'Modish' Fifth Avenue Styles for Spring and Summer 1927

This magazine by Hamilton Garment Co. of Fifth Avenue in New York City was another inexpensive find at a flea market many years ago. The  original mailing envelope for placing an order is still inside.

The inside front cover proclaims they were "on FIFTH AVENUE and style specialists for over ten years!" They guaranteed the lowest prices in America with 24 hour service. "The Hamilton Fashion Magazines Bring to Your Door--No Matter Where You Live--The Very Newest and Smartest Creations from New York and Paris!" A later page claims they offered "copies of the most expensive imported models."

I loved seeing "for the Modish miss and Matron" page, saying that the fashions were perfect for the well developed figure, concealing well developed hips with a slim silhouette. To my mind, the dropped waist and lack of bust dart were definitely not well tuned to a full figured woman! The models below are not stout, but they look as wide as all Kansas.

The corsets were covered with rubber and had double boned diaphragm fronts. "Surgical" elastic "holds the flesh firm and massages it away."

I adore the 'Baby Betty" play clothes and dress frocks. The sweet short dresses with little pantaloons underneath, the round high collars, and bobbed hair of the models are adorable. And of course those white socks and Mary Jane patent shoes!

Little boys could wear a nine piece Cowboy outfit, a four piece flannel baseball suit, khaki jean Oliver Twist suit with knee length pants and "college sport" belt.  Also available was a cut sailor suits of several styles.

I noted the "Peggy Cloth" plaid wash suit on the left fashion above. I just shared a Peggy Cloth book from 1947.  Peggy Cloth was not a designer or manufacturer of the Peggy Cloth books, it was a fabric type. A Goggle search showed up several ad from the 1920s for Peggy Cloth, sold for sturdy children's rompers and clothes, at 17 cents to a dollar a yard.

"Innovative" spring coats sported ombre plaids, gauntlet cuffs, and wide labels with fur lining. Colors included Mother Goose tan, Queen Blue, Palmetto Green, and other 'spring' hues. I love the idea of an ombre plaid.

There is wonderful embroidery and pleating details in the gowns, slips, and bloomers.

All that cropped hair made hats important accessories.

Heels were very practical. In size and height the heels looked like what I wore to school in the late 1960s.

They had special shoes for the 'stout ankled' women!

I love the Bonnie Girl outfit on the left in the above page. 

My grandmother Emma Becker Gochenour sported these slim hipped fashions in old photographs. She had wild red hair, like all her siblings, which was bobbed short.

Emma Becker and Al Gochenour married in 1926, a year before this catalog was published. Emma was a factory worker and Al a salesman.