Jr. Shutterbug

What an adorable sock ad, from the pages of the June 1920 issue of The Underwear & Hosiery Review! It looks like this young fashion photographer has found a very stylishly turned out little model, to take pictures of. 

Merry's Windows

The Haberdasher and The Clothier and Furnisher would regularly run contests for the best window displays in the country, and I noticed, after scanning through several issues, that a certain window dresser from the midwest kept appearing in the winners' circle. He stood out, because while all the other winners usually had their hair slicked back, or to one side, the talented Mr. Merry, was always pictured with his locks piled into a wonderful pyramidal structure, daringly perched on the top of his head.

There he is, on the right, above some of the other winners of The Haberdasher's Display Championship. In 1921, he would win the championship for a second time. 

Here he is some years earlier, winning 2nd place in The Clothier and Furnisher's 1912 window dressing contest. 

And Here he is again, winning a Clothier and Furnisher competition in 1913, giving a little credit to his school. This bit was printed in Merchants Record and Show Window.

Below are some more examples of Mr. Merry's prize-winning work from The Haberdasher's 1920 Contest:

So, after seeing this shining star of window dressing pop up in periodical after periodical, you can imagine my excitement, when I saw the headline: "The King of Display Men Speaks!"In the following article, Mr. Merry sets down his guidelines for success: 

Working the Long-johns

Several articles I've found on window-dressing in 1920 and 1921 issues of The Haberdasher, included the opinion that long underwear were an inherently awkward article to display, model, or illustrate, since, as one contributor put it: they just aren't aesthetic. However, my reading also revealed a sort of consensus, that the addition of a dressing gown could increase the window-appeal of a union suit exponentially. 

The illustrator of the advertisement on the cover of The Underwear & Hosiery Review, below, seems to have taken that advice and flown with it, and the result is an explosion of plush luxury and fierce attitude.

I'm not sure who the illustrator is, but their work contains many similar elements to Rene Gruau's menswear illustrations from the mid to late 20th century. Perhaps this illustrator's work provided Gruau with a little inspiration?  Two of Gruau's pieces are below, for comparison. 

Vogue

In 1921, a men's jewelry company moved their headquarters from 5th Avenue to Madison Avenue. Their name was "Vogue" Jewelry for Men, and their logo includes a typeface, strangely similar to the one used today, on the cover of a certain famous magazine. According to the ad below, printed in an issue of The Haberdasher, the store was run by four brothers, and was founded in 1890. I was curious to find out more about "Vogue," so I did a little digging:  

I unearthed another ad for the store in a 1908 issue of The Clothier and Furnisher. It appears that they were not a retailer, but rather, a jewelry house, producing their own lines of fobs, pins, links, clasps, and buttons:

After some more digging, I found the following notice, printed in The Boy's Outfitter from 1920. It describes "Vogue" as a wholesale endeavor: 

But what became of them? It took a bit more searching to find information from later than 1921, but after poking around for a while, I discovered two Vogel Brothers Company. inc. patents from 1926, listed in the Index of Patents Issued from the United States Patent and Trademark Office:

Earrings? Did I read that correctly? For sailors, perhaps? 

Unfortunately, after the patent listings, a clear trail (at least on the internet) seemed to run out. and I can't seem to find any images of the jewelry that the produced. Perhaps more information will turn up.

Riverboat Gamblers

Another Outing for the Knit Goods Selling Agents was reported in the September issue of The Underwear & Hosiery Review. It seems like the underwear and hosiery men enthusiastically repurposed the boat, charted for their event, transforming it into an impromptu casino!

From the two pages of snapshots, it looks like they had a grand old time! Below is the complete report: 

A Novel Approach

The international Tailoring Company comes a courting: 

This coquettish two page spread from a 1920 issue of The Clothier and Furnisher is really something else. The left-hand page looks like the cover a romance novel, and on the right, we have the opening page. They are willing, and if you are too, they say, "there's nothing to stop us from finding each other out," but will you take the first step and write? 

Well, if the menswear business is romance, then that explains this bold hat advertisement from a 1910 issue of The Clothier and Furnisher:

Panama Posies

Remember that colorful 1917 ad, declaring that is was "Time to Blossom forth" with the flowers and butterflies, by indulging in a little fine tailoring from the International Tailoring co? Well, here is a wonderful behind-the-scenes look at a 1920 ad campaign that took a similar angle, with wild success!