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Advertising at the end of the War (WWII, that is)

I found a wonderful magazine page a few month’s back, full of advertisements.

None of the products advertised would be particularly interesting to me, except that the magazine is from late 1945, and the advertisements make specific reference to the (hopeful) end of wartime shortages. It’s a fascinating glimpse at rationing, and the foreseeable end to it:

Unfortunately I just found two pages of the magazine, and there was no identification of what magazine it was, or a precise date, though I’m certain it’s either English (most likely) or Australian (less likely), and that it dates from late 1945 or early 1946.

First, a rather sad version of Mary Had a Little Lamb:

The Loving Stitch: A History of Spinning & Knitting in New Zealand, gives an excellent account of wartime wool (and knitting needle) shortages, and how women coped with them (hint, it includes #8 wire!)

Next, a rather standard beauty ad, though my modern mind can’t help wondering precisely what it is men who call her Pat know about her…

Another classic ad type that still persists in New Zealand magazines (though not so much in American, if I remember correctly): the ‘helpful, educational, let’s pretend this isn’t an ad’ reminder that their proprietorial product is the only way to keep your family healthy:

And one of the more fascinating advertisements: a reminder not to forget a particular brand, even though “their need must still come first.”

And a reminder that even though the war is over, you still need to get as much wear as possible out of everything. Who knew Goodyear also did shoe soles!

Another standard beauty ad, this one of the ‘keep your insides clean to keep your outsides beautiful’ variety. Some things never change! And check out those ’40s pencil brows!

And finally, in the centre, a government ad:

Look right! Quick march!

Rate the Dress – Lady of 1650

Published by The Dreamstress

When I posted last week’s 1910s Rate the Dress I knew that the colour scheme wasn’t likely to be popular (personally, I’m sure you know I adore neutrals, and I thought the plum-y contrast of the collar was an inspired choice), but I forgot about your hate of the top-heavy, blouson 1910s silhouette.

Despite that, you did like the crisp tailored look of the ensemble, so it managed a passable, if not brilliant, 7.3 out of 10

For this week’s rate the dress, we’re going allegorical. Our subject, possibly Jeanne de Marigny, is shown in a mid 17th century allegorical portrait, possibly as ‘Fortune’ or ‘Vanity,’ literally dripping in wealth.

She has a pearl circlet on her head, pearls around her neck, garlands of pearls festooning her neckline, with further strands of jewels and pearls across her chests. She carelessly lets more precious gems and gold coins drip from her fingers, and gathers them up in her skirt as if they were no more than flowers.

Oil on canvas, ‘Portrait of a Lady called Jeanne de Marigny’, attributed to Charles and Henri Beaubrun, 1650-1660 V&A Museum, 566-1882

While the painting is an allegory, and her dress may be a fantasy, it adheres to the fashionable styles of the mid-17th century, with the boned, fitted bodice that would become the base of the robe de cour, a sweep of pleated skirts in lush fabric, and a filmy neckerchief covering the excess of skin revealed by the extremely low neckline.

The picked-up skirt allows the wearer to show that it is not only made from expensive silk, but lined in the same, and worn over a petticoat of even more expensive brocaded silk – a decadent luxury that would fit in well with either ‘Fortune’ or ‘Vanity’.

What do you think of our lady? Was her outfit a fortunate choice, or will your verdict prick her vanity?

Rate the Dress on a Scale of 1 to 10.

The 1930s inspired Stella Skirt

Published by The Dreamstress

The weather in Wellington has been conspiring to make it easy for me to get lots of sewing done, and hard for me to get the sewing photographed. It’s been cold, dark and wet – or at least it has on any day when I’ve had any time to get photographs.

This weekend a sun, free time, and a photographer (Madame O, yay!) finally managed to all happen at the same time.
Unfortunately, the rest of the circumstances conspired against me. It may have been sunny, but it was still very cold. And we were late setting out, so the best of the sun and light had passed. And it was even more cold.

Plus, I’ve got muscle and nerve damage above one eye (word to the wise: try not to get bitten on the face by a centipede, those bastards are evil), and when I get really cold the muscles just stop responding, and I end up looking like a literal Picasso.

And to top it all off I’ve had a little problem that’s making me very bloated, so my waist is three inches bigger than it normally is, my stomach would last have been fashionable around 1630, and when I had a good look at the photos I thought “Holy way to start a pregnancy rumour Batman!”

So I had to seriously cull the photos to avoid all the ones that made me look like I was approaching the second trimester, or was aiming for a very avant-garde Dali-esque makeup job. Or was preggers and Picasso-ed at the same time.

While I did carefully pick the photos where I like where I look, and while the I did play with the colour on the photos (more than a little too much in some cases, as I was trying to make the sky and the details on the black skirt both appear clearly), I did not photoshop myself at all. I didn’t even remove the spot on my face (gee, thanks stress. Clearly not my week!).

Not that I wasn’t tempted to, but in the middle of editing the photos, iPhoto decided to crash on me and corrupt most of them. And, of course, this happened on a Saturday night, 30 minutes after AppleCare NZ had shut until Monday. I managed to rescue the photos as they were at the moment of crash, but any time I attempted further iPhoto-ing of any kind, things just got worse. And I can’t remember how to bulk edit in PS, and I was too grumpy, and lazy, and frustrated to try to look it up and remember, or even to do tiny spot-removing touch-ups, so I just slapped watermarks on everything, resized, called it a day, and here you go.

Oh, by the way, we’re looking at the skirt here. It’s called the Stella skirt, and it’s based on the classic 1930s skirt block, with options for front and/or back pleats.

I’m wearing it with the Ngaio blouse in half the images, and with my new knit top pattern (provisionally called ‘Miramar’ after the Wellington suburb and Carlotta of Mexico’s palace)

The skirt is (obviously!) named after Stella Gibbons – it’s a good skirt for a practical ’30s heroine to get a good days work organising the world done in.

Maybe it’s because of the no-nonsense Flora Post vibe, but I’m really liking the pairing of it with the really practical, almost frumpy, brogues.

It’s a much more sensible pairing than heels in the sand or on a rotting driftwood log!

If, despite all my complaining, you think it looks like I’m having an awesome time in the photoshoot, well, you’d be right!

Sure, I was cold (so cold!), but Wellington is spectacular, Madame O is always a blast to take pictures with, and we giggled so much between serious poses, and did so much non-serious posing (me), or lying on the floor trying to get just the right angle (her) that it was hard not to have a great time.

Plus, once we were done taking photos we got to rush home to a well-heated lounge, a very cuddly cat, a cup of hot tea, and sewing!

And you just can’t beat that…