A hundred years ago a lot of people made their clothes that are own hired a tailor or dressmaker to create clothes for them.

Introduction

Eaton’s Fall/Winter Catalogue, 1900-01, p. 3.

Imagine a clothes catalogue which have 2 or 3 drawings of this forms of garments carried. To purchase a gown or suit, you might be instructed to spell it out what you need: the kind of apparel, color, textile, style, and price that is approximate. You have to suggest regardless if you are young or “matronly, ” and have now any “peculiarity of form. ” You might also need to outline twenty separate dimensions of the human anatomy.

A hundred years back, you would certainly have been delighted! Think about the choice: You would need to result in the garments your self, or spend a tailor or dressmaker to take action at greater expense.

Today, hardly any of us have actually our clothes created and sewn for all of us individually. We purchase clothes from the rack. But, through to the mechanization of this clothes industry in the belated nineteenth century, clothes had been produced by hand to match a person that is particular.

To custom-make a dress or waistline (blouse), Eaton’s needed a description or illustration through the client. The catalogue illustrations served as motivation. Eaton’s Spring/Summer Catalogue, 1899, p. 12.

The mail-order catalogue ended up being an important catalyst when it comes to change from custom-made to ready-made clothes. The very first catalogues competed with tailors and dressmakers by offering made-to-order items. 20 years later on, nevertheless, the mail-order organizations shut their customized dressmaking and millinery workrooms and started offering clients ready-to-wear clothes made by device when you look at the growing variety of clothes factories. (more…)