Department Stores

All over Europe and the US, department stores, mainly begun in the nineteenth century, came into their own. These retail colossi exerted an immense influence on fashion. Most had couture and tailoring ateliers as well as ready-to-wear sections. Patrons in London were offered ease and useful service by the likes of Harrods, Swan & Edgar, Debenham & Freebody, and from 1909, Selfridges – the Oxford Street emporium established by the American-born businessman Gordon Selfridge. Paris had its grands magasins, including Galeries Lafayette, Au Printemps, and La Samaritaine. In the US there were Bergdorf Goodman, Henri Bendel, and from 1907, Neiman Marcus. Most stores also turned out mail-order catalogs and accessories on approval.

The chic look of the day was spread via postcards and cigarette cards. These touched a wide audience and cut across classes. As well as such male-orientated topics as Boer War generals, football club colors, and baseball players, cigarette cards featured photographs of lavishly attired actresses and celebs and scantily dressed beauties and dancers. While cigarettes were thought proper media for the likes of dancer Loie Fuller, Gibson Girl Camille Clifford, and music-hall artist Gaby Delys, postcards and magazines were used for refined actresses and members of the aristocracy. Thespians and countesses alike sat for portraits in photographic studios, flaunting their most impressive gowns.

Women imitated the demeanor, coiffures, and decorative clothing of popular heroines. Suburban photographic studios churned out portraits in the form of cabinet cards. Authentic rather than idyllic, they illustrated the best dresses of the less well off. The greatest accolade was to be exalted in oils by a prominent artist of the day. Giovanni Boldini, Phillip de Laszlo, and John Singer Sargent were society’s favorite portraitists, while Paul Helleu’s drawings and prints of women form an extraordinary record of 1900s high fashion.