Trying to stop the clock! 1936

Colmer Whalebone to See-Through

Fashion is an endless cycle. Each year new fashions displace the old, and each new generation looks for new names for their clothes to show that they do not take after their parents -- even when they are actually wearing the same thing. Thus ‘bodies’ became ‘stays’, then ‘corsets’, then ‘girdles’ and now ‘shapers’.

The purpose of all these garments is the same; to mould the body to produce the currently fashionable silhouette, but the way they have achieved this has changed as new materials with superior properties became available.

And with each new version the older generation have lamented that the new styles were all very well, but they just didn't do the job the old version did.

This advertisement appeared in 1936. The text in this reproduction is barely readable, but I think it says:

 

"Don't lose me in the shuffle!"

 

This magazine is a whole book full of sylphlike gazelles … but what about me? I'm probably your best corset customer, perhaps your only real corset customer. I, more than the gazelle girls, have vital serious need of a corset. But I, more than they, have the price … and if I didn't, I’d beg, borrow or steal … because my need is so great. I live an active life, and I want the corset to help me do it comfortably. Are you losing me in the shuffle for the new corset fashions? *

 

Your profits in corsets will increase in exact proportion to the attention you give your best corset customer. The woman who needs The New Practical Front, the woman to whom the 69c two-way stretch means nothing.

 

There's new activity, new promotions, behind this famous I. Newman corset-classic. There are new models that mean new business. There's a wide market open for the active outdoor season. We are not going to miss this market … for ourselves, or for you. Better ask us all about this now. Better be soon, than sorry!

 

The NEW Practical Front Corset

I. NEWMAN AND SONS, INC

500 Madison Ave, New York City.

High-resolution scan of part of above image

 

* This sentence is shown in the scan on the right.

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