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!

Ho, Ho, Ho! (The Delineator, December 1922)

 And a Merry Christmas to all my readers!

In honour of the day, I'm posting a picture of "Saint Nick in Fresh Gay Suit and Jingling Bells" from the Delineator of December 1922.  It is, of course, illustrating the pattern for a Santa Claus costume.

Not only is father in demand at home, but the various church and Sunday-school committees ask him to play the rôle of Santa Claus for their entertainments.  It is especially exasperating to drag out a dingy red suit, moth-eaten and four sizes too small, and foolish to wear it when one can make this suit so easily.  A cap and leggings are included with the coat, breeches or knickerbockers.

This costume seems to owe a bit more to folklore or ethnic dress than the modern versions of Santa Claus, and the recommended material for making it is red flannel rather than synthetic fibres.  The material trimming it is probably not real fur, but you never know!  Otherwise, this version of Santa Claus is completely recognisable today.

"Elegance", December 1964

 

ON OUR COVER: a look that took Paris by storm, the ultra-feminine pyjama suit.  Late day version in printed pure silk organza, Simon Masse, 15 gns.

The December 1964 issue of Elegance (Flair in Britain) devoted a number of pages to "Fashion After Dark" and a number of inches in their "Flair for living" column on the topic of women wearing pants:

... Smart leaders of society are already receiving their guests at formal dinner parties in pyjama suits...  But just because you are wearing the pants, don't throw femininity to the winds! If you want men to continue to treat you like a woman, you must behave like one.  Move like one.  If you wear the fluttering new evening pyjamas, don't fling yourself into tomboy attitudes.  Now, more than ever, you will need to move like a gazelle and sit as gracefully as your grandmother.  Look helpless and appealing and you'll find this combination of the female in fashions, stolen from the male, the most provocative thing that has happened in years.

"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." ]

Ladies' Treasury (December 1877)

 Christmas is nearly here, and once again it's time to get dressed up for parties.

At the left we have a dinner dress "of grey faille or satin... The princess form is perfectly plain in front, with the exception of the embroidery, which passes across the front, and is joined on one side with the side seam."  On the right is a "toilette for dinner or soiree in two shades of blue silk... Cuirass bodice and petticoat with train."

The Ladies' Treasury sold paper patterns for both these garments, for 3s. 7d. and 4s. 2d. respectively.  In other words, they were fairly expensive—but then again, these dresses would not have been worn by the average woman.

The Ladies Treasury also liked to keep abreast with the latest fashion news.  What was the latest gossip from Paris in December 1877?   Well it seems as if the House of Worth was making some innovations: 

"WORTH makes no more Princess robes!"  That is the greatest news of the day, and of more interest to the ladies than all the politics of the last four months.  What is the change of a Ministry, or even of a President, compared to the change of a sleeve?

The magazine hastens to reassure its readers that the Princess robe is still fashionable (in fact the dinner dress in the plate above is a fine example of the line).

I have said that the Princess robe is no longer to be worn.  This is nonsense, the robe and the Princess polonaise are still very popular, especially for walking.  Some are buttoned at the back, some in front, and some shawl-fashion, sideways, and across the figure.  There is but one rule— study your figure, and whatever best suits it adopt.  

100 Years Ago (The Delineator, December 1922)

 At last we reach December 1922, and the end of our look at the fashions of a hundred years ago.  To finish the year off, I'm going to look at some of the patterns for  "wearable gifts" advertised in the The Delineator.

At the left is "A gift which mother would appreciate—a becoming morning dress!"  On the right is a "gay apron of the slip-over type and in Russian effect."

On the left is another morning dress, "seasonable for any month; when one wears them on the street for marketing etc., a coat slipped over them is amply warm."  On the right, a "dainty gift" of a step-in combination.  "The chemise and drawers are embroidered in a delicate butterfly motif."

At the left, a "bright-colored fuzzy bathrobe" with a matching pair of soled slippers.  On the right, our model is holding "the newest kind of nightgown... with lattice trimming and which slips on over the head."

And lastly: embroidered boudoir caps!  Boudoir caps could be worn during the day to conceal undressed hair, or at night to protect one's hair while sleeping.  There was clearly room for them to be ornamental as well as useful!

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