$74 wardrobe would cost $516.43 today
$59.00 wardrobe would cost $411.75 today
$75 wardrobe would cost $523.41 today
$90 wardrobe would cost $628.09 today
With summer just around the corner, here’s a look at was popular for the sunny season in 1967. I’m still amazed at how much more you could buy with your money 46 years ago. Check out Dollar Times, if you want to see for yourself.
Have a nice weekend,
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My younger siblings and I on a Spring day in 1973. I’m on the yellow tractor that belonged to my brother and I’m way too big to be riding it. My brother’s seated on my sister’s old tricycle and she’s on my first bike which I blogged about last year. Sure wish my yellow banana seat bicycle was in the photo, for some reason I wasn’t riding it. I loved that bike! We moved not long after this picture was taken to the house where my parents have lived for the past 40 years.
*Wordless Wednesday is a weekly blogging prompt from geneabloggers.com*
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Helen Kirk, 1968
Breck girl (unknown), 1968
Cybill Shepherd, 1969
Patricia Dow, December 1971
Ann & Kim Basinger, 1972
Dianne Harris – Second Generation Breck Girl, 1973
Kim Basinger, 1974
Donna Alexander, 1975
Julie Ann Forshee, 1976
Veronica Boyle, Christmas 1976
Rebecca Holden, 1977
Dr. John H. Breck, Sr. created one of the first liquid shampoos in America in 1908 and the first ph-balanced shampoo in 1930. He established the Breck Company in 1930 and until 1946, the product was only sold to beauty salons.
The Breck Girls advertising campaign began in 1936 when portrait painter and illustrator Charles Gates Sheldon created the first pastel portraits. He preferred to use everyday women instead of models for the advertisements. Sheldon was also well known for his Photoplay magazine covers of movie stars. He retired in 1957. During his long association with Breck, Sheldon created 107 oil paintings and pastels.
Breck advertisement by Charles Sheldon from November 1946
Ralph William Williams was hired to replace Sheldon in 1957. He changed the look of the Breck Girl by using brighter colors and reflecting the personality of each girl in every portrait. In contrast to Sheldon, Williams preferred to use models. During this time, the Breck Company sponsored America’s Junior Miss pageants and some Breck Girls were selected from the winners of these contests. Williams also painted several celebrities early in their careers: Cheryl Tiegs (1968), Cybill Shepherd (1968), Jaclyn Smith (1971, 1973), Kim Basinger (1972, 1974), Brooke Shields (1974), and Farrah Fawcett (1975). You probably noticed Kim Basinger and Cybill Shepherd featured in this post.
After Williams died in 1976, the Breck Girl advertising campaign was discontinued in 1978. The shampoo brand that was so popular in the 1960s eventually fell out of favor with consumers and is now sold at the Dollar Tree. I wonder if the same formula is still used to create the shampoo? I’ll have to buy a bottle and check it out. I can still remember the smell of Breck shampoo and the beautiful Breck Girl ads from the 1970s.
The Breck ads featured in this post are part of a gift to the Smithsonian Institution by the Dial Corporation. Copyright was transferred to the Smithsonian in deed of gift.
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Audrey in the 1950s
Today is the birthday of one of my favorite actresses and fashion icons. Audrey Hepburn was born Audrey Kathleen Ruston on May 4, 1929 in Belgium. She had an amazing life and I can’t begin to do it justice in one blog post. Instead, I’ll share some wonderful quotes from Audrey:
“For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone.”
“The beauty of a woman must be seen from her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart, the place where love resides.”
Humphrey Bogart, Audrey & William Holden in Sabrina, 1954
“I probably hold the distinction of being one movie star who, by all laws of logic, should never have made it. At each stage of my career, I lacked experience.”
“I never thought I’d land in pictures with a face like mine.”
Audrey in Paris, 1957
“People even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw anyone out.”
Audrey holding her baby son Sean before leaving for Rome on February 21, 1961
“The most important thing is to enjoy your life – be happy – it’s all that matters.”
“I never think of myself as an icon. What is in other people’s minds is not in my mind. I just do my thing.”
“It’s that wonderful old-fashioned idea that others come first and you come second. This was the whole ethic by which I was brought up. Others matter more than you do, so ‘don’t fuss dear; get on with it.’”
“As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.”
Several adjectives come to mind when describing Audrey: graceful, compassionate, beautiful, talented, inspirational and brave. If you’re familiar with her life story, I think you’ll agree; she was truly a remarkable woman.
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What a lovely front cover – I’ll take this dress!
Women’s dresses all priced at $5.98 (Today they would cost $135.94)
Women’s blouses priced from $1.25 to $1.98 (Today they would cost from $28.42 to $45.01)
Fashionable hats priced from $2.98 to $5.98 (Today they would cost from $67.74 to $135.94)
Charming hats for girls priced from $1.69 to $2.49 (Today they would cost from $38.42 to $56.60)
Junior Girls’ Dresses – Sizes 13 to 17 years – Priced from $1.98 to $3.98 (Today they would cost from $45.01 to $90.48)
Girls’ Dresses – Sizes 6 to 14 years - Priced from 98 cents to $1.25 each (Today they would cost between $22.28 and $28.42)
Girls’ Dresses 6 to 14 years – Priced from $1.98 to $2.49 (Today they would cost from $45.01 to $56.60)
Children’s Dresses 2 to 6 years – Priced from 98 cents to $1.98 (Today they would cost from $22.28 to $45.01)
Women’s Spring coats on back cover of catalog – Priced from $6.98 to $14.98 (Today they would cost from $158.67 to $340.54)
What a surprising difference in the price of clothes in this catalog from 1915 and today. Check out Dollar Times to see the buying power of the dollar between any two years from 1914 to 2013.
From a genealogist’s perspective, catalogs are a great point of reference to learn what type of clothing was popular in different eras, the paraphernalia required for our ancestors to run a household and how much these items cost.
I’ve recently purchased several vintage catalogs from Ebay. At first glance, it’s apparent I could spend hours looking through them; there are so many fun things to see! These catalogs are similar to viewing old newspapers, because they are like looking through a window in time and give us more insight into what life was like for our ancestors.
Have a nice weekend,
Life magazine, April 7, 1921
Good Housekeeping, August 1912
Good Housekeeping, October 1912
Good Housekeeping, November 1912
Good Housekeeping, June 1913
Good Housekeeping, 1915
Good Housekeeping, January 1916
Good Housekeeping, October 1916
Ladies Home Journal, 1924
Clarence Coles Phillips (1880-1927) was an American illustrator and a contemporary of Charles Dana Gibson. After graduating from Kenyon College in his home state of Ohio in 1904, Phillips moved to Manhattan and focused on pursuing a career as an artist. His only formal artistic training was three months of art classes at the Chase School of Art and afterwards he opened his own advertising agency. In 1907, Phillips was hired by J.A. Mitchell, the publisher of Life magazine and had a life-long association with the company.
Good Housekeeping made Phillips their sole cover artist from 1912-1914 and he also produced ads for the Overland Automobile Company, Oneida Community Flatware and Holeproof Hosiery. Back in November 2012, one of my Fashion Friday posts featured the hosiery ads.
Regarding Phillips “fadeaway girls”, here’s a description of his painting technique from Wikipedia: “The work of Phillips quickly became popular with the Life readers. In May 1908, he created a cover for the magazine that featured his first “fadeaway girl” design with a figure whose clothing matched, and disappeared into, the background. Phillips developed this idea in many subsequent covers. In the 1910 example of his work displayed below, portions of the figure’s skirt merge seamlessly with the background, yet the edge of the skirt remains easily defined by the viewer.”
Life magazine cover from January 27, 1910 entitled “Know all men by these presents.” Cover illustration shows a woman seated on the floor next to a table whose surface is covered with gifts. Above gifts from various gentlemen callers are displayed: a photograph, a corkscrew, a box, a purse, a fan and the book “Of the imitation of Christ.” The name of the illustration is a play on a common introduction to a legal or official document, calling on all who see the document to take notice of its contents or subject matter
“Phillips’ use of negative space allowed the viewer to “fill-in” the image; it also reduced printing costs for the magazine, as “the novelty of the technique and the striking design qualities masked the fact that Life was getting by with single color or two-color covers in a day when full-color covers were de rigueur for the better magazines”. Phillips worked in watercolor and always painted from life; according to his biographer, Michael Schau, “he refused to work from photographs or to use the pantograph”.
These illustrations are so colorful and full of details. I can’t decide which one is my favorite, probably the maid looking through the keyhole.
Bethel Watson Montgomery (1859-1925)
Eldora “Dora” Watson Hill (1872-1928)
Bethel and Dora are my second great grand aunts and the children of Perry Michael Watson and Martha Hart. Their older sister Mary Elizabeth, is my second great grandmother. There are three more sisters in the Watson family (Philistia Ann, Ellen & Savannah), but unfortunately I don’t have pictures of them.
Those hats are something else!
*Wordless Wednesday is a weekly theme of geneabloggers.com*
Love the clean lines of this wedding gown and the accent at the waist - it’s my favorite!
Beautiful detailing on this gown.
This is another one of my favorites – it’s lovely.
Simply elegant!
Like this short veil!
This is probably my least favorite gown of the group. I’m not crazy about the material.
Gorgeous headpiece and veil. Like the neckline on this gown.
Milady Bridals by Marge
For Fashion Friday this week, I thought it would be fun to focus on wedding gowns. These are certainly swoon-worthy in my opinion. No details or dates were listed with the images, but the hairstyles and gowns remind me of the early to mid-1960s. I think these photos probably came from bridal magazines.
Have a great weekend,
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