Stockings, Shopping Smashing Display; Couples Enjoy Consumer Courtship, 1914.

 

Elegant shopping camaraderie a century ago. Artist Percy Edward Anderson imbues this advertising image with a sense of immediacy and the import of wondrous window display to delight the eye and lure prospective shoppers of both sexes towards the goods deftly and originally displayed.

During the waning days of the Belle Epoque, the prospect of shopping was still viewed as a single-sex occupation. Once advertisers were struck with the realization that both ladies and gents were equally enamored of being seen as flawlessly fashion-conscious creatures, it slowly opened the floodgates for what was to follow. By the latter Belle Epoque and most especially in the brief two year span prior to the advent of The Great War, American publications showcased an increasingly eager anticipation for the outing of gathering clothing and accessories, simultaneously for both sartorially savvy sexes.

Pausing to admire the wondrous window display for Everwear Hosiery, this lady and gent come together at a crucial fashion moment. She is absolutely the last word in de riguer display of both ensemble and accessorizes.  Her jaunty slightly cocky chapeau is combined with a beautifully tailored crisp white blouse, paired with a decidedly male-inspired scarlet satin necktie. Beneath it, she sports a snugly-fitting buttoned skirt, opened at the bottom just enough to racily reveal a glimpse of petticoat in a daring modern manner.  Not to be outdone in latest style chic, he steps out in an equally tight-fitting English style suit, paired with a bowler hat and dashing walking stick. The reflection in the shop-window offers a glimpse at an intimate item that both sexes both require and desire, namely Everwear Stockings. This item proved to be the dividing line and the first step towards a certain shopping equality. While the window display is simple and unobtrusive it is also noticeable enough to draw this duo of dandies towards it. A grand group of artists found a manner to promote the idea of the delightful possibilities of couples, companionate and courtly, combining their interests in remaining fabulously fashionable, simply by joining forces in this modern consumerist fantasy. It’s perfectly clear that this rendezvous in front of the display will wind up with a discussion of the rapturous joy of becoming a Belle Epoque contentedly consumerist couple.

 

Distinctly Divine Dance Madness, 1914

 

 

An astounding alteration in American morals took place just prior to the start of what was then termed, ” The Great War”.  Almost overnight, an entire nation shrugged off the confines of yesteryear with it’s measured and mannerly waltz in favor of something hotter bolder and outrageously uninhibited.

A mere decade earlier the Tango was so noxiously notorious that no respectable woman would ever be seen executing a step. Few dared bridge the gab between it’s sensuous Argentinian street roots and the measured tsk-tsk-tsk of socially impeccable critics who would never countenance having it seen in their overly ornate gilt trimmed ballrooms. It took time and a great deal of patient persuasion to bring it forward as even remotely acceptable.

What ultimately altered the course of dancing history? An intoxicating melding of forces from the emerging world of rollicking rag-time tunes provided by prolific composer Irving Berlin and the smooth entrancingly executed gliding of charming couple Vernon and Irene Castle.

Dynamic and daring couples cavorted caressingly floorward in an ever-widening selection of steps guaranteed to shock and horrify elderly observers while enticing couples to behave with a decided disconcerting lack of propriety.

By 1914, it was deemed great fun to ‘go slumming’ at locales that nice ladies would blanch at; cabarets, cafes, midnight frolics, and all-night dance halls were lavished with ladies of all classes and mixed ethnicity, happy to accept any number of escorts either known or unknown.  Gigolos and dancers for hire ( including a youthful pre-Hollywood Rudolph Valentino), were all part of the scene which had a notorious nature that pursuers found undeniably exciting.

Metropolitan hotels offered young ladies the opportunity to spend the traditional tea-time , whirling about the floor, completely free, unshackled and most importantly unchaperoned. Glorious meeting with nobody the wiser could take place, including off-floor assignations of a romantic nature.

Clothing also underwent dance-driven related changes; by early 1914 skirt length had been shortened to reveal the fashionable Tango-shoe, featuring a high Cuban heel with brazenly bright scarlet ribbon that climbed the leg and bound the foot provocatively.  Plumes nodded approvingly in time to the music upon marvelously Marcel-waved heads, which eventually would be shorn to the famously fashionable bob- also courtesy of terpsichorean innovator, Irene Castle.