Figure 1.-- Au Bon Marché, a large Paris Department store, offered shorts sets in 1940. They were for boys from 2-7 years of age. Notice the button-on styling and the slight balloon affect on some of the sleeves.
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Figure 1.-- Au Bon Marché, a large Paris Department store, offered shorts sets in 1940. They were for boys from 2-7 years of age. Notice the button-on styling and the slight balloon affect on some of the sleeves. |
Au Bon Marché, a large Paris Department store, offered shorts sets in 1940. Shorts sets were a opular choice for boys at the time.They were for boys from 2-7 years of age. The store was one of the most popular in Paris. Three of the sets have button-on styling. Two have a slight balloon affect on some of the sleeves.
Au Bon Marché was a large Paris Department store. The store was one of the most popular in Paris. It still is a major Paris landmark. Most historians claim the Magasin au Bon Marché in Paris was the world's first true department store (1852). Au bon Marché is still a large Paris department store. HBC has acquired some Au Bon Marché advertisments for boys clothing from the early 20th century. It is considered by some to be the oldest and the classiest department store in Paris. Gustave Eiffel had a hand in its design. Womenswear (first floor) carries avant-garde as well as classic designers and a sophisticated lingerie department. Elsewhere you'll find a glossy menswear department, kitchen and household items, bedlinens, curtain fabrics, furniture, stationery, a large bookshop, children's toys and clothes. Shop 2 contains an excellent food hall, bar and restaurant, as well as an antiques arcade.
Rompers were a popular outfit for younger boys and continued to be so in the 1940s. Thwy were also popular un America although the syles were different. The ones here were for boys from 2-7 years of age.
Three of the sets have button-on styling. Two have a slight balloon affect on some of the sleeves.
Au Bon Marche offered several styles of shorts sets in 1940. Au Bon Marche uses the term "costume" meaning suit. There are no traditional sailor suits, but there is "nautucal styling". The sets were all for boys, mostly from 2-4 and 5-7 years, the larger sizes being slightly more expensive.
The Au Bon Marché ad copy read, "Costume, blouse toile lin écossis nouveauté, culotte toilenlin uni beige."
The Au Bon Marché ad copy read, "Costume, piqué cêtelé, ciel, cintron ou blanc."
The Au Bon Marché ad copy read, "Costume, blouse belle percale pied-de-poule, culotte toile nationale maron ou blau." This was the most expensive of the four outfits shown. I'm not sure just why. Also the price was different for each size, an extra 3 Francs fir each year. Presumably like the ither sets it went up to age 7.
The Au Bon Marché ad copy read, "Costume toile nationale blanche, garni noutaches rouges ou bleuses."
A French reader tells us, "In France at the time, button-on styling was very common for younger boys, in this case boys 2-7 years of age. I notice HBC reports that some american boys at the time did not like bitton-on stylinfg. In France, boys at this time probably didn't even think about the styling. I doubt if they had fstrong opinions on button-on styling or for that matter other styles. Children at the time were nor baraged by television and magazine advertising. Boys were dressed by their mothers who followed the popular trends at the yime. The school often played a important role in education and garment for the children." HBC notes that the button-on styles here run up to 7 years. American clothing caralogs commonly offered button-on styling uo to 8-10 years, depending in the garment and year. I doubt if 6-7 years olds at ghe time in Ameruca complained, but I think some 8-10 year olds might. Also the button in styling here seems more obvious than the button on styles we note in American catalogs.
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