Gid'up!

This is just too cute! Papa the noble steed, is being a very good sport, letting the little equestrians hold on to his mane for support. This ad was printed in a 1921 issue of The Underwear & Hosiery Review.

Just Peachy!

An International Tailoring co. ad from a 1921 issue of The Haberdasher. This one speaks for itself. 

Fashion Victim

Looking trendy is not always easy, especially when being the pinnacle of fashion means adopting extreme styles, like the close-fitting, perfectly crisp, and perfectly unforgiving stiff collars of the 1910s and 1920s. When starched to their limit, they could render their wearer quite uncomfortable, and, according to a few contemporary reports, sometimes even constricted gentlemen to the brink of faintness. 

A major draw-back to extreme trends, is that when they are in full swing, it becomes much more difficult for those who wish to be stylish and practical, to find products that are both. 

Example: An ad by J.C. Leyendecker,   

Note the cutting fit of the stiff collar.

Mr. Art Helfant weighs in on the situation, in a 1921 issue of The Haberdasher:

It's no wonder that through the 1920s, soft collars slowly began to gain in popularity, and by the 1930s, their conquest of collardom was virtually complete. Infact, the same issue, in which Mr. Helfant's cartoon was printed, contains an article with the following headline: 

Stockings for the Noble

Are you a good man? Are you true? Then "Onyx" Hosiery is for you!

This Onyx Hosiery ad was printed in in a 1910 issue of The Clothier and Furnisher. I love the delicate little illustrations of clocked stockings in opera pumps, and Lord and Taylor's bold claim, that they can offer "all shades, to match any color scheme desired." I wonder if they had their own dye house?

Ready to Blossom?

You heard it here, folks. It's June; there are butterflies flitting through the fields, and the season is neigh for menswear customers everywhere to "blossom forth with the flowers!"

I love the bold deco look of this 1917 advertisement from The Clothier and Furnisher. I believe that the illustration is meant to be used as a detachable window card, since there is a cutting line below it. I wonder if it was featured in any shop displays when it was first published. It certainly is eye-catching.

Here is the backside of the page:

Sock Buddies

I think this little illustration has a really elegant yet charming simplicity to it. Just a couple of pals, having a cozy chat in their Wayne knit socks. This ad is from the 1909 Clothier and Furnisher.