fall.  This little catalogue from 1911 promotes coats and suits made by H. Black and Company under the trade name "Wooltex".

From the same decade: Portfolio of Lady Duff-Gordon's original designs, published by Sears-Roebuck in 1917.

Lady Duff-Gordon was an English couturiѐre who designed under the label "Lucile".  By 1917 she had salons in London, New York and Paris, had licensed her name for various luxury goods, designed for films and the stage and penned fashion columns for women's magazines (including Harper's Bazaar and Good Housekeeping).  She is also credited as the first designer to hold catwalk fashion shows with live models and music.

This portfolio was an attempt to make her fashions available to a wider public at a lower price: though the clothes are pricey for Sears they would have cost customers ten times as much to buy original designs at one of Lucile's salons!

Fashions of the Hour—published in January 1927 by Marshall Field & Company.  The latest fashions to buy from the Chicago department store.

And finally we have The Style Book of Slenderizing Fashions by Lane Bryant.   This catalogue contains 80 pages of clothes for the not-so slender woman including everything from hats to corsets.  The styles are typically 1930s, albeit in larger than average sizes!

Of course, this is not the entire collection.  When you visit the site, check out some of the periodicals there as well!

"La Mode" (25th of July, 1915)

 

I got this magazine—bound with a number of other issues from the same year—at a vintage fashion fair where someone was disposing of material used in an exhibition of First World War fashion.  The covers of the issues from earlier in 1915 all have patriotic themes: pictures of Huns confronting innocent Belgians, pictures of women and children giving gifts to wounded soldiers, pictures of royalty from allied nations.  However by this issue La Mode had banished the war from its front cover and had reverted to its role of a fashion magazine pure and simple.

The clothes worn by the models in this illustration are noticeably simpler and easier fitting than the clothes that were fashionable less than a year earlier.  The war was already making its mark on women's clothing.  Inside, the editorial staff had a few words of praise for tailored suits:

Costumes Tailleur

Avec un simple et correct tailleur, une femme est toujours élégante, sis a chausure et ses gants sont irréprochables de fraicher.

On tait cette année beaucoup de tailleurs à rayures plus ou moins irrégulieres, à damiers, éccosais, dans des tons neuters et doux de preference.

Mais nous insisterons sur la corréction de la coupe tailleur tradionnelle: et qui reste la caractéristique d’une femme élegante.

Malgré la coupe correct, le costume en lainage léger sera trés agréable pour les villégiatures de l’éte.  

[Tailored Suits

With a simple and correct tailor, a woman is always elegant, wearing impeccably fresh shoes and gloves.  

This year there have been many suits with more or less irregular stripes, checks, and tartans, preferably in neutral and soft tones.

But we will insist of the correctness of the traditional tailor cut which remains characteristic of an elegant woman.

Despite the correct cut, the light wool suit will be very pleasant for summer resorts.]

A History of Blouses Part 3 (1910s)

Clothes the College Girl Will Need by Katherine Clinton

...But you can not do without shirt waists and a tailored skirt.  In fact, you will be able to get on satisfactorily with a sufficient number of shirt-waists and a skirt...

Designer and Woman's Magazine, September 1911.

Weldon's Ladies Journal, May 1911

 42022—A Dainty Blouse.  Of heather coloured silk, trimmed cream lace and insertion, and tucked cream ninon, the velvet straps being of deep heather shade.

If a modern woman was to don a blouse from 1910  people would think she was wearing fancy dress.  If the same woman wore a blouse from 1919, people would think her appearance a little odd, but have trouble working out why.  In other words, the decade saw a desire for practicality merge with a pared-down aesthetic to create the first modern fashions.

National Cloak & Suit Co., Spring-Summer 1912

6437.  A Waist that every woman should have in her wardrobe—a fashionable and becoming model made of Pure Irish Linen.  The front is attractively tucked and the becoming side closing is tastefully effected with pearl buttons.  It has a soft, turned-down detachable collar...

6438.  A delightfully dressy Waist of Striped messaline beautifully made and trimmed.  It has a becoming yoke and high collar of handsome all-over net...

6439.  A charmingly dainty Waist of fine quality Lawn, prettily made and exquisitely trimmed.  The new and attractive double side frill is of plaited Val lace, while the front is becomingly tucked and lavishly embellished with rich Val and Cluny insertions...

6440.  Rich Hand-Embroidery and dainty material make this beautiful Waist of fine quality Lawn a most unusual value at $1.98.

The change didn't come immediately, however.  The first three years of the 1910s saw a continuation of Edwardian styles, with women offered a choice of blouses imitating men's shirts (complete with high starched collar) or blouses ornamented with lace, tucks, embroidery and insertions (also high-collared).

Advertisements, 1913

From Barkers: Jacqueline—Real Cluny and Valenciennes Lace Blouse, trimmed down the front with crochet balls.  Godiva—Good Quality White Japanese Silk Blouse with low turn-collar finished with a soft silk bow.

D.H. Evans & Co: No. 1 LB—Smart and becoming charmeuse Model with hand-stitched Robespierre collar...  No. 2 LB—Charming Broché Model of exquisite design with Robespierre collar (edged fancy handstitching)..

A new garment rendered necessary by the very transparent nature of the blouses and waists now worn is the under bodice of net or shadow lace.  These garments run from the bodice of net or all-over lace, trimmed with a ruffle of lace, to quite elaborate affairs threaded with ribbons in different widths.

The Dry Goods Review, July 1913

This began changing shortly before the First World War (as seen in the illustration below).  Necklines became lower, fastenings simplified, and decorative effects were largely achieved by the use of coloured and patterned material rather than the application of lace and embroidery.  (Judging by my sources, both stripes and checks were immensely popular through the second half of the decade.)

Home Fashions June 1914

No. 18,795... shows the new way of cutting the yoke and sleeves in one.  The lower part of the front is gathered beneath the yoke and arranged to cross slightly over it...

No. 18,794 ... an exceedingly smart blouse, to be carried out in one of the fashionable striped materials.

No. 18,693 ... illustrates the use of the accordian-pleated ninon or chiffon frill.  The blouse is simplicity itself, cut in the Magyar style...

La Mode, April 18 1915

Corsage simple en linon, garni du jours et d'un entre-deux de filet.  Cravate de velours noir.

Blouse en tissu froncée au bord d'un emplècement découpé en cent.

Corsage habillé en soie au en linon garni d'entre-deux de filet, formant bretelles et formant col. 

A Word About Blouses

Separate blouses for summer wear are made of fine handkerchief linen, embroidered voile, Swiss muslin, organdie, batiste, law, Georgette crepe, cotton voile, or marquisette, in white or one of the many pale tints available.  Most of the new blouses show a tiny yoke, a somewhat low-cut neck opening, and a long sleeve, and are joined with machine hem stitching.

Everylady's Journal, November 1916

W.&H. Walker Bargains for Fall of 1916

E411. A stylish waist of sport stripe tub silk in a very pretty combination of dark blue and green stripes.  Black velvet collar, cuffs and vest buttoning through with novelty buttons.

E12.  Middy of good quality linene.  Sailor collar, long sleeves and pocket.  Laces at neck.

E13.  Serviceable waist of white lawn.  Entire front is embroidered; trimmed with deep tucks; turn-down collar, long sleeves with cuff.

E601.  Exquisite and becoming taffeta silk waist.  High or low neck.  Buttons with silk loops and silk covered buttons.

E206.  A serviceable middy for Fall and Winter of gray flannel, with collar, cuffs and belt of contrasting plaid colors.

E410.  Handsome waist of wool-finished plaid flannel.  Vest, collar and cuffs of plain gray flannel edged with contrasting colors.

There has probably never been a greater demand for shirts and blouses than there is to-day, and with a practical tweed coat and skirt for morning wear there is nothing smarter than a well-tailored shirt.  In the afternoon, too, with their serge cloth suits women are wearing crȇpe de chine blouses of the simple, well-cut order.

The Gentlewoman, December 20 1916

The social upheavals of the First World War consolidated these trends.  Large numbers of working women marched off to the factories to do war work, meaning that the low-paid seamstresses, laundresses and ladies maids' who made and cared for the elaborate Edwardian blouses were no longer available.  Meanwhile, middle and upper class women were mostly doing war work of their own, so blouses that could be donned without help, worn throughout a busy day, and washed easily, became desirable.

Ladies Home Journal, March 1918

6. Such pretty waists as this one of plaided voile, collared and cuffed in white piqué with a tiny edge of Irish, forecast a demand for tailored coat suits.

19.  It is made of striped silk, the practical waist above, which will take a tubbing with the same equanimity as the juvenile white piqué turndown collar and cuffs which are such a youthful and essential part of it.

[Fashion]... has lost none of its taste for one-piece dresses and long blouses.  The idea of the long body has been transferred to the separate waist which is worn over a skirt, either a suit skirt, a sports skirt or a dress skirt, as the case may be...

The Delineator, August 1919.

Le Petit Echo de la Mode, August 10 1919

P.L. 4778.  Joli KIMONO en voile de coton, desin cachmire, avec collreette plissée en voile de coton blanc, et mȇme petit plissée au bas de la manche courte.

P.L. 5067.  Elégante TUNIQUE en voile de coton, dessin cachmire.  Le col marin se fait en voile blanc orné d'un jour et d'une petite cravate feminée par deux boules.

P.L. 5071.  CASAQUIN "haute monde", forme marinère, en beaux voile de coton, fond blanc à carreaux de couleur, col uni, manches kimono terminées par un large ourlet uni...

P.L. 4971.  Gentille BLOUSE en voile de coton uni, col marin, voile fond blanc à carreaux de couleur, cravate assortie au col et terminée par une boule.

In 1919 there was an emerging trend for unstructured overblouses—a fashion that was going to last through the 1920s.  Though the war had ended, it was clear that fashion wasn't going revert to pre-war modes.  Ease and simplicity were here to stay.