Pedal Pushers (Life, August 28, 1944)

 If women in some countries were repurposing old zips to make jewellry, and old curtains to make aprons, women in other countries had enough resources to pursue the occasional fashion whimsy.  I'm referring here to "pedal pushers", which first appeared on the cover of Life in 1944 as a youthful fad.

"PEDAL PUSHERS"

This fall college girls will wear a new kind of knee-length shorts

For years male bicyclists have had the sensible custom of rolling up the right trouser leg to avoid tangling with the chain.  When college girls took to riding bicycles in slacks, they first rolled up one trouser leg, then rolled up both.  This whimsy has now produced a trim variety of long shorts, called "pedal pushers".  Introduced at recent college fashion shows, they look like little boys' short pants.

Best footwear with pedal pushers are moccasins.  Since these are rationed, girls this summer have been going barefoot (see cover) and they are expected to appear on campuses this fall in bare feet.  But bare feet are not allowed in class.  In some places pedal pushers themselves will not be allowed in classrooms.

Most Eastern colleges will permit girls to were pedal pushers on the campus.  Some of them (Smith, Vassar, Mount Holyoke, Sarah Lawrence) will also permit them to go to classes.  California colleges will have none of them either in class or on campus.  The University of Kansas begs the question by saying that these knee-length shorts are permissible "if they look enough like a skirt to fool a nearsighted professor."

In some ways these garments seem the epitome of wartime praticality and economy: practical because they made riding a bicycle easier, and economic because they didn't use much material.  It's clear that some conservatives in the older generation didn't approve of them, but that probably made them all the more appealing to the girls who wore them!

Pedal pushers would go on to be a post-war staple in American casual wear.  Once they moved from campuses to the suburbs they'd change slightly in design, becoming a little bit longer and a lot slimmer.  I wonder how many of the young students mentioned in the article above continued wearing pedal pushers as adults?

On Making Do (Stitchcraft 1943)

 Every country caught up in the Second World War was affected by civilian shortages, but some countries were more affected than others.  These magazines, published in Great Britain, are full of tips and projects for making the most of a limited clothing ration.

Knitting, as always, was a popular pastime.  Since it was important to use as little yarn as possible, designers started creating patterns for tight, waist-length jumpers in stitches that saved wool.  Multi-coloured patterns (as in the hat and gloves below) became popular as a way of using up odds and ends.  If all else failed, knitters could always unravel an old garment, and use the wool to knit something new!

Now on to the magazines.

January 1943

The cover shows a ribbed jumper with a camels in cross stich on the yoke.  Other contents include patterns for detachable collars made of wool (only half an ounce of wool for each!) , a pattern for an apron to make out of old blackout curtain, and a pattern for "sockettes" to be worn to save one's precious stockings.

Wakes, Winter 1942

Japan entered the war in 1942, and for the first time Australia had the enemy on their doorstep.  However, Australian manufacturers were still capable of turning out stylish outfits like the coat and muff (with matching hat) illustrated on the cover of the catalogue below.

COAT AND MUFF, 5 GNS.

A three piece ensemble (the hat sells separately) with furrier-made tawny luxurious leopard-dyed coney fur, mounted on a brilliant Loyal Blue English all wool coating.  Seven panel, slim as a whistle princess with new lines in every inch from moulded, semi-extended, immaculate shoulders to flared full hem.  British rayon lined throughout.  Matched skins and material in the zip closing muff purse.

Australia's Lost Department Stores IX: McDowells (Spring & Summer 1941-42)

McDowells was one of Sydney's smaller department stores, and like so many others, began as a drapery in the 19th century.  It was founded as John McDowell and Partners in 1889, and became McDowell and Coogan in 1893 when one of the original partners dropped out.  In 1895 it became McDowell and Hughes, when Hughes bought out Coogan, finally becoming McDowells Ltd in 1917.  

McDowells prided itself of old-fashioned service and providing value for money.  Staff often spent their whole careers there, and discipline was considered to be firm, but fair.  (That didn't stop one enterprising manager stealing 70 dozen pairs of stockings from his employer in the early 1920s!)  Notably, McDowells refused to reduce the pay of its employees during the Great Depression.

McDowells did a lot of business via mail-order catalogue, which brings me to this publication from 1941.

The front cover hopes "for a brighter year!" but history tells us that they would be disappointed.  Meanwhile they were advertising a "FROCK you will love to wear to any function" in "SHEER GEORGETTE", a "FLORAL FROCK" in crepe with a silhouette "emphasised by the drama of a WHIRL OF PLEATS", a "WASHING FROCK attractively styled in ... a good quality LINEN LIKE FABRIC" and lastly, a dress cut with "9 complete Gores" in a "Flower-splashed distinctive SUEDE CREPE".

It's a fairly good selection of early wartime fashions, but as wartime economies bit clothes would become less generous in their use of materials.  Tucks, pleats and 9-gored skirts would no longer be allowed.

Vogue Pattern Book (June 1940)

 War or no war, Vogue Patterns was still capable of producing glamorous and sophisticated patterns.  Illustrated on the cover of the June 1940 Vogue Pattern Book is pattern S-4189 for a skirt, a blouse and a jacket.

S-4189——RIDING HABIT JACKETS will make your town suit look crisply English and pay homage to the flared-hip silhouette above a slim skirt.

Suits and separates would remain staples during the war years, though as time went on the cut of this jacket would be seen as wasteful.

This is the British edition of Vogue Pattern Book.  It would have gone to press around the time of Dunkirk, and subsequent issues during the Battle of Britain and the Blitz.  Though the patterns would have been the same as the ones in the American edition, the war crept in via the editorial content.  This issue warns readers of possible fabric shortages as British manufactures are exported to pay for the war effort. The October issue warns readers of a possible purchase tax on paper patterns (a tax had been imposed on clothes that month) while the December issue exhorts them to be economical.

Eventually, due to paper shortages, the British edition of Vogue Pattern Book would cease publication as a separate magazine, and would not resume until some years after the war.

Australian Home Journal, November 1949

 We're nearly at the end of the 1940s at this point, and the fashions foreshadow the 1950s.  The Australian Home Journal still reports on Hollywood fashions, but in this issue is very much focused on the latest collections from Paris.

The way that women look will not have greatly changed due to the Paris Spring dress collections...

Shoulders, despite a move to square them, remain on the slope.  And there are still plenty of princess, beltless dresses although we have said goodbye to the difficult Empire lines which rose so high under the bust...

Necklines
Necklines are styled this year.  For example, there are star-pointed collars, a mandarin neckline which develops from a bib-yoke of contrast stitch, a button-opening neckline with small Peter Pan collar and bodice-pocket flaps repeating the curve of the collar.

Pattern 7452 (the centre one on the cover) shows how a more "styled" neckline could be adapted to meet the needs of a home dressmaker. 

Australian Home Journal (September 1940)

 If Woman's Journal looked to Paris for its fashion news, the Australian Home Journal sought inspiration from Paris.

First up: costume jewellery as worn by the stars:

The Stars' Glamour Gadgets
Glamorous gadgets are favourites in the costume jewellery field, and unlimited variety is suggested to Miss and Mrs. movie fan who follows the style leadership of film favourites.  Bracelets, necklaces, clips and boutonnieres rival each other in originality and imagination, with dressmaker trimmings equally decorative.

Australian Home Journal was always happy to turn to designers for advice— in this case, a film costume designer.  Dolly Tree's credits for 1940 included Young Tom Edison and Strike Up the Band.

"Shorts" for Sports
"No matter what the sport—who the girl—the shortest route to smartness in sports is by way of shorts," says Dolly Tree, M-G-M fashion designer.  1940 finds shorts in top place.  Shoulders may be covered, waists nipped in, but legs remain uncovered for the athletic Miss.

For more mundane use, the magazine suggested some popular dressmaking materials. 

Floral patterns are in the front line of dress ideas; spots will be seen everywhere, and checks, while not so prominent as last season, will still have a good following. 

... And of course, some suggestions for things to make with those materials:

Skirts and Blouses
For all-round practical wear, skirts and blouses have come into their own again, and for simple day clothes they are just the thing.
It is to the diversity of changes that the different combining of several blouses and a skirt give that make these garments so popular.

Practicality and making a little go a long way some to be the watchwords here!

"Checks, Please!" (McCall Fashion Book, Autumn 1941)

 If McCall Fashion Book can be believed, the "must-have" fabrics for coats in 1941 were plaids.  Every coat listed in its Autumn issue was illustrated in a plaid version, often with a caption pointing out how suitable plaids would be for making it up.

To modern eyes, these coats appear decidedly formal.  The writers of 1941 spent a lot of ink telling us how casual they were.  This, more than anything, tells us how standards have changed since then.

Shoulders were inevitably "well-padded", though "rounded"!

CLOTH OR FUR CLOTH
The casual coats all have an excessively casual appearance this season.  The nth degree of casualness.  They are bulky-looking, with wide sleeves, deep armholes, huge pockets.  Like all of them, this coat has the look of slipping easily over anything—dress, jacket or suit.  It has the new smooth shoulder, well padded even though rounded.

Australian Home Journal, May 1948

 In May 1948, the Australian Home Journal offered its readers patterns for three "frocks" (depicted below) and its usual budget of fashion tips and news.  As you can see from the cover, the patterns were for dresses that were longer and fuller than their wartime predecessors, but still a long way from Dior's "New Look".

Here and There.
High rising necklines are accepted on day-dresses but are not particularly liked because they are not comfortable.  They are not wanted for wear after five.  It is felt the lower neckline is more appealing.

Everybody loves long sleeves, and hates capes because they expose the sometimes unattractive underarm and layers of underclothing.  Long sleeves are wanted on everything because they add to the long slim look of this season's favourite line.

Longer hemlines are selling well; in fact they started selling last season and are going well now.  They are popular on all type dresses because they are felt to be fashionable and make the wearer look slimmer.

Customers do not especially like dressed-up wool dresses.  They are buying jerseys and wools with sequin trim and detail because they can find nothing else.

It would appear that many women weren't satisfied with the clothes available in the shops!  Perhaps the magazine was hinting that they would be better off buying an Australian Home Journal pattern instead.

Australian Home Journal, March 1940

 Let's take a look at another issue of Australian Home Journal—this time from the war years.  As usual it's full of advice for women who are both fashion-conscious and budget-aware.

Dearer Materials.
Quite a number of mothers are wondering if the dress materials will be dearer this season.  Yes, they will be dearer, there is no question of that, and they must remain dear for a long time.  Exchange, freights and war risks have added to the cost of all imported goods, and Australian-made materials are also advancing in price.

 World War II is only a few months old, but it's already having an effect on prices.  Things will only get worse in the coming years. 

"These Patterns..." (Australian Home Journal, February 1949)

 Fashion can sometimes offer a window onto social and technological change.  For example, the February 1949 issue of the Australian Home Journal advises readers on what to pack for one of those exciting new aeroplane flights. 

Don't Overload
If you are flying—and this is a popular form of travel to-day—you have to whittle your luggage down to essentials because you are only allowed 44 lbs. of luggage—and excess luggage becomes an expensive proposition.
If you plan interchangeable clothes, you'll have less luggage to carry and the right things for the time and the place.

The perennial problem of keeping within one's luggage allowance has arrived!  There are still a few years before our intrepid travellers have to worry about flying "cattle class" or airport security scans, however.  

"Once More Unto the Beach, Dear Friends" (Rockmans, Summer 1947)

 If in 1929 some people were scandalised by backless bathers, by 1947 some female beachgoers had progressed to two-piece ensembles.  As yet they only revealed a small sliver of midriff, and a matching skirt is provided if the wearer has to preserve her modesty off the beach.

THESE GARMENTS ARE ALL "FRANCIS BOURKE" PRINTS

R1140.  The latest in cotton bathers.  Laced at both sides and gathered in front.  Pants lined with heavy linen.  One-piece back.  In assorted florals and nautical prints.

R1141.  A snappy cotton pinafore with a wide band, fitted waistline, tied at back or buttoned.  In assorted florals.

R1143.  A youthful cotton skirt with wide-fitted waistband.  Cut on cross and very full.  6 Buttons down back.  Assorted floral designs.

"Francis Bourke" was probably Frances Burke, a modernist fabric designer who went into business in Melbourne in 1942.  Among other commissions she designed the fabrics for the Australian embassy in Washington.

Little Black Frock (Woman and Home, January 1945)

 Woman and Home was a magazine targeted towards British housewives.  It contained the usual mix of recipes, household advice, knitting patterns, fiction—and of course, fashion.

By January 1945, however, fashion was pretty thin on the ground.  Even if the magazine's readers had the coupons to buy new clothes, there was very little in the shops for them to purchase.  In this article, Woman and Home comes to the rescue with an article with suggesting ways of making over a worn dress.  All you need is a few sewing skills and a shabby little black frock!

You could alter the neckline and add trimming in worn spots:

Sketch No. 1 shows it with the high neck cut in a "V", the worn underarms covered with curved bands of black satin and a satin tie-belt with a soft bow.  The bands are outside-stitched on to the frock at each side, with the upper bands lapped over the lower ones, and the back the same as the front.

Concerning Coats IV (1940s)

 Last (southern) spring I paused a series of posts I was writing about coats, saying that I'd pick it up once the weather turned cold again.  Well winter has well and truly arrived.  I'm picking up the narrative thread in the 1940s.

With the first half of the decade dominated by war, practicality and economy were the fashionable watchwords.  

Farmers, Autumn-Winter 1940

Four coats and two fashionable ways of wearing them 1940.  On the left, swagger style (in marl coating and boucle wool).  On the right, also in marl and boucle, two belted coats, with necks that could either be worn buttoned up as shown, or open as revers.  "Shoulders are smartly squared... Featuring the new tucked and flared umbrella skirt."

"Wool" (Australian Home Journal, April 1948)

As Australian recovered in the postwar years, the Australian Home Journal was there to offer free dress patterns and fashion advice.  If the magazine was to be believed, wool was the fabric to be wearing in April 1948.

Wool Sweaters
It is but a step from wool jersey to knitwear and, with a considerable increase in supplies recently, pure wool sweaters in all colours of the rainbow have pride of place in many shops.  However, first favourite is black, often heavily embroidered with wool, like one which had a yoke worked in a closely-packed floral design in mauve.

Wool in Paris Theatres
Wool takes the stage in Paris theatres, for leading actresses are wearing wool frocks created by famous designers at present, states a special message to the Australian Wool Board.  Maggy Rouff, who dresses many stars, has just designed a frock in lime-green wool for Simone Renaud to wear in "Liberte Provisoire", one of the successful stage hits of the moment.  Made with ruched-up elbow-length sleeves, it has a novel hipline belt which comes from a low line at the back to edge slanting hip pockts and finally buckle in front at the natural waistline.

From France
Revelling in the return of fine woollens, French milliners are using them lavishly for draping turbans and even to cover brimmed shapes, while wool jerseys are being stretched or draped into beret and muffin toque shapes to match winter suits and coats.

Jersey Frocks
Perfect styling in jersey frocks depends on simplicity, and Pierre Balmain shows many models with slim skirts, perhaps with a hint of back interest.

Of course the wool industry was the mainstay of the Australian economy at the time, so perhaps the Australian Home Journal had a patriotic interest in ensuring that women used as much wool as possible!

Fun In The Sun (Vogue Patterns, January 1948)

Recently I got hold of a Vogue Patterns counter catalogue from 1948.  Needless to say I'll be posting a lot of scans from it in the future!  For today I thought I'd start with some pictures of bathing suits and beachwear from the catalogue's "Work and Play" section. 

5766 One-piece Bathing Suit

A one-piece bathing suit with interest added by shirring.  The pattern was designed to be made up in either rayon or wool jersey.  By the 1940s there were swimsuits made of new, water repellant fabrics—such as lastex—but they don't appear to have been available for home dressmakers.

Peasant Blouses, Dirndl Skirts (Wakes, Spring-Summer 1947-1948)

In the late 1940s "peasant" skirts and blouses became very popular for casual wear.  Usually consisting of dirndl skirts in brightly coloured prints and puff-sleeved blouses that could be worn on or off the shoulders, these outfits were popular for picnics, the beach, and informal daytime parties.

Here are a few examples as advertised by Wakes of Melbourne in 1947:

ELASTIC TOP'D AND CUFF'D BLOUSE in 'Celanese Celshung'.  To sun or show your shoulders by day or night, just slip elastic top to shoulder point.  Sweet puffed magyar sleeves, frill and bow finished.

DANCE WITH THE WIND DIRNDL, TREMENDOUS SKIRT.  Multi-gore skirt with huge hem, fluted drape in Wakes exclusive spotted bow printed cotton linene.  Zip back placket, interlined corselet band.

ROSEBUD BAYADERE BRAIDE ON 'CELSHUNG' ELASTIC TOP PEASANT BLOUSE.  Sun or show off your shoulders by day or night in this launderable peasant blouse.  Elastic too on peasant puff sleeves.

FLORAL BORDER DIRNDL SKIRT.  LAUNDERABLE MULTI-COLOR SPUN RAYON in gay colors to make a peasant skirt with daisy-chain border.  Double waistband, full gathering all-round.

DRAWSTRING COTTON PEASANT BLOUSE.  A fine white cotton banded by boilfast cotton bias.  Wear as illustrated or with suncatching loveliness of bare shoulders.

"SIESTA", SUN-LOVING COTTON DIRNDL.  Exclusive-to-wakes print on colorfast cotton linene.  Lazy old peons drowsing beneath their sombreros, against desert cacti, make a gay border.  Sombreros and little cacti complete the print.  Gathered-all-round dirndl, button waistband, zip placket.

DRAWSTRING BLOUSE, LACE SLEEVES.  A combination of fine cotton lawn and all-over lace.  Wear the cute drawstring neckline high or low.  Oval drawstring back and puffed magyar drawstring sleeves.  Longer tuck-in length.

COLORFAST COTTON CORSELET-WAIST, BOW-BORDERED DIRNDL.  An exclusive-to-Wakes border print, with with color-spotted white bows encircling hem, more tiny bows on skirt and a collection of coin spots.  Many gored skirt with a tremendous width hem.  Lined corselet waist, zip placket at back.

Australia's Lost Department Stores V (Grace Brothers, Spring 1948)

 At last, a lost department store I can remember!  Though Grace Brothers was taken over by Myer in the 1980s, it continued trading under its original name until 1999. 

ME91R—Ensemble of British Delustered Crepe Rayon for smart Matrons.  Frock features the new treatment of self plaiting on shoulder and soft shirring on bust.  Self covered buttons and loops to waist line and pleats in front of skirt.  Matching coat with self plaiting on shoulder and sleeves.

Known as "The Model Store", Grace Brothers began in 1885 when two immigrants—J.N. and A.E. Grace—opened a small shop in Sydney.  Two years later they moved to larger premises on The Broadway, Glebe, and their story from that point was one of expansion—first outwards, into neighbouring premises, then upwards into a purpose-built, multi-story building.

Grace Brothers began its move to the suburbs early, opening a branch in Parramatta and a branch in Bondi in 1933.  Depression and war prevented Grace Brothers from moving further afield until the 1950s, but meanwhile they introduced all the latest conveniences to their main store: Otis elevators, chrome furniture, a hair and beauty salon and an 'American Shop' where they sold the newest fashions from the United States.  They even built an auditorium, which hosted many events, including fashion parades, Christmas pantomimes and farewell dances for soldiers during the Second World War. 

During the war, Grace Brothers' premises was commandeered by the Federal government for use as General MacArthur's headquarters.  This was not quite the disaster for the store that it first appears, as the compensation they eventually received for it enabled Grace Brothers' postwar expansion.  They expanded their suburban empire, introduced an in-house credit scheme (Graceway Home Credit), started a removalist service (still going strong today) and a travel bureau.  They were even the first retailer in Australia to install a computer—a "massive" IBM in 1967.

Grace Brothers was listed as a public company in 1960, which lead to a strange turn of events in 1983.  Grace Brothers moved in on its Melbourne rival Myer, taking over its Sydney and country stores, only to see Myer turning the tables and taking over Grace Brothers in turn!  

Like most other big department stores, Grace Brothers' main business was selling clothing and acessories.  These things figure prominently in their catalogues and in their magazine "The Model Trader".  In the beginning, most of the clothing they sold was made-to-measure, with vast workrooms hidden behind the scenes in their Broadway store.  By the First World War the workrooms were being replaced by stockrooms as people started buying ready-to-wear. 

Plaid Waistcoat (British Vogue, November 1945)

 In the austere 1940s even Vogue was not above suggesting a bit of creative making do and mending.  Here, from the tail end of the war years, is a pattern for making a warm waistcoat from "the unworn parts of a plaid rug, an old tweed suit or coat, or ¾ yd. of 36 in. fabric".

Materials—¾ yd. of 36" material, one buckle.  For bigger measurements, enlarge pattern on dotted line.  Cut front twice, taking care to cut once for left front, and once for right, and back once, from diagram allowing ½" all round for turnings.  Be careful to match pattern.  Make darts in front pieces.  Join shoulder seams and 2" of side seams up from lower edge.  Turn under ½" round neckline and armhole and hem.  Mitre one end and attach buckle to the other.  Join upper edges of belt to waistcoat, easing back into belt to required size.  Press all seams well.

Australia's Lost Department Stores IV (Murdoch's, Spring-Summer 1942)

 Unusually—perhaps uniquely—Murdoch's began as a store selling menswear.  Opened in 1893 as "Murdoch's, Hatter and Mercer" on Park Street, Sydney, it catered exclusively to men and boys for the first thirty years of its life.  (They advertised a wonderful line of goods for "Our Boys in the Trenches!" during the First World War.)  Women began to edge into the picture in the 1920s by way of ladies' "Surfo" brand "bathing costumes".  By the end of the decade it was possible to buy women's accessories from Murdoch's, including gloves, handkerchiefs, handbags and perfume!

Murdoch's was no doubt aware that women did a lot of the purchasing for their menfolk when they placed this advertisement in 1939:

Ladies!  When you alight from the tram, train or 'bus at Park Street to meet a friend, make Murdoch's Rest Room, on the Second Floor, your rendezvous.

Murdoch's introduced a ladies' tailoring department in July 1939, but it seems to have only fully embraced selling women's clothes during World War II.  Perhaps with so many men off fighting, or "making-do" with the clothes they had at home, Murdoch needed to find new customers.

THE 3 SMART GIRLS on FRONT Cover

THE LASS IN PINK—wears a most attractive frock of Sundek linen ... a splendid garment for everyday, Summer wear.  Built on tailored lines, with smart V piece inlet into bodice.  Trimmed with covered buttons.

HER COMPANION looks smart in frock of Striped Wemco Sheer.  Popular shirtmaker style with pockets, contrast buttons and buckle.  Pleat in back of bodice to give extra freedom.

THE YOUNG LADY on the extreme right is smartly clad in a guaranteed "Betterknit" frock... an up-to-the-minute style that you won't be able to resist!  Beautifully cut in shirt style, with two-way neck.

R.A.A.F.—(As illustrated on front cover.) Craftsman's Blue Cheviot tunic and trousers.

Murdoch's was purchased by Waltons Department Store in 1951, which was in turn taken over by Sears Roebuck (yes, the American firm) in 1955. Walton-Sears continued trading at Murdoch's old address until it closed in 1987.