[ebooks] Johannes Brahms (Routledge Music Bibliographies) by Heather Platt at Arts-Photography

Description

The Roaring Twenties; age of jazz and flappers; Model T Fords and Hollywood movie stars; was also a time when for millions the bulky catalogs of Montgomery Ward or Sears; Roebuck were a substitute for the window displays of Paris or New York fashion shops. Buying clothing through the mails had become an American institution; and entire families were often dressed via the U.S. Post Office. More conservative than the up-to-the-minute fashion shops; mail-order catalogs nevertheless offered surprisingly much of the haute couture. But; above all; they accurately record what men; women; and children were actually wearing in the 1920s.Now Stella Blum (Curator of the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art; New York) has distilled into this volume the essence of the fashion pages of the Sears; Roebuck and other mail-order catalogs of the Twenties. Her informative text and selection of over 150 representative catalog pages mdash; comprising over 750 illustrations with original captions mdash; gradually trace the evolution of dress modes from the vogue of stodgy postwar fashions to the impact on costume of the crash of 29. In a year-by-year survey; Mrs. Blums introductory texts relate the trends in fashion to the social changes of the dynamic and restless era; assessing the influence of war and technological developments on the high hemlines; flattened busts and hips; geometric patterns and "bobbed" hairstyles of the boyish flapper look. And as she notes; it was through the Sears catalogs that Parisian designers like Coco Chanel; Jeanne Lanvin; and Madeleine Vionnet made their influence felt on Midwestern farms and in urban ghettos.Youll find here a marvelous panorama of "smart;" "modish;" "chic;" "stylish;" and "ultra fashionable" apparel; as well as more traditional garments: for women and "misses" there are Middy blouses; Russian boots modeled by Gloria Swanson; "Bob" hats modeled by Clara Bow and Joan Crawford; coats; suits; dresses (including the first maternity dresses); sweaters; capes; silk and rayon stockings; corsets; chemises; camisoles; negligees; and accessories like necklaces; belts; combs; headbands; umbrellas; gloves; compacts; hand bags; wristwatches; and powderpuff cases. Youll see slower-to-change mens fashions mdash; shirts; ties; suits; sweaters; and sports clothes mdash; become trimmer; brighter; smarter. And you can follow the trends in childrens fashions as well.For historians of costume; nostalgia buffs; and casual browsers; these pages afford a rare picture mdash; unspoiled by recent myths about the Roaring Twenties mdash; of how average people really dressed in the jazz age.