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No Accounting for Taste

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  • Finishing up cape week with this series shot by Howell Conant for Woman’s Day, August 1951 ... up next: velvet and corduroy // #1950sfashion
  • Capes fell out of fashion somewhat in the late 40s and early 50s as the New Look silhouette with its well-defined waist took hold, and we saw a lot of cropped versions as toppers for slim dresses. By 1955 the longer cape was making a comeback (Carmel Snow’s Paris Report 1956: “The news at every collection begins with the topmost layer; almost certainly, it’s a cape”), particularly belted versions like this one by Irene from @timelessvixen. Shown in front of what was the workshop and headquarters for Irene, Inc., at 3550 Hayden Ave in Culver City. // #ootd #truevintageootd #wearvintage #1950sfashion #vintagestyle
  • Irene introduced capes into her collections in the fall of 1955. “The use of capes is done with great tact. They appear about three times, each wearable without histrionics,” wrote Women’s Wear Daily in May of 1955 after the preview of the collection in Culver City (see previous post). She continued the trend into resort and spring of 1956, as seen here, in pastels and a few bright colors. Advertisement as seen in Vogue, February 1956 // #1950sfashion #irenelentz
  • Irene, Inc. leased a building in the then-new Hayden tract of Culver City in the summer of 1947 as headquarters and manufacturing space for Irene’s new ready-to-wear business that she undertook while still engaged as a costume designer by MGM. The operators were represented by the ILGWU, guaranteeing their workers a 35-hour work week with time and a half over 35 hours and for work on Saturdays, double time after 40 hours, a guaranteed minimum of $3 per hour in 1952 (about $30 in today’s dollar) with cost of living increases, plus a company contribution to a health and welfare fund and a week paid vacation. In addition to manufacturing, Irene hosted retail buyer shows like this one showing her Fall 1956 collection. The building is still there, and, unlike garment manufacturing, it seems as though the outside hasn’t been altered a great deal in the last 70 or so years. // #irenelentz #fashionhistory #1950sfashion #workunion #ilgwu
  • Doro Designs was founded in 1951 by Dorothy Rossant and her husband Sam, whose family fled Warsaw before it was captured by Germany in 1915. Like many other Jewish families fleeing Eastern Europe in the early 20th century, both Simon and Dorothy’s families changed their surnames; Simon Rosenberg became Sam Rossant, and Dorothy Schwartzberg became Dorothy Blackstone. Even before the formation of Doro Designs, she filed for a patent for a scarf design she called “folia” that would form a sort of layered leaf effect around the neck. The patent was granted in 1952, and gradually Doro’s accessories became de rigueur on the pages of Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar. In the 1960s she produced scarves for Lanvin, and by the 1970s she was making capes and even dresses in addition to her scarves and shawls (see previous post for an example of a late 70s cape). Here, she plans a collection of scarves with Maryll Lanvin in 1967; swipe to see the folia patent. // #fashionhistory
  • “One of the most important coat silhouettes you’ll see this fall and winter is the cape… You’ll see tailored wool capes for daytime and romantic velvets for evening. Doro, an important accessory designer in New York, has included a marvelous collection of capes in her new fall-winter line… Doro believes capes are for all times and all seasons.” New York Daily News, October 21, 1967. // #ootd featuring late 70s/early 80s cape by Doro for Montaldo’s // #vintagestyle #1970sfashion
  • “Every fantastic cape look you could want from street length to long in plaids, tweeds, solids and an exciting array of styles. The collection: from $150 to $225. Shown: Black mohair that reverses to dark brown or wine wool jersey, $225.” Greensboro Daily News, September 14, 1977 // #1970sfashion
  • If you saw my last post, you know that this cape carried a retail price of $110 in 1946, approximately $1500 in today’s dollar. Norman Norell was one of the most important ready-to-wear designers of the 20th century, creating simple but elegant clothing from his time at Hattie Carnegie in the late 20s and 1930s, through his retirement in 1972. He was born Norman Levinson in Indiana in 1900, where his father owned a men’s hat shop. He moved to New York around 1920, and changed his surname to Norell — “Nor for Norman, L for Levinson, with another L added for looks,” he said. Norell worked for Hattie Carnegie from 1928 until 1940, when he went to work for Anthony Traina, a manufacturer of expensive clothing for women of a certain size (a bit of an irony given Norell’s inability to envision any of his clothing on women over a size 12 (about a size 6 today)). When Traina retired in 1960, Norell bought out his stake in the business and did perhaps some of his best work until his death in 1972. “I hope I have dressed women more simply. If I have accomplished that, it would be enough to do.” // #1940sfashion #trainanorell #ootd #truevintageootd
  • “The horse-blanket cape in a bold plaid of scarlet, black, and leaf green, bound with black braid. The wide fullness is wonderful in motion. About $110.” (That’s roughly $1500 in today’s dollar.) Photo by Genevieve Naylor for Harper’s Bazaar, March 1946 // #1940sfashion #genevievenaylor

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My name is Jessica, and I love old things. I wear, collect, research and sometimes sell vintage clothing. This is some documentation along the way.

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No Accounting For Taste is a personal blog of Jessica Parker. All words and original photographs are copyright Jessica Parker, 2007-2018