French Fashion Magazine: Blazer and Romper Suit -- December 1947


Figure 1.--The December 7, 1947 issue of "Mode Pratigue" shows French children getting their presents from under the Christmas tree ub their Christmas outfits. Two boys' outfit are shown. A younger boy wears a romper-style outfit. Note the back bow. An older boys wears a blazer.
The Mode pratique showed many dress styles for girls of different ages as well as romper outfits and a blazer for boys of different ages. Inclusion in the December issue of course meant that they were outfits seem suitable for the festive hliday season. La Mode Pratique was a very popular fashion magazine in France." It included both fashion information and patterns. We have few details on the publishing history of the magazine at this time. Christmas of course is the most important holiday clebration for children. The French Christmas in the 21st century is an interesting mix of tradition and modern innovations.

Outfits

The Mode pratique showed many dress styles for girls of different ages as well as romper outfits and a blazer for boys. Inclusion in the December issue of course meant that they were outfits seem suitable for the festive hliday season.

Rompers

The December, 1947 issue of Mode Pratigue shows shows French children getting their presents from under the Christmas tree. Two boys' outfit are shown. A younger boy wears a romper-style uniform outfit. He wears a white puff-sleeve blouse with front smocking. He also wears puff romper style pants, presumably in the button on style (figure 1). Note the back bow. We have primarily seen these back bows on one piece romper suits. Here the bow is pictured on just the romper bottoms. A very young boy is depicted wearing this outfit in the illustration. We are not sure what the the magazine indicated as the suitable for this outfit.


Figure 2.--The December 7, 1947 issue of "Mode Pratigue" showed abother Chfristmas romper outfit on a page with girls' dresses and coats.

On another page a somewhat older boy is shown wearing a one-piece blue romper suit. A French reader tells us, "When a romper suit is not the traditional one, it is often called a " ensemble " or " costume " rather than a barboteuse. All the rompers had a crotch buttoning, even for 4-6 yrs model. The romper is back buttoning with a self belt, probably meaning there was no back bow. the top of the romper is smocked and there are puff sleeves. The puff pants appear to be pleated. The ad copy read, "195. Costumje de garçonncet exécuté en flanelle ou én crêpe de Chine. Fermé dans le dos par un série de butons, le corsage se gormit devant d'un groupe olis piqués. La culotte fixée por quarte boutons, se garnitbégaiement de plis piqués et lachés repris por un élastique outour des jambes. Métrogue pour 2 à 4 ans: 1 m 60 en 1, col 0 m. 15 sur 60." That means, "???". This was a little unusual as generally the one-pice romper suiys were more common for the younger boy and slightly older boys wore the two-pice outfits.

Blazer

The December, 1947 issue of Mode Pratigue also showed an older boys wearing a brown blazer (figure 2). The blazer looks like a standard three-button single breated blazer.

Mode Pratique

La Mode Pratique was a very popular fashion magazine in France." It included both fashion information and patterns. We have few details on the publishing history of the magazine at this time. We do note that it was published during the 1920s. We do not yet know, however when it was founded or ceased publication. It appears to have had considerable information about children's clothing. We do know that it was published throughout the 1930s-40s and into the 50s. We had thought that Mode pratique was a monnthly, but during the 1940os it seems to have been issued twice monthly.

French Christmas

Christmas of course is the most important holiday clebration for children. The French Christmas in the 21st century is an interesting mix of tradition and modern innovations. French children traditionally with great hope and anticipation put their shoes by the hearth. Nearly every French home at Christmastime displays a Nativity scene or creche, which serves as the focus for the Christmas celebration. The Christmass tree is most associated with Geramny. Yet this image shows that even in the 1940s, the Christmas tree was not unknown in France.

Ad Copy

The garments shown here are described in detaailon page 7 of the magazine. We are not sure what the ad copy says.






Christopher Wagner






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Created: November 9, 2001
Last updated: November 9, 2001