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Step back in time to witness one of the most ambitious fashion presentations of the Jazz Age. The 1924 St. Louis Fashion Pageant wasn’t just a fashion show—it was an epic theatrical production featuring twenty-foot mechanical peacocks, revolving spheres, perfumed smoke, and sophisticated lighting effects that transformed Forest Park into a wonderland. Discover how St. Louis’s ready-to-wear manufacturers, skilled IATSE union stagehands, and theatrical innovators created a democratic spectacle that rivaled the fashion capitals of New York and Paris. Explore the technical innovations, cultural significance, and forgotten legacy of this remarkable event that showcased American fashion as performance art.

Pinups thru out history have been used to sell everything from cosmetics to real estate. Sometimes, they had their origins in the scandalous worlds of peepshows and erotica. The scandalous Gilda Grey, famous for popularizing The Shimmy with her signature song The Shimmy Shewabble, helped sell a reducing cream in 1923. In 1925 she did the shimmy after a meeting to interest buyers in buying Coral Gables properties in Florida. The Shimmy, for which Gilda Grey was famous for, reportedly could be danced properly only with great difficulty and was considered primarily an exhibition dance. Similarly, the Cat Dance by Lilly Christine, had its origins in the realms of peepshows, but she crossed over into mainstream pinup model popularity and helped sell products.

Take a journey back to 1924 and explore vibrant vintage advertisements from the St. Louis Fashion Pageant magazine. From Lammert Furniture’s luxurious offerings on Washington Avenue (now the home of T-Rex coworking space) to sleek Art Deco retail fixtures, men’s fashion from Korrekt Clothes, and flapper-ready dress forms sold by Belle Hickey, these ads capture an exciting glimpse of St. Louis’ roaring ‘20s consumer culture. Dive into the history of local businesses and the trends that defined the era, from linoleum carpets to Baldwin’s reproducing pianos—truly a snapshot of the dynamic and stylish 1920s in St. Louis.

This first article about the history of women in sports seems to claim that women are 2 inches taller (in 1953) than they were in 1850 because they’re free to exercise and play sports!

This is really interesting- a 1924 business to business advertisement for shop decor and displays by St. Louis business, The Walter F Zemitzsch Co at 1617 Washington Ave..
The other advertisement is for Gibson Knitting Mills (at 1510-1512 Washington Ave) welcomes people visiting St. Louis for this fashion show, and features an illustration of a girl wearing a drop waist sweater, cloche hat, and holding a cane.

hoopskirts to bathing suits, this Cheesecake Pinup magazine takes a look at the history of sexual innuendo in humor and media.

One of the first cartoons is from the 1860s, showing the wind blowing up a dress to reveal the hoopskirt underneath and (gasp) the sexyness of the woman’s ankels! Then came the peepshows in the Kinetoscopes of the 1890s (as examples are The Bedroom Farce, and a womens’ wrestling). Then, the late 1890s cinema came along, and in the early 1900s, Hollywood and the Keystone comedies and the scantily clad “big names wearing too little” and sensual Femme Fatale Movie Stars of the 1920s…

From Jane Russell’s legendary bustline in The Outlaw to the 1950s fixation on the derrière, this article traces how pinup art has cycled through busts, legs, backs, and bottoms. Discover the origins of cheesecake pinups, the role of humor, and how early television reshaped our ideas of feminine allure.

This 1920s advertisement just proves that babes in swimsuits have long been used to advertise products for men. In this 1924 advertisement for neck ties, a photograph of a girl in a swimsuit is surrounded by illustrations of mens neckwear, for Frank & Meyer Neckwear Co., 1130 Washington Ave.

This is a very interesting article in the 1950s pinup magazine about the history of how politics and politicians shaped women’s fashions during the first half of the 20th century. The early feminist movement asked for many changes, among them suffrage, easy divorce, property laws, and equal education. This resulted in a fashion trends that were mannish, including the no-curves, flat chested, flapper girl of the 1920s. This article goes on to call Victoria Claflin Woodhull a “political freak” (who ran for presidency in 1872), and pacifist Jeanette Rankin whose only winning two terms in congress corresponded with declarations of war (1917 and 1941). The caption under Woodhull says that she ran on a free love ticket.

7 shoe advertisement scans from 1924. Business to business marketing for shoe manufacturers in St. Louis, and old advertisements for shoes!

Discover the thriving world of 1920s fashion through authentic advertisements from the 1924 St. Louis Fashion Pageant. These vintage ads showcase dress manufacturers, millinery companies, luxury fur dealers, and textile suppliers that operated along Washington Avenue in downtown St. Louis during the height of the Jazz Age. Learn about the businesses, products, and economic forces that shaped American fashion during one of the most iconic decades in style history.

This article claims that Annette Kellerman was groundbreaking in making more practical swimwear acceptable… and did you know that shorts for women were invented in the 1930s?

Discover vintage 1920s St. Louis fashion advertisements from the legendary 1924 Fashion Pageant featuring Schwarz & Wild and Ely & Walker. Explore rare fabrics like crepe de chine, foulards, and Poiret twills when St. Louis was America’s shoe capital and fashion manufacturing powerhouse. Download the complete 105-page digital program.

These illustrated fashion advertisements from 1924 are so interesting! These ads seem primarily directed to retailers, rather than the consumer…. I’ve not peeked thru the pages further than I’ve scanned them, and I’ve not researched the Saint Louis Fashion Pageant yet, so maybe it was more of an industry thing like NYC Fashion Week?

Originally posted 2020-10-27 03:20:59.

This full color advertisement section of the 1924 St. Louis Fashion Pageant was delightful! There’s a full page ad for International Shoe Company with a lady wearing a green and yellow drop waist dress, a full 2 page spread for Rice-Stix, and finally a full page red and black advertisement for Garrison Wagner Printing Company.

Take a charming trip back to 1935 with this page of advertisements from the Chicago Mail Order Company catalog, showcasing baby bonnets, little girls’ dresses, rompers, boys’ sunsuits, and sanitary hemmed diapers. These adorable and practical garments reflect the styles and ingenuity of 1930s fashion during the Great Depression, offering a heartfelt glimpse into the past.

Pictures of women in World War I and World War II. How early feminism and wars influenced women’s fashions.