Swiss Mail Order Catalogs and Advertisements with Boys Clothings: Chronology


Figure 1.--This page from the Jelmoli 1938 catalog offers a variety of children's smocks ( Kinder-Schürzen ). Schools required primary children to wear smocks, but there was no standard style. Also included on the page are romper suits for younger pre-school boys.

Swiss mail order catalogs and newspaper advertisements offer a very useful time line on changing fashion trends. I am not sure precisely when mail order catalogs first appeared in Switzerland. Presumably store catalogs appeared before mail order companies. We have very little information on the specific companies involved. I believe thatmail order was initially an American inovation, but we note German companies active throughout Europe at least by World War II. There were of course a range of clothing advertized in Swiss publications. HBC has begun collect mail order pages nd advertisements. At this time we only have catalog pages from Jelmoli, a Zurich store, during the 1930s.

The 1870s


The 1880s


The 1890s


The 1900s

We notice a variety of boys' suits in the 1900 Jelmoli catalog. They were all bloomer knicker suits, including a sailor suit.

The 1910s


The 1920s


The 1930s

We have some pages from the Jelmoli catalog during the 1930s. Only a few pages were devoted to boys clothing, but they provide a great deal of very useful information. The pages show boys outfits, school, smocks ( Kinder-Schürzen ), book bags and other items. Our Swiss reader points out, "I just received a Catalog form the "Grand magasins Jelmoli," Zurich for the year 1938. In it it has a few good pages relating to fashions of boys. I am going to make copies of these pages and will send them to you. Again, as Jelmoli was in Zurich, it reflects the more urban fashions. I know, that in the poor mountain sections of Switzerland such fancy clothing was not available."

The 1940s

We have a few pages from the Jelmoli catalog during the 1940s. Again only a few pages were devoted to children's clothes. Many of the fashions offered seemed quite similar to those offered in the 1930s, but there are notable differences. We still see boys suits done with short pants and knickers for older boys. A ranger of sweaters was offered. We see bib-front pants with short and long legs. There are rompers for other boys. And as one might expect from Switzerland, there is a page primarily devoted to ski clothing. Hosiery is mostly long stockings and kneesocks.

The 1950s

A Swiss reader working with calaogs writes, "My first observation, comparing the 1940s clothing to 1950s clothing in Swiss catalogs is that the 1950s clothing is much more cheerful and sporty. It seems that union-suits have tatally disappeared, but that stockings and waists still exist for kids under 10 Years. I am somewhat surprised that there are no tights in the boys section. I know that they were widely available in any Swiss store that sold boys clothing. Also, when one looks at the stockings, they started to be made out of helanca, which was the same material the tights were made out of at that time."

The 1960s


The 1970s


The 1980s


The 1990s


The 2000s








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Created: 6:00 PM 6/22/2006
Last updated: 8:27 PM 4/8/2012