Real Silk Hosiery (1941-1943)

Good morning!

Hope you guys aren't too hungover from all the needle-pointing,  puppy cuddling, and beer swilling you did last night on account of yesterday's post to appreciate some forties' fashion (when has a hangover ever kept me from trying to focus my oculars on oggling some wartime hemlines? NEVER). According to this blog, the Real Silk Hosiery Manufacturing company was based in Indianapolis and produced high quality ladies stockings, gloves, and lingerie, as well as sportswear and bedclothes for both genders, from 1925 to the mid fifites'.

First of all, there are these "It pays to wear Real Silk Hosiery" man-looking-at-woman's-legs format:

Does the man in this first ad not look EXACTLY LIKE 1930's Clark Gable? I'm a connoisseur of movies from that era of his film career, and I just took a Scooby-Doo like double take. I am also completely in love with this mystery woman's floral print dress, be-ribboned pumps, and cuckoo-knocked-out orchids-for-a-crown hat. Lemme at 'em! Can't you just hear him saying something like "Brenda, I love you. I've always loved you! You know you're only playing around with that silly banker's son! Let me hold you in my arms once more!" As Joanie's twice-lacquered lashes give a breathless flutter over wide, welled-with-tears eyes to interject, disingenuously, "I can't, Mike! I love Todd, and I always will! Can't you get it through your thick head! We're getting married!" ((as I actually get choked up over a thirties' melodrama I am making up in my head...ah, the power of classical Hollywood studio system movies upon my impressionable imagination!)). Still! A great way to sell hosiery!

If you'll notice in this and the next two ads, it's not that I've cropped out any of the woman's faces, but that the ad setup precludes we viewers from getting a look at anything above the shoulders on these long-pinned pretties. I know they dress well and that guys notice them, but I couldn't pick any of these ladies out of a line-up!

I'm telling you, ads are getting it right when they include pets. Here, the family St. Bernard makes a cameo like, "Me? In an ad? Ya mean it?" I want to know why the gentleman to the right is wearing riding boots to the knee, and why I don't have a princess-cut coat in that exact shade of coral. What is the world coming to?

If you were into Real Silk's beautiful line of products in the early forties', did you know you could shop from the comfort of your armchair at home? Their mail-order catalog would bring the bounty of Indianapolis from that great Midwestern state of Illinois right to your doorstep. The ads, with their Harper's Bazaar style high fashion illustrations, are just a dream of a dream. Take, for example, these androgynously dressed ladies and their in-a-skirt-and-beret counterpart: 

                       

Do you see the red and white spectator shoes that are going on here? POP! SNAP! BAM! I also love the color combination of the tweed skirt, green top and hat, and crazy wavy woven bag with neither of those colors in it. Chic! So chic!

Here, I want you to take special note of the shades that the hosiery comes in: "Samoa Beige, Dixie Clay, Tabasco, Tropicana". Today's colors are like "suntan" or "nude" on the exotic end of the name barometer, and "beige" and "very beige" on the less adventurous side. Step it up, hosiery manufacturers! I want drama in my shopping choices. Also see the compact with the American eagle emblem on it. Gimme.

Some more forties' fashions-- notice the shirtwaist/pantalet set that can be worn under pants. If they ever made a onesie-style romper thing long enough to fit my Amazon torso, I would buy it. I love the ladies' hair overall.

Best! Outfit! Yet! Color me red! Large, snapping shut clutch purse, belt, gloves, bracelet, turban! If it wouldn't excite so much comment, this is honestly how I would greet the world everyday. SO. GORGEOUS. I would be the happiest little clam on the beach. This might yet become a wardrobe reference picture for something in the coming weeks, so pleased does it make me.

And last but not least, an everything-together shot of some of their products for the Christmas 1941 season:





If my room has to be messy, i'd at least like it to be messy the way this pile of clothes is...with lots of pinks and blues and ochres all over the place!

So! Which outfit would you put on your Christmas list? Do you have any forties-to-the-gills outfits you treasure in your wardrobe?

Have a great Wednesday, and I'll see you guys tomorrow!