Glamour from the 1920s, Goodness in 2020

Art Deco illustration by Jean Desvignes for Butterick’s Delineator magazine, November 1926.

Detail of an illustration by Jean Desvignes, January 1927, Delineator.

To celebrate the New Year, I’d like to share some glamourous gowns from the 1920s, and also something that gave me hope whenever the news from 2020 seemed too bleak.

Masks made for donation to a shelter, March 2020.

Most people realize that it’s hard to make a living in the performing arts under the best of circumstances. Here’s an old joke.

Q: An actor graduates from a top drama school and gets his first job. What are the first words he will speak in public?

A: “Would you like fries with that?”

Once, I was working in the costume shop at Stanford University. A student came in for a costume fitting, and mentioned that he had changed his major from Economics to Drama. “But my parents wanted me to have something to fall back on,” he said, “so I’m minoring in Art.” After he left, the theatre professionals agreed that he wouldn’t have much of a future in Economics….

For costume designers and technicians, the first months of the year are traditionally difficult. After the Nutcrackers and Velveteen Rabbits and Christmas Carols at the end of the year, there’s not much work for wardrobe, part-timers and overhires until March or April. But in 2020, theatres and performing arts companies shut down in March, and with COVID-19 still spreading they have not reopened. Suddenly, all the theatre workers I know were facing months of uncertainty and unemployment just when they were already at the end of their “off season savings.”

Immediately, the Costumers’ Alliance yahoo group I subscribed to began exchanging information about what organizations and hospitals needed facemasks, where you could find patterns online, who was willing to share elastic and other sewing supplies, and where you could donate masks. Hundreds of people who had just lost their income set to work as volunteers, using their skills and supplies. It was the same in most theatre communities: San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York…. (And those are only the ones I’m in touch with.) Home stitchers and quilters were also pitching in by donating thousands of hours of labor to supply communities in need.

Whenever I began to lose hope in our democracy, I thought of all those people who pitched in, and kept at it, during the darkest months of our lives. The instinct that says, “Let me help” is still alive.

And now, since we’re not going to any New Year’s parties this year, we can fantasize about wearing this couture from the past:

Two evening dresses by Chanel, illustrated by Desvignes in January 1927. Delineator.

Lavishly beaded couture gowns by Doeuillet and Patou. Delineator, November 1926.

It’s hard to show the detail of this bodice. The skirt is equally ornamented in a different pattern.

For more detailed images and information about these and other Chanel gowns from the same issue of Delineator, click here.  Wishing you a Happy and Healthy 2021!

Costume Jewelry from Paris, 1927-1928

Vanilla lace Chanel gown worn with a bow pin at the shoulder. Delineator, May 1927. The illustrator is probably Desvignes.

In 1928, writer Marie Beynon Ray devoted an article to the appearance of designer jewelry sold by the top couture houses.

Title of article in Delineator, April 1928, page 35.

“Pin of cloudy crystal set off by the somber black of onyx in rectangles binding the farther sides. The pin is worn at the shoulder, on the hat, or to hold the frock’s drapery.” Delineator, April 1928, page 35.

A set of cut crystal necklaces in several lengths and a matching group of bracelets. Delineator, April 1928.

The change was not only that couturiers were branching out into a new field (they had already discovered how lucrative their own perfume labels could be) but also that non-precious jewelry was suddenly chic: “a yard of so of ’emeralds’ of a size they never could be, or a half yard of ‘diamond’ bracelets up the arm….”

Illustrations by J. Desvignes for Delineator, November 1926.

“A Jewel for Every Occasion,”  Delineator, April 1928.

“Once — not so long ago —  no lady worthy of the name would have been caught, dead or alive, wearing imitation jewelry…. jewelry so Gargantuan and blatant that there is not the smallest pretense that it is genuine…. And all this the dressmakers of Paris have brought about.” [Semi-precious stones like rock crystal were replacing diamonds and real pearls, as rhinestones, “paste” or “Strass” jewels, glass pearls, and cut glass jewels became chic instead of shameful.] Big artificial pearls were replacing “the string of pearls so tiny and so meticulously perfect that they might be real.” “No jeweler in the world, not all the Cartiers and Tiffanys combined, could turn out jewelry of the stupendous proportions that ladies demand today.” [That image of Chanel wearing lots of fake pearls is not from the Twenties, but the same site says she “opened her own jewelry workshop” in 1924 and introduced diamond paste jewelry — i.e., fake diamonds — in 1928.]

Long diamond [?] “leaf” earrings with a bangle bracelet; Delineator, April 1928.

The shoulder pin is rock crystal with a “star” design shining up through it. The bracelet is made of rectangular crystals (not diamonds.)

It looks to be “expansible.” ( JewelryPatents.com is a very helpful site!)

Art Moderne geometry in a rhinestone buckle and an oblong crystal pin. [Crystal may mean “glass,” as in “Swarovski crystal” or “Czech crystal.”]

Square-cut rhinestones on the links and the pendant of a necklace. Delineator, April 1928. (That’s a chenille pom-pom on her shoulder.)

“But what have the dressmakers to do with jewelry?… they have found that everything that a woman puts on her body, while she is wearing one of their gowns, enormously affects the chic of the gown…. And now, when she buys her dress, she buys, at the same time and place, the jewels that complete it.”

“A Jewel for Every Occasion,”  Delineator, April 1928.

“Since the dressmakers have thus summarily taken the designing of jewelry into their own hands, two expected developments have taken place: first, the jewels bear a much closer relation to the gown than formerly; and second, they are not genuine.”

This shoulder pin in the shape of a bow was a featured accessory in March 1927. Delineator, p. 16.

Very similar dark stones outlined in rhinestones form a bow on this Chanel evening dress. May 1927, Delineator.

This “bow” necklace and bracelet in gold were designed by Premet.

“Metal jewelry may be worn with sport clothes.”

Costume jewelry — not from couture designers — was affordable. My mother (b. 1904) worked as a secretary, but she was able to afford a set of three, large  graduated crystal necklaces like these:She also owned some pins like this Art Deco clip (which I wear, sometimes:)

Large Art Deco clip, costume jewelry, circa 1930.

It has a patent number, but I haven’t been able to identify or date it. It’s a rather impressive size — over two inches long:My mother and I didn’t see eye-to-eye on many things, but in this case… Thanks!

April 1928 Ad for Belding’s Silks

Part of an ad for Belding’s “Pure Dye” Silks, Delineator, April 1928.

I don’t have a picture of the entire page, but this ad interested me because it shows dress patterns from several companies:  Vogue, McCall, Butterick and Pictorial Review. It also shows a range of women’s styles for 1928, and it shows the cost of the fabric to make them.

Belding’s “Pure Dye” silk was not weighted “or in any way adulterated” to make it seem more substantial than it was. In other words, this was not the cheapest silk fabric available. In fact, at $3 to $6+ per yard, it was relatively expensive.***

(The Belding Brothers of Michigan established a successful business manufacturing silk thread and silk fabrics, with factories in four states.  They also built housing to attract the best female employees, as well as libraries and a hospital for their workers. “Belding Brothers & Company merged with Heminway Silk Company in 1925 and did business as Belding-Heminway. Soon after, the company was acquired by Corticelli Silk Company and did business as Belding-Heminway-Corticelli. The last mill in Belding closed in 1932.” This 1928 ad also mentions Belding’s silk stockings.

Butterick 1904 was featured in the ad; here it is shown in striped silk.

The Butterick Publishing Co. illustrated it in a different fabric in Delineator magazine:

Butterick 1904 made in dotted fabric. Delineator, June 1928. a “frock for mornings or sports” in sizes from 32 to 48 inch bust.

McCall pattern 5168 in Belding’s Silk ad, Delineator, April 1928. This 100% “radium weave” pure silk was washable “Vanette.”

(“Radium silk” was not radioactive.)

Butterick pattern 1906, Belding’s Silk Ad; Delineator, April 1928. “Simple crepe frocks like this have a smartness that belies their small price.” This is made of Belding’s Crepe Iris, “guaranteed washable crepe.”

This Art Deco (or Moderne) dress doesn’t strike me as especially “simple” to make; I love its geometry (“plaits in an architectural outline,”) but I’d be tempted to hire a “little dressmaker” to deal with all those interlocking pieces.

Butterick’s own illustration of dress 1906, from Delineator, March 1928.

This dress is more formal, with a jeweled “buckle” centered on the hip yoke, and a draped neckline.

Another McCall pattern, 5157. Belding’s Silk ad, Delineator, April 1928. This afternoon frock was made in Belding’s “Satin Ciree.”

Top center in the ad was this jacket and dress combination made from Vogue patterns. The plaid dress is topped with a plaid scarf — not an easy combo to bring off well!

Vogue jacket 9273 is combined with Vogue dress 9261. Belding’s ad, April 1928. The “sport silk” fabrics are “Washable Broadcloth” and “Crepe Cashmere” for the jacket — “heavy enough to tailor crisply.”

Pictorial Review pattern 4229, Belding’s ad, Delineator, April 1928. The asymmetrical dress has a soft jabot/drape running down the bodice.

The relatively simple dress is made of Belding’s silk printed crepe “in a distinctive modern design — a summery pattern suggesting the lovely modernism of Paris.” (The “Style Moderne,” which we also call “Art Deco,” was introduced at the Paris Expo of 1925  (Exposition internationale des arts décoratifs et industriels modernes)

This classic 1920’s evening dress is Vogue pattern S 3191.

It is sleeveless, with low armholes; a surplice closing (thought to be slenderizing;) an under layer seen at the neck opening; and a big bow forming a side drape. At first I thought it had a (very unexpected) short sleeve, but a close view shows that the model is wearing an arm bracelet, along with two necklaces and very long dangling earrings.

Detail of jewelry in the Belding’s ad illustration. 1928. Note the low armhole.

The next gown is surprisingly bare:

Pictorial review pattern 4159 is an evening dress made in sheer silk Georgette. Belding’s ad, Delineator, April 1928.

This gown is notable for its narrow jeweled straps and its asymmetric shoulder (or neck) line.

A woman really could not wear much underwear under this dress — just knickers and stockings. (And maybe a girdle….)

Details of the diagonal neckline and shoulder straps of Pictorial Review evening pattern 4159.

Georgette is usually a sheer fabric, so this dress is probably built over a straight, opaque silk lining, which would also support the blousing and hip decoration. That neckline would still be worth copying, if you have the figure for it!

*** The Sears catalog (Fall 1928) offered washable silk satin yardage for 74 cents a yard.

Washable silk satin from Sears, 1928.