Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Object of the Day: A Trade Card for Universal Fashion Co.

Click image to enlarge.



Nothing says high fashion more than a skirt full of plants and dirt. I suppose that’s the message behind this Victorian trade card for the Universal Fashion Company of London, Paris and New York.

Actually, the image on the front, designed specifically for Universal Fashion depicts the sort of rustic and bucolic image which was en vogue in the late 1880s. A young lass poses, as if caught in a moment in time, with her rake and her plants as she tends to her pretty garden.

As if often the case, this card was distributed to agents and sellers of their products—mostly dress patterns—so that the individual could have the reverse printed with his or her specific information.

In this case, we see, next to an illustration of a fashionable lady:

MRS. C.E. FORD 
So. Broad St., NORWHICH 
FASHIONABLE MILLINERY 
--DEALER IN- 
Millinery, Fancy Goods 
AND LADIES’ UNDERWEAR 

                                                        AGENCY FOR THE                                      538
Universal Fashion Company’s Perfect-Fitting Patterns 
Album of Fashions. 64 Pages, over 1900 Large Illustrations 
15 Cents, post-paid 
PATTERNS SENT TO ANY ADDRESS, POST-PAID, ON RECEIPT OF THE PRICE





4 comments:

Dashwood said...

How dare you publish a litho of a lady's ankles???? No matter that they're covered with stockings or even that she's French, for heaven's sake! Why, her petticoat's even on display. Shameful!!!

No doubt this came from the private stash of some long-ago adolescent in Norwich along with a well-thumbed copy of "Captain Eddie's Whiz Bang".

Joseph Crisalli said...

I know. It's quite scandalous. I wondered if I should post it, but, you know how the Internet is. Anything goes.

Gene said...

Funny.

Joseph Crisalli said...

Yes.