Figure 1.--Here we have a page from the Grand magasins Jelmoli in 1938. This page in the Summer cayalog offered a variety of underwear. Most of the items on the page were for girls.
|
Figure 1.--Here we have a page from the Grand magasins Jelmoli in 1938. This page in the Summer cayalog offered a variety of underwear. Most of the items on the page were for girls. |
Jelmoli had a page for children's underwear in its 1938 Summer catalog. Most of the items on the page were for girls. The underwear was on page 53 of the summer catalog.
We note a catalog form the Grand magasins Jelmoli. Grand magasins Jelmoli has for many years been the flagship department store chain of Switzerland. Johann Peter Jelmoli-Ciolina founded founded the store in 1938 by . Ciolina must have been the maiden name of his wife. He was from the Swiss-italian section of Switerland. The company has always been headquartered in Zurich where the flag-ship department store was opened. It opened branches throughout Switrzerland, but a few years back it sold or closed all its branches and only kept the large store in Zurich. I would say it was always an "up-scale" department store. The catalog-department was a very small part of their operations and the catalogs carried a very small amount of merchandise, compared to what was available in their stores. The catalog-department was added in 1899.
The underwear page was headed, "Kinder-Trikot-Unterwaesche sehr vorteilhaft." Most of the items were for girls, but there were garments for boys. I think one combination (union) suit and two styles of underpants. Only the combination suit was illustrated.
This item was illustrated. It was a combination or union suit. The ad copy read, "Knaben-Combinaison aus solidem Maco-Trikot, fein gesrickt, weiss, game Laenge 50 – 70cm."
As the term "Kinder" is used here, this seems to be an item for boys and girls. The ad copy read, "Kinderhoesli, Interlock-Trickot, weiche solide Baumwollquaslitaet, beigefarbig. Laengen 17 – 39cm."
The ad copy read, "Knabenhose aus gutem Macotrikot, mit waschbarem Gummizug. 6 – 14 Jahre."
An American reader writes, "I was interested in this page as a comparison with American styles in 1938. The boy's union suit (or "combination"--the British term) is sleeveless. Sears and Wards had similar garments but with short sleeves rather than no sleeves at all. An interesting
difference. Notice that this suit is just an ordinary union suit, not a "waist union suit" (which apparently didn't exist in Europe). If European boys wore long stockings, they would wear a Leibchen on top of the union suit or other underwear. There was no system to combine the union suit with the Leichen or waist (as was common in the USA in 1948). Compare this link for Sears Handywear waist union suits.
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing catalog/magazine pages:
[Return to the Main Swiss 1938 mail order page]
[Return to the Main Swiss mail order 1930s page]
[Main photo/publishing page]
[Store catalogs]
[Fashion magazines]
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Introduction]
[Activities]
[Biographies]
[Chronology]
[Cloth and textiles]
[Clothing styles]
[Countries]
[Topics]
[Bibliographies]
[Contributions]
[FAQs]
[Glossaries]
[Satellite sites]
[Tools]
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Sailor suits]
[Eton suits]
[Knickers]
[Short pants]
[Long pants]
[Suspender pants]
[Button-on styling]
[Jeans]
[Long stockings]
[Stocking supporters]
[Waists]