Figure 1.--We note an ad for "Dr. Parker's Skeleton Waist". As far as we can tell, it is the earliest that we can find "Dr. Parker's Skeleton Waist" mentioned. It was advertised by Eaton's in Canada in an early catalogue. Unfortunately the image we have is undated. We believe that it come from catalogs between 1912 and 1914. |
T. Eaton's was a well known Toranto department store. Their catalogs provide a good indication of the styles popular in Canada at the time. We note an ad for "Dr. Parker's Skeleton Waist". As far as we can tell, it is the earliest appearance of the "Dr. Parker's Skeleton Waist"--at least the earliest mention of the garment that we have found to date. It was advertised by Eaton's in Canada in early catalogues. This image was used in Eatons catalogs during 1912- The ad copy read, "Dr. Parker's Skeleton Waist, tape attaches in two rows for all undergarments, with pair of 2/3 inch elastic Hose Supporters with rubber buttons, made in even sizes from 2 to 14 years. 26-913 Each 25c."
T. Eaton's was a well known Toranto department store. Their catalogs provide a good indication of the styles popular in Canada at the time. This Canadian retailer began publishing mailorder catalogs in 1881, at least that is we begin noticing them. We have catalogs from the 1970s, although we do not know about the company's current status. The 1970s catalgs were full of clothes which look like American styles. Timothy Eaton, founder of the huge all-Canadian department store
chain bearing his name, was an Irish immigrant born on a tennant farm in northern Ireland. He was born in 1834 and followed his brothers to Canada in 1854. His brothers had opened a small dty goods store in St. Marys. Timothy Eaton began his business with a small dry goods business in Toronto during 1869. He built a giant retail store in Ontario’s capital city along with a country-wide mail-order business and a big new branch store in Winnipeg, by the time of his death in 1907. The Winnipeg branch was the first of many branches. Eaton Company business establishments eventually spread all across Canada when Timothy’s family successors extended the Eaton
empire. Timothy masterminded the company during the crucial period of its early development, spanning nearly 40 years. It was Timothy who implemented the concept of the "Department Store", in Canada, a concept which were already flourishing in London, Paris, and New York.
When we first created this page, we were not sure precisely what year it appeared, but guessed the mid 1910s. A HBC reade writes, "I found the exact date and page for the earliest Dr. Parker waist advertisement. You may recall that we speculate about the date on this page because we didn't have the exact year or page. Well, in Montreal, I was able to track
it down. This ad appeared in three different Eaton catalogues: Fall and Winter, 1912-13, p. 104; Spring and Summer, 1913-14, p. 146; and Fall and Winter, 1914, p. 263. We note quite a number of ads being repeated. Sometimes it was just the illustration that was repeated and other times both the illustration and ad copy was repeated. This was especially true for items like underwear and stockings that did not change much from year to year.
The ad copy read, "Dr. Parker's Skeleton Waist, tape attaches in two rows for all undergarments, with pair of 2/3 inch elastic Hose Supporters with rubber buttons, made in even sizes from 2 to 14 years. 26-913 Each 25c." The image shows an older boy, perhaps as old as 12, wearing Dr. Parker's waist. Note that the suspender-like top attaches to the waist band in front with double straps for added support and that a strap across the chest is added to keep the shoulder straps firmly in place. Although we can't see the rear view, we can surmise from later versions that the shoulder straps crossed in
back as adult male tousers suspenders often do. An interesting feature of this waist is that the dark stockings shown (the standard color was black) come up very high on the boy's thigh and thus require the side supporters over the hips to be rather short. It is often alleged that boys at this period wore stockings that reached only a few inches above their knees since knee pants were often worn quite long. But this ad illustrates the often overlooked point that some boys wore much longer thigh-length stockings, perhaps for additional warmth as much as for leg coverage. Another point
worth noticing is that the boy in the image apparently wears long underwear under his waist. Canadian winters could be notoriously cold in the days before universal central heating.
Long stockings became longer in the 1920s when boys began wearing short pants and girlsd shorter skirts. Boys in the 1910s, however, were wearing kneepants and knickers. Thus the long stockings need only extend a little above the knee. We cannot explain why the long stockings here re shown as so high on the leg. A reader writes,"I wanted to note how high the stockings had to go on the leg if the image is accurate. Now it may be that the image showed the stockings so high because they had limited space in the catalogue. But assuming that is not true, then the stockings were worn higher than in the US which may be related to Canada being colder than most of the US. This image may reflect a subtle difference in Canadian clothes vs. typical clothes in the United States."
Long stockings were an important grment in Canada, in part because of the cold Winter garment. We see garter waists being offered n Canadian clothing caalogs into the 1930s and 40s. A good example is Eaton's garter waists offered in 1939.
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