What a fascinating glimpse into the history of ready to wear clothing in America (and St. Louis’s little known fashion history)! This illustrated spread begins the program and schedule for the 1924 St. Louis Fashion Pageant of ready to wear clothes, presented in Forest Park August 7-24.
St. Louis advertisements for women’s dresses and hats from the August 1924 Fashion Pageant.
I like the illustration on the Gold Medal Hats advertisement, the best. The lady in a cloche hat and bobbed hair is draped with a shawl coming seductively off her shoulder, holding a feather fan. The birthmark on her cheek is in the shape of a heart.
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.
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?
Here’s the cover and first few pages of the August 1924 issue of the St. Louis Fashion Pageant, a local society and fashion magazine. This whole issue is filled with fashion illustrations and fashion photography from the mid-1920s…. flapper girls and cars! The roaring 20s were well underway, even in the slower paced midwest, and St. Louis was a major city.
