Here are 5 more fascinating pages of historical 1920s advertisements featuring St. Louis businesses from the 1924 St. Louis Fashion Pageant. As we move toward the back of this fashion show program, the advertisements become smaller and more modest compared to the elaborate full-page spreads at the magazine’s beginning. These pages showcase a wonderful variety of period advertisements for hats, dresses, furs, coats, and textiles—reflecting the fact that the 1924 Fashion Pageant served primarily as a business-to-business publication connecting manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers in the thriving garment industry.

Downtown St. Louis: The Heart of 1920s Fashion Trade

Nearly all of these fashion businesses were located in St. Louis, predominantly clustered in the bustling downtown garment district near Washington Avenue. During the 1920s, this area was the epicenter of the city’s fashion and textile trade, with blocks upon blocks of warehouses, showrooms, and manufacturing facilities. Washington Avenue served as the main artery of St. Louis’s wholesale garment district, where buyers from across the Midwest would travel to see the latest styles and place orders for their stores.

The concentration of fashion businesses along Washington Avenue wasn’t coincidental—St. Louis was strategically positioned as a major manufacturing and distribution hub, serving retailers throughout the central United States. The city’s robust railroad connections made it an ideal location for garment manufacturers to receive raw materials and ship finished goods to stores across the region.

Featured Businesses and Their Specialties

The advertisements on these pages represent a cross-section of the 1920s fashion industry, from ready-to-wear dresses to luxury furs and specialized trimmings:

Dress Manufacturers

• Hirschfield Brothers “Darling Dresses” (at 823 Washington Ave.) – Specializing in ready-to-wear women’s dresses
• Newburger Novelty Dresses (at 808 Washington Ave) – Offering fashionable novelty dress styles popular in the era
• LaVogue Quality Dresses – Emphasizing quality construction and fashionable silhouettes
• Goldman & Rosen Garment Company – Contributing to St. Louis’s reputation as a ready-to-wear center

Fur Specialists

• Davison-Frank Fur Co. (at 1121-1123 Washington Ave.) – Advertising an impressive array of luxury furs including Sable, Stone Marten, Leopard, Fox, Squirrel, Mink, Hudson Seal, and Muskrat. During the 1920s, fur coats and fur-trimmed garments were status symbols, and even middle-class women aspired to own at least one fur piece. Hudson Seal (actually dyed and processed muskrat) offered a more affordable alternative to genuine seal fur.

Millinery Companies

• Frankel Brothers Millinery Company – Supplying hats to retailers during an era when no respectable woman would leave home without a hat
• King-Brinsmade Mercantile Co. (featuring King Bee Trimmed Hats) – Offering fully trimmed hats ready for retail sale, saving smaller shops the expense of maintaining their own millinery departments

Textile and Trimming Suppliers

• Naussbaum Silk Co. – Providing silk fabrics during a decade when silk was the premier luxury textile for dresses, lingerie, and linings
• Morisse Lace & Embroidery Company (at 1627-29-31 Washington Ave.) – Advertising an extensive selection of trimming styles including braids, ornamental tassels, leather trimmings, and beaded and metallic novelties. These embellishments were essential for creating the intricate, decorative details characteristic of 1920s fashion
• Beldings – Offering Fabrics, Embroideries, and Spool Silks for both manufacturers and home sewers

Outerwear Specialists

• Zieser & Kling Coats and Suits – Manufacturing women’s tailored outerwear during a period when coat and suit styles featured dropped waistlines and straight silhouettes

The Business-to-Business Fashion Industry in the 1920s

The 1924 Fashion Pageant program provides a fascinating glimpse into the wholesale fashion trade that thrived behind the scenes of the retail experience. These advertisements weren’t designed to appeal to individual consumers shopping for clothes—instead, they targeted store buyers, department store merchandise managers, and small-town retailers who would travel to St. Louis to view samples and place orders for their shops.

This business model was essential to the American fashion industry in the 1920s. Large manufacturing centers like St. Louis, New York, and Chicago produced the bulk of ready-to-wear clothing that filled department stores and specialty shops across the country. The Fashion Pageant served as both a trade show and a networking opportunity, allowing manufacturers to showcase their latest offerings while buyers could compare styles, prices, and quality from multiple vendors in one location.

1920s Fashion Context: The Era These Ads Represent

The mid-1920s marked a revolutionary period in women’s fashion. The silhouette had dramatically changed from the corseted, long-skirted styles of the previous decade to the loose, straight, knee-length dresses that defined the Flapper era. This democratization of fashion meant that ready-to-wear manufacturers like those featured in these advertisements could produce stylish garments at various price points, making fashionable clothing accessible to women across different economic classes.

The emphasis on textiles, trimmings, and millinery in these pages reflects the importance of accessories and embellishments in 1920s style. While the basic dress silhouette was relatively simple and straight, women distinguished their looks through elaborate beadwork, embroidery, decorative trimmings, fashionable hats, and luxurious fabrics like silk and fur.

St. Louis in the Mid-1920s: A Deeper Dive into the Fashion Industry

Washington Avenue: The Golden Age of St. Louis’s Garment District

Washington Avenue in the 1920s was a thriving commercial artery unlike anything seen in St. Louis today. The street buzzed with activity as buyers arrived by train at Union Station, checking into nearby hotels like the Jefferson or the Statler, before making their rounds through the showrooms and warehouses that lined the avenue. The architecture itself told the story of prosperity—massive multi-story buildings with large freight elevators, expansive showroom floors with tall windows for natural light, and loading docks that connected directly to the street.

By 1924, the Washington Avenue garment district encompassed roughly twenty city blocks, with the heaviest concentration between 8th and 18th Streets. The buildings housed not just showrooms but also cutting rooms, sewing factories, pattern-making departments, and storage facilities. On any given day, you might see racks of dresses being wheeled between buildings, bolts of fabric being unloaded from delivery trucks, and well-dressed buyers scrutinizing sample garments in elegantly appointed showrooms.

The district’s success was built on St. Louis’s unique geographic and economic advantages. The city was already a major manufacturing center with a skilled workforce, affordable real estate, and excellent transportation connections. By the 1920s, St. Louis ranked as the fourth-largest city in the United States (behind New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia) with a population approaching 775,000. This made it both a significant market for fashion goods and a strategic distribution point for serving the growing populations of the Midwest and Southwest.

The Luxury Fur Trade: Status Symbols of the Jazz Age

The Davison-Frank Fur Company’s advertisement listing eight different fur types reflects the booming luxury goods market of the mid-1920s. This was the height of the Jazz Age, when prosperity seemed endless and conspicuous consumption was celebrated. Let’s explore what each fur represented:

Sable was the ultimate luxury—Russian sable commanded astronomical prices and only the wealthiest women could afford full sable coats. Even a single sable scarf was a significant purchase. Sable’s deep brown color with silvery guard hairs made it instantly recognizable as a symbol of extreme wealth.

Stone Marten (also called baum marten) came from European forests and was prized for its soft, silky fur in shades of brown with lighter throat patches. It was expensive but slightly more accessible than sable, making it popular among prosperous upper-middle-class women.

Leopard represented exotic glamour and was fashionable for coat collars, cuffs, and full-length coats worn to the opera or theater. The 1920s predated any wildlife conservation concerns, and wearing wild animal furs was considered sophisticated rather than controversial.

Fox was extraordinarily popular in the 1920s, particularly silver fox and red fox. Fox stoles and scarves—often worn with the animal’s head, paws, and tail still attached—were perhaps the most iconic fur accessory of the era. A fox fur piece was within reach of middle-class women saving for a special luxury item.

Squirrel offered a more affordable option while still providing genuine fur. Russian squirrel was particularly soft and was often used for linings or full coats in a more budget-conscious price range.

Mink was valuable but hadn’t yet achieved the supreme status it would gain in the 1940s-1960s. In the 1920s, mink was one luxury option among many, often used for trim or smaller pieces.

Hudson Seal deserves special mention because it wasn’t seal at all—it was muskrat that had been sheared, dyed, and processed to resemble genuine seal fur. This clever marketing allowed women to own a “seal coat” at a fraction of the cost. The Hudson Seal industry was huge in the 1920s, and St. Louis was a significant processing center for these furs.

Muskrat in its natural state was the most economical genuine fur option, accessible to working-class women who saved carefully. A muskrat coat might cost 50-100 dollars (equivalent to roughly 800-1,600 dollars today), compared to several thousand dollars for more luxurious furs.

St. Louis’s position in the fur trade wasn’t accidental. The city had been a fur trading post since its founding in 1764, when the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers served as highways for trappers bringing pelts to market. By the 1920s, this had evolved into a sophisticated fur manufacturing industry, with companies like Davison-Frank importing raw pelts, processing them, and creating finished garments for distribution throughout the central United States.

Millinery: The Essential Industry of Women’s Fashion

The presence of Frankel Brothers Millinery Company and King-Brinsmade Mercantile Co.’s King Bee Trimmed Hats in these advertisements underscores just how critical hat manufacturing was to the fashion industry. In the 1920s, the millinery business was absolutely massive—every respectable woman owned multiple hats and would no more leave home without a hat than without shoes.

The decade saw dramatic changes in hat styles. The wide-brimmed picture hats of the 1910s gave way to close-fitting cloche hats that epitomized 1920s style. The cloche (French for “bell”) was designed to be worn pulled down low over the forehead, completely covering the wearer’s hair. This style requirement actually influenced hairstyles—women bobbed their hair short partly to accommodate the fashionable cloche silhouette.

King Bee Trimmed Hats specialized in hats that arrived at retail stores already decorated with ribbons, feathers, flowers, or other ornaments. This was a significant convenience for smaller shops that lacked the space or expertise to maintain their own millinery workrooms. Before the rise of trimmed hat manufacturers, every hat shop employed skilled milliners who would create custom trimmings or modify stock hats to suit individual customers. Companies like King-Brinsmade offered a middle ground—fashionable, ready-to-wear hats that still looked current and stylish.

St. Louis had a particularly strong millinery manufacturing sector. The city’s central location made it ideal for serving retailers across the South and Midwest, regions where women often ordered hats from catalog descriptions or relied on local shops to stock the latest styles from urban manufacturing centers.

The Silk Trade and Textile Innovation

Naussbaum Silk Co.’s presence in these pages reflects silk’s dominance in 1920s fashion. The decade marked the peak of natural silk’s popularity before synthetic alternatives would begin to challenge its supremacy in the 1930s.

Silk in the 1920s came primarily from China, Japan, and Italy. The United States was the world’s largest importer of raw silk, which arrived in American ports and was then distributed to textile mills and fabric houses throughout the country. St. Louis textile companies like Naussbaum served as intermediaries, maintaining stock inventories and offering credit terms that allowed smaller manufacturers to purchase materials they needed.

The types of silk available were astonishingly varied: lightweight china silk for linings and lingerie, heavy silk crepe for dresses, lustrous silk satin for evening wear, printed silk crepe de chine, and textured silk chiffon. The 1920s dress silhouette—straight and loose—actually required skillful draping and construction to look elegant rather than shapeless, and silk’s fluid drape made it ideal for achieving the desired effect.

Silk stockings deserve special mention as one of the most significant fashion items of the era. Every fashionable woman wore silk stockings, and the rolled-down stocking—secured with a decorative garter just below the visible hemline—became an iconic symbol of the flapper’s daring style. This created enormous demand for silk, supporting companies throughout the supply chain.

Trimmings and Embellishments: The Art of 1920s Details

Morisse Lace & Embroidery Company’s advertisement for braids, tassels, leather trimmings, and beaded novelties represents a specialized but essential sector of the fashion industry. While the 1920s silhouette was relatively simple compared to earlier eras, dresses were anything but plain—they were often elaborately decorated with applied trimmings and embellishments.

Beadwork was perhaps the quintessential 1920s embellishment. Evening dresses were often entirely covered with thousands of tiny glass beads in geometric Art Deco patterns. These beads were typically imported from Czechoslovakia (particularly from the Bohemian glass-making region) and from Venice, both renowned centers of bead production. The beads would arrive in St. Louis in bulk, and companies like Morisse would sell them to garment manufacturers who employed workers—often women doing piecework at home—to painstakingly sew beads onto dress panels.

Metallic novelties included everything from gold and silver thread embroidery to metallic lace and sequins. The 1920s aesthetic celebrated sparkle and shine, particularly for evening wear. Women wanted to shimmer under electric lights at jazz clubs and dance halls, and metallic trimmings delivered that glamorous effect.

Leather trimmings might seem unusual by today’s standards, but leather was used decoratively on cloth coats, as trim on wool dresses, and for accessories. The Art Deco movement influenced all decorative arts, including fashion, and leather could be tooled, dyed, or cut into geometric shapes that complemented the era’s aesthetic.

Tassels and braids provided textural interest and movement. Dresses might feature tasseled belts or hem decorations that swayed when women danced. Braided trimmings in silk, wool, or metallic threads could outline necklines, armholes, or hems, adding definition to the straight silhouette.

Companies like Morisse were crucial intermediaries in the global fashion supply chain. They imported materials from Europe and Asia, maintained inventory, and provided these specialized supplies to St. Louis manufacturers who needed relatively small quantities for their production runs.

St. Louis’s Economic Context in 1924

To fully appreciate these advertisements, it’s important to understand St. Louis’s economic position in the mid-1920s. The city was experiencing tremendous prosperity and growth, though it would soon face challenges from other manufacturing centers.

St. Louis’s economy was remarkably diverse. Beyond the garment industry, the city was a major center for brewing (despite Prohibition, many breweries had converted to producing near-beer, soft drinks, or other products), shoe manufacturing, railroad car production, and chemical manufacturing. This industrial diversity supported a prosperous middle class with disposable income to spend on fashionable clothing.

The garment district employed thousands of St. Louis residents—not just the salespeople and executives featured in these advertisements, but also pattern makers, cutters, sewers, pressers, embroiderers, designers, bookkeepers, truck drivers, and many others. A single dress manufacturer might employ 100-200 workers in peak season, and the district contained dozens of such companies.

However, 1924 also marked a turning point. New York City was increasingly consolidating its position as America’s fashion capital, with its garment district growing more dominant each year. Improved highway systems would eventually make it easier for retailers to buy directly from New York rather than from regional centers like St. Louis. The city’s garment industry would continue through mid-century but would never again reach the same relative importance it held in the 1920s.

The Ready-to-Wear Revolution

Companies like Hirschfield Brothers “Darling Dresses,” Newburger Novelty Dresses, and Goldman & Rosen Garment Company represented the democratization of fashion. Just a generation earlier, most women’s clothing was made at home or by local dressmakers working from patterns. Ready-to-wear clothing was primarily available only in a few standard styles and sizes.

By 1924, the ready-to-wear industry had been transformed by several innovations: standardized sizing (though still quite limited compared to today), industrial sewing machines, assembly-line production methods, and improved distribution systems. This meant that a woman in a small town in Kansas or Arkansas could walk into her local department store and purchase a stylish dress that reflected current fashion trends, at a price considerably lower than having the same dress custom-made.

The term “novelty dresses” used by Newburger referred to dresses with distinctive design details—perhaps unusual sleeve treatments, decorative panels, or special trimming placements—that made them more interesting than basic styles. In the wholesale trade, “novelty” indicated fashion-forward designs that would attract customers looking for something special.

St. Louis manufacturers typically produced moderate-to-better price ranges—not the cheapest garments (which were increasingly made in factories with lower labor costs) nor the highest-end designer pieces (which came from New York or Paris), but solid middle-market goods that offered quality construction and current styling at accessible prices.

The Legacy and Transformation

Today, Washington Avenue has transformed dramatically. Many of the massive garment district buildings have been converted to loft apartments, offices, galleries, and restaurants. The street that once hummed with the business of fashion now serves as a trendy residential and entertainment district. But the bones of that earlier era remain visible in the architecture—the wide freight elevators now carry residents to their loft apartments, the large industrial windows now frame modern furnishings, and the loading docks have become restaurant patios.

The businesses featured in these 1924 advertisements have long since disappeared. Some may have lasted into the 1960s or 1970s before closing or being absorbed by other companies. The industry they represented—a regional fashion manufacturing and distribution system—has been entirely replaced by global supply chains and fast fashion produced overseas.

Yet these advertisements preserve something valuable: a snapshot of American fashion industry at a particular moment in time, when St. Louis played a central role in bringing style and quality to Americans throughout the heartland, when an entire district devoted itself to the art and commerce of fashion, and when locally-made garments, hats, and accessories filled department stores from Kansas City to Memphis to Little Rock.

The 1924 St. Louis Fashion Pageant wasn’t just a trade publication—it was evidence of a thriving industrial ecosystem that employed thousands, served millions, and contributed significantly to St. Louis’s identity as a major American city in the Jazz Age.

These historical advertisements offer us a window into a lost world of American manufacturing, regional commerce, and the everyday business operations that supported the glamorous surface of 1920s fashion. Each company name and address represents real people working in a real industry that shaped what Americans wore during one of fashion’s most distinctive and memorable decades.

Want to explore every page of this remarkable piece of fashion history? The complete 1924 St. Louis Fashion Pageant program is available as a high-resolution digital download—perfect for research, design inspiration, or simply appreciating the artistry of Jazz Age advertising. In 2014 I personally scanned this rare program from an original copy. Download the full high-resolution digital version here and dive deep into this fascinating glimpse of 1920s fashion and commerce. Since this publication is in the public domain, you’re free to use these images for your creative projects, historical research, or personal collection—the high-res scan ensures you’ll have crisp, clear images of every advertisement, illustration, and detail from this 100-year-old treasure.

Want to explore every page of this remarkable piece of fashion history? The complete 1924 St. Louis Fashion Pageant program is available as a high-resolution digital download—perfect for research, design inspiration, or simply appreciating the artistry of Jazz Age advertising. This rare program has been carefully scanned and preserved from an original copy. Download the full high-resolution digital version here and dive deep into this fascinating glimpse of 1920s fashion and commerce. Since this publication is in the public domain, you’re free to use these images for your creative projects, historical research, or personal collection—the high-res scan ensures you’ll have crisp, clear images of every advertisement, illustration, and detail from this 100-year-old treasure.