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.

Jumpsuits, 1970 Style (Lana Lobell, Holiday 1970

 A while ago I wrote a post about Lana Lobell's jumpsuits from 1979.  Recently, flicking through another Lana Lobell catalogue from the beginning of the decade, I discovered—yes!—more jumpsuits.  Made of acetate rather than polyester, and sporting wide, wide legs and funky zips, these jumpsuits are groovy garments from the pre-disco era.

But why waste time writing about them, when I can share the fantastic images and the zowie-wowie! prose from "Lana Lobell" itself? 

On the right in Acetate knit:

LICORICE-SLICKED ZIPPER taking the diagonal route to flattery on one of the most extraordinary jumpsuits we've seen all year!  One dazzling fashion leap from the jet-buttoned stand-up collar to the widest longest legs...

A GOLDEN-GLOW JUMPSUIT of beauty-bonded Acetate Metallic—nothing's more exciting, more glamorous!  Coachman shaped with generous collar and doubled buttons—one truly spectacular line way down to those wider-than-wide legs—incredible flattery from top to toe!

More Acetate—this time Acetate Jersey knit:

SNAKY SLIMLINER lining up all your assets from the convertible turtle-or-wing collar to the superb front zip to that luscious leg action below!

More Acetate Knits:

JUMP FOR JOY—this is the jumpsuit of the year.  Two shape-making contrast zippers sleeked from legs to that great 70's collar, creating a look that's totally new, totally exciting, totally flattering!

(Zips seem to be a theme for 1970, rating a special mention in three out five jumpsuits in this catalogue!)

Finally, for party-going, in sparkling Acetate Metallic:

MOONGLOW GLITTER in a truly mind-stopping jumpsuit!  V'd above, elastic cuffed at blowy long sleeves—its elastic-shirred waistline defining yours as never before! 

Lana Lobell (Holdiay, 1962)

 Welcome to my last post for 2022!

 

 

 This isn't a picture of two dresses—this is a picture of a dress and overskirt.

TWO WONDERFUL DRESSES IN ONE!

YOU'LL GET 2 RAVISHING STYLES IN 1 BEAUTIFUL DRESS with our gayest, most glorious fashion for the holidays!  Wear the dress alone and look absolutely fabulous in glowing rayon and mylar metallic lamé.  For a glamorous change of pace, don the full skirt by zipping it on 'neath bias waistband... glimmering sheer nylon lace generates lots of excitement over the sheath beneath!  Sweet bow in front is a charming finishing touch.

Happy New Year everyone!

Pretty In Pink (1964)

 Confession time: I've got so many fashion pictures that sometimes I have trouble deciding which ones to share!  This post I thought I'd choose a colour theme.  The colour is pink, and the year is 1964.

Lana Lobell, Spring 1964

This is the image that decided me on "pink".  From left to right we have "the Ascot suit" in three pieces, a white suit in cotton double knit with a hot pink ascot, and a dress with matching jacket in a mohair, cotton and nylon mix.  Each outfit is worn with a hat and wrist-length white gloves.  Everyone looks very ladylike.

Skylark, Summer 1964

Four views of the same shift dress in rayon crepe.  It's topped by a matching coat in mohair.  The effect is rather more sophisticated than our trio from Lana Lobell.  

Advertisement for Wool, 1964

Next, an advertisement to promote the virtues of wool—as showcased in coats designed by PRL of New York.  The look somehow manages to be at once formal and "with it".

 

Anthony Horderns, Spring-Summer 1964

And lastly, a catalogue from Australia.  From left to right we have an "A Line" frock in viscose, a fairly conservative "shirtmaker" in checked polyester and cotton, and a (very modern) sleeveless blouson in polyester-cotton.  Hatless and gloveless, I'm getting a very informal vibe from these models!

Bargains! (Walter Field, Fall-Winter 1942)

 Walter Field of Chicago specialised in low-budget clothing, so can be taken for granted that the clothes advertised in their catalogues weren't made of the highest quality materials.  The snazzy suit on the left, for example, was made of "18% reused wool, 12% cotton, 70% rayon".  The "shag" sweater in the middle was made of cotton, and the coat on the right was "50% reused wool, 20% rayon, 30% cotton".

However, in wartime America the quality of consumer goods at any price level slipped.  One historian writes: "Woolen clothes, rugs, and blankets disappeared from department stores as production of wool for civilian use virtually ceased", and continues

"Fifty-five percent of the respondents to an American Home Economics Association survey complained about the deterioration of clothing and shoes.  New dresses pulled out at the seams, shoes would not stand up under heavy wear, and stockings came with shorter leg lengths and tore out at the top.  One shopper purchased a white rayon blouse that on the first wearing pulled out at the seams, and on the first washing shrunk and had to be given away to a friend.  Housewives spent extra time sewing simply because the material wore out so quickly."

D'Ann Campbell.  Women at war with America: private lives in a patriotic era  (1984)

There was no clothes rationing in the United States during World War II, but apparently no quality control either.  This was in contrast to its ally Britain, which combined strict clothes rationing with stringent quality control

 

From the Dress-Up Box, 1970s Style (Lana Lobell, Summer 1972)

 

In any era, fashion designers like to borrow, but the designers of the early seventies took a really eclectic approach.  For example, let's take a look at this spread from the Lana Lobell catalog of Summer 1972.

 

Figure A, on the left is wearing a very up-to-the-minute style, made up in a traditional Turkish print.  Though it looks like the model is wearing a wraparound skirt over a top and a pair of short shorts, in fact she's wearing a "shortjump", or cut-down jumpsuit, under her skirt.  The whole thing is made in acetate jersey—artificial fibres for the win!

Figure B, in the centre, has gone all out (to sea) in a jumpsuit based on a traditional sailor suit.  Need I add it's made up in rayon acetate crepe?

Figures C and D on the right are wearing a cheongsam (from "The Orient ... Land of Beauty!").  It's made in taffeta lined acetate, designed to look like Thai silk.  Modern westerners would hesitate to wear it, but the cheongsam was briefly fashionable in the 1960s and 1970s thanks to the influence of the movies.

"Serviceable Raincoats" (Philipsborn catalog, Fall-Winter 1909-10)

 

It's raining all down the East coast of Australia, and I've spent the last few days staring out the window waiting for it to stop.  Meanwhile, my mind has turned to raincoats, so here is a selection from 1909.

Though they are cut on fashionable lines, they are slightly less ornamented and more, well, serviceable than ordinary coats of the era.  They are made of "rubberized" materials (from left to right, rubberized mohair, rubberized taffeta, rubberized silk bengaline, Watercress silk moire and rubberized grosgrain moire).  Rubberisation was a method of waterproofing fabrics by coating them with rubber.  First developed by a Scotsman, Charles Macintosh, in 1823, the earliest "macintoshes" were heavy and smelly (reeking of a combination of trapped perspiration and rubber).  They went in and out of fashion quickly—only to regain favour as technical advances made rubberised material lighter and less odorous.

The first raincoats for women were produced in the 1870s, around the time when the kind of women who could afford them were starting to live more active lives.  From the beginning they were designed along simplified but fashionable lines—like the examples above.