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We note ia a Macy's catalog a page for sweaters and swimsuits. That may seem like a strange combimation for the modern reader. But it should be remembered that swim suits at the time were wool garments. Thus the combination made some sense, although the seasonality seems confused. There were various sweater styles. The cardigans seem particularly popular, but we noteother styles as well. Macy calls them coat sweaters. The swimsuits were two-piece garments. We note tops done as "T" shirts. One suit for a younger boy had a button front. There were also sleeveless tops. The bottoms were shorts cut above the knees. There were stripes, but not the bold stripes common in the 1890s. The stripes were oin the shorts or the waist area of the top.
Macy's is another of the most fabled American department stores. Not only because its current and past success, but because of the classic Americam folm--"Miracle on 34th Street". America's most renowned and certainly tallest shopping mile is located in New York. The area spans 25 blocks, anchored at one end by Macy's on Herald Square and at the other by Bloomingdale's on 59th Street, span five avenues west to east and include the country's most renowned concentration of grand, historic department stores. Actually ahalf-dozen of these great American stores survive. They are now widely spaced between hundreds of specialty stores on and off Fifth Avenue. Macy's in 2000 operated Macy's stores along the U.S. East coast alone. It's mamouth New York flagship store fills an entire city. It claims to be the "world's largest store" and probably is. It was founded by Nantucket Quaker Rowland Hussey as a dry goods store in 1858. The owner proclaimed it a full-fledged department store in 1877, at which time it filled a dozen buildings on 14th Street. The New York Macy's now prides itself on its 50 display windows. The six facing Herald Square depict the history of the store's famous Thanksgiving parade. This New York City tradition was extravaganza was inagurted to commemorate the store's 75th anniversary. The windows along 34th Street show scenes from "Miracle on 34th Street", the 1947 film classic in which Edmund Gwenn convinces a sceptical city and little girl played by Natalie Wood, that he is Santa.
We do not knoe much about the Nacy's castalog. The page here was page 348. We are not positive, but we think this came from a Macy's store catalog. We generally think of Sears and Wards when we think of large mail order catalogs, but Macy's seems to have had a very large one. We are not sure just when they began issuing their catalog. The 1909 catalog was issued with Macy was basically a New York City department store. Today of course it has acquired other deoartmnt stores around the country and is the United States' principal department store chain. Macy's still issues catalogs, but they seem more focused on instore promtions or for gift cards.
The caps were not for sale on this page, but the illustrations provoide as good idea as toi hat boys were wearing. We notice a Macy's catalog page with boys wearing a variety of caps (sailor, peaked, and flat).
There were various sweater styles. The cardigans seem particularly popular (58A4723). Macey calls them coat sweaters. We note other styles as well. A sweater with a collar and what look like tassles was called a "Jersey"(58A4722) . A sweater with shoulder buttons (58A4720) was not given a special name. It was also available wth a highcollasr without the buttons. There was also a"V"-neck sweater (58A4728). V-necks were of course made to beworn wih neckties, but the model here wears a bowtie.
The bathing suits were two-piece garments. Swim suits is commonly used todasy, but in the 1900s the term bathing suit was almost aways used. We note tops done as "T" shirts. One suit for a younger boy had a button front (58A4720). He is shown wearing corduroy knickers. There were also sleeveless tops. This was labeled a "new style" (58A4724). The bottoms were shorts cut above the knees. There were stripes, but not the bold stripes common in the 1890s. The stripes were on the shorts or the waist area of the top. We note colors including grey, navy (dark blue) red, or white.
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