Figure 1.--Here we see a Pear waist. I'm slightly puzzled by this ad, because I can't find any additional images of the Pearl Waist, although it was a well-known American brand during the 1900s there are quite a few ads for it without illustration. So the illustration is valuable because of the rarity. This is one of the earliest we have found. It appeared in the 'Newport Daily News' (April 4, 1907, page 3). We don't for the moment know the manufacturer, although I'm on the hunt for further information because it should be added to our list. Newport, Rhode Island, was of course a very upper-class venue with all the famous "cottages", which were really millionaire mansions owned by a tiny elite, mansions such as "The Breakers" which is now open to the public.

Here we see a Pearl waist. I'm slightly puzzled by this ad, because I can't find any additional images of the Pearl Waist, although it was a well-known American brand during the 1900s there are quite a few ads for it without illustration. So the illustration is valuable because of the rarity. This is one of the earliest we have found. It appeared in the Newport Daily News (April 4, 1907, page 3). We don't for the moment know the manufacturer. Newport, Rhode Island, was of course a very upper-class venue with all the famous "cottages", which were really millionaire mansions owned by a tiny elite, mansions such as "The Breakers" which is now open to the public.

Newspapers

Here we see a Pearl waist. I'm slightly puzzled by this ad, because I can't find any additional images of the Pearl Waist, although it was a well-known American brand during the 1900s there are quite a few ads for it without illustration. So the illustration is valuable because of the rarity. This is one of the earliest we have found. It appeared in the Newport Daily News (April 4, 1907, page 3). Newport, Rhode Island, was of course a very upper-class venue with all the famous "cottages", which were really millionaire mansions owned by a tiny elite, mansions such as "The Breakers" which is now open to the public. So perhaps this ad was appealing to such an audience, although the price of 25 cents for this waist is right in line with what other brands sold for to regular middle-class buyers.

Store

Pearl Company

Pearl Waists were widely sold all over the United States from about 1907 to 1932. The company seems to have been a casualty of the Deporession. The manufacturer is never mentioned in any of the ads, unfortunately, but they were widely distributed throughout the country. We also learn that by 1914 the company also manufactured Pearl Waist Union Suits (sold at 50 cents). These union suits seem to had all the features of the Pearl waist (i.e., reinforcement straps, waist buttons, and pin tubes for supporters).

Garter Waists

This category applies to a broad variety of devices for holding up long stockings. Theoretically it would apply to any garment worn on the upper body used for this purpose (including underwaists, pantywaists, and suspender waists). But HBC uses the term to apply specifically to waists with hose supporters already attached, even though in some cases these supporters are detachable. Most of these garments are designed to have the strain of the garters carried by the child’s shoulders. Some have waistbands and some do not, but all are worn under the outer clothing and therefore as a species of children’s underwear. One of the first such garments we notice was in the Sears 1902 catalog Sears refers to a "combination belt and supporter, but the garment was essentially a garter waist. The use of different terms somewhat complicates the assessment if the garments. Interestingly, even when the wearing of long stockings was supposedly declining in the late 1930s and early 1940s, a proliferation of styles of garter waist became very prominent in the Sears and Wards catalogs of this period. We have more different styles for this period than for any other on HBC. A good example is the Sears 1939 garter waists.

Features

This brand claims to have "more straps than any other waist" which, I suppose, means that it gave greater support to additional clothing than other brands. The main feature stressed seems to be reinforcement straps around the armholes, one of which ends in the pin tube for attaching hose supporters. The slightly unusual thing here, however, is that the strap for the hose supporters (note that the garter is shown already attached) is not directly under the arm pit, as in most other waists, but slightly forward, which would make the supporters attach to the stocking tops closer to the front of the leg than the side. I don't know whether there would be any special advantage in the placement of the supporter straps. Medical authorities were agreed that it was bad practice to have shoulder straps for supporters that would make the child stoop forward, but the strappings on this waist would not seem to produce this effect, especially since the ad-writer claims that this waist is "the most comfortable" and "most healthful" of any such waists. Our experience, hoeever, is that ad writers often denined the obvious. The ad is meant to give the impression of athleticism since the boy in the drawing is lifting weights in each hand.

Ad Copy

The ad copy read,"Get the Pearl Waist for Your Children. The Pearl Waist is all-elastic. The straps are knitted in tubular form so that they give to the strain on the buttons and yield to every motion of the body. The Pearl has more straps than any other waist, tubular strappings around the armholes, the best buttons, sewed on securely, and pin tubes for the hose supporters. The Pearl Waist is the most comfortable, most healthful and most durable waist at its price on the market. 25 cents."

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Created: 2:51 AM 7/14/2010
Last updated: 2:51 AM 7/14/2010