Figure 1.--It is a little difficult to figure out the organization of the Galeries Lafayette catalog. Here in the summer 1937 catalog they mix boys pants and suits with womens dresses and skirts. The page was headlined "Pour oevres de de bienfaisance". That translates as something like "For works of benevolence". We are not entirely sure what that means. A reader writes, "About the French text of that catalogue: Even if you know the French language (I studied it for 8 years)' it's kind of difficult to know what they mean with "Pour oevres de bienfaisance". Oevres = works. (Pronounced like in "horse d'oevre"). It could be "Works of benevolence" or perhaps "Works of generosity". Click on the imge for an explanation.

We see a variety of suits offered for boys in 1937. Suit jackets s were made in both single- and double-breasted styles. We note Norfolk suits being offered, but without the destinctive Norfolk styling we have seen in the 1910s and 20s. Short pants suits were fairly standard for boys. The age at which boys changed from short to long pants varied. This often ooccurred ar age 13-13, but there were differences from family to family. Knicker and long pants suits were available for younger boys. Some fancy styles were available for First Communion.

Galeries Lafayette Suits

Galeries Lafayette in its summer1937 offered a variety of short pants suits for boys 4-14 years of age. The sizes varied for the different suits. They were all single breasted suits. There were also two types of sailor suits offered. Several suits were marked "Norfolk", but we don't see any Norfolk styling features. We are not sure why they were called Norfolk suits. We note both path and regular pockets. One suit had knee pants buttons at the knee hem, but this styling was rapidly disappearing. These suits, especially the sailor suits, could have been worn for a variety of special occassions. The suggestion here is that only one of the sailor suits is appropriate for First Communion. (The illustration shos the boy holding white gloves.) Various materials like flannel were used. They were done in a variety of different patterns. The desplay included a Navy pea jacket tht might be worn with these suits. Many but not all the boys over age 13-14 would have worn knicker ot long pants suits. While these suits were in the summer catalog. Thy do not seem to be light-weight summer suits, but the ad copy describing the suits is very limited..

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Created: 5:30 PM 1/16/2009
Last updated: 6:12 AM 1/17/2009