Everyday Fashions of the Forties As Pictured in Sears Catalogs

JoAnne Olian

• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9780486269184
• eBook ISBN: 9780486319735
• Topic: Design
• Subtopic: Fashion Design

Few publications illustrate so comprehensively what American men, women, and children wore in the 1940s than the Sears catalogs of those years, when the company's fashions typified the tastes of the American mainstream. This book is a compilation of 122 fully illustrated and captioned pages selected and reproduced from rare copies of Sears catalogs of the World War II era.
Over 120 large-format pages have been carefully reprinted on high-quality glossy stock. They reveal in sharp detail the broad range of clothing fashions available during a period when wartime gasoline rationing made mail-order shopping reach new heights of popularity.
Hundreds of accurately detailed drawings depict articles of clothing and personal accessories, including hats, overcoats, shoes, dresses, sportswear, undergarments, neckties, and more. Styles for children range from play clothes to "Sunday best." Men's clothing reflects the conservativism in male fashions during the period. Women's wear ranges from slacks, newly popular with women in the workforce, to dresses with plenty of "Oomph."
Here is a richly revealing document that historians of costume and readers interested in fashion, social history, and Americana will find endlessly fascinating. JoAnne Olian, curator of the Costume Collection at the Museum of the City of New York, has written an introduction that appraises the fashions of the 1940s and the many ways in which they reflected the times.

It’s the American Way ... to Live in a DRESS WITH JACKET

Use Sears Easy Payment Plan to Buy Them at This low Price-See Page II $598 Complete

PLAIN JACKET ... PLAID DRESS

Good companions . . . the dress and jacket! All-occasion one-piece shirtwaist dress in our best quality Crown Tested Woven Plaid All Spun Rayon fabric. Crown zip placket. The beautifully fitting unlined cardigan jacket is our best quality plain colored All Wool Shetland.

Juniors’ Size Range: 11, 13, 15, 17, 19.
Misses’ Size Range: 12, 14, 16, 18, 20 only.
State size; see Size Scales on Page 42. Shipping weight, each, 2 pounds.

31 D 7321 M — Red and Green Plaid Dress; Plain Laurel Green Jacket.

31 D 7322 M — Brown and Green Plaid Dress; Plain Brown Jacket.

31 D 7323 M — DRESS Navy and Green Plaid Dress; Plain Navy Jacket .......... Each Outfit, $5.98

The Scotty Cap comes in same color schemes as dress described above. Plain color All Wool Shetland, trimmed with plaid Spun Rayon; grosgrain streamers. Colors: Red and Green Plaid on Plain Laurel Green; Brown and Green Plaid on Plain Brown; Navy and Green Plaid on Plain Navy. Measure head; state size, color. Shpg. wt., 6 oz. 31 D 7455 M — Fits 21 1/2 to 22 1/2-in. headsize. 98c

PLAID JACKET.....PLAIN DRESS

Newest dress-and-jacket team in colors that blend perfectly. One-piece casual dress in our famous Crown Tested Duo-Spun, a rich wool-like fabric woven of finest quality Spun Rayon yarns. Crown zin placket. Man-tailored unlined tweed jacket of 2/3 Wool, 1/3 Rayon —correct weight to wear over dress, or as separate jacket.

Juniors’ Size Range: 11, 13, 15, 17, 19.
Misses’ Size Range: 12, 14, 16, 18, 20 only.
State size; see Size Scales on Page 42. Shipping weight, 2 pounds 4 ounces.

31 D 7318 — Gold color Dress; Brown–and-Gold· Plaid Jacket.

31 D 7319 — Norse Blue Dress; Norse Blue-and-Wine Plaid Jacket.

31 D 7320 — Henna Rust Dress; Green-and-Rust Plaid Jacket......Each Outfit, $5.98

Measure Every Time You Order

— at bust, waist, hips, as directed on Page Fin back of book. Then find your size in your size range. Be sure dress you pick comes in your range. Below are Size Ranges for dresses listed on these two pages.

Juniors’ Size Range: 11, 13, 15, 17, 19.

— For Size Scale see Page 42.

Misses’ Size Range: 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22.

— For Size Scale see Page 42.

Women’s Size Range: 34, 36, 38, 40, 42.

—For Size Scale see Page 64.

Shorter Women’s Size Range: 16 1/2, 18 1/2, 20 1/2, 22 1/2, 24 1/2 —For Size Scale see Page 64.

Send your order to Sears nearest Mail Order House and allow postage from there. Garments on these two pages will be sent from our New York Fashion Headquarters.

NEWS FOR THE U.S.A THE 1940

Edition of SEARS FAMOUS

Miss America

POLO COAT

In Three All Wool Fabrics

Here’s the Wonder Coat, Miss America, always in fashion, always appropriate, always in good taste. It’s the coat that goes everywhere, anytime, becoming to everyone who puts it on! Master tailored to our specifications to stand up under the hardest wear. Winter warm in the stadium or on the campus, battling a blizzard or driving the car. Flattering double-breasted reefer lines, moulded through the body, flaring at the hem. Square shoulders, dashing wide revers, stitched slenderizing panel back. This new Miss America is the best yet!

Misses’ Size Range: 12, 14, 18, ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• Chpater