Wednesday
On the Hunt (for Lunch & Libations)
Saturday
WHAT TO PACK? A Bavarian Hat
Above: In this comical take on fashion inspiration, a burly Bavarian is deflated to find himself at the center of a fad—for ladies. While our couture copycats pair their versions of his Bavarian hat with pearls, he sports the authentic lederhosen look. Signed Keller. Published in the September 1931 issue of The Cunarder Magazine.
Sunday
Harvest Time
Above: Apple season is as tantalizingly close as these girls are to taking a bite out of the low-hanging fruit involved in this deck game aboard an ocean liner, c. 1926.
Thursday
Life in the Slow Lane
Above: An artist sets up her easel to sketch at the crossroads of a quiet English village, c. 1932.
Friday
Starting with Nothing in the World but a Fig Leaf
Above: Eve's fig leaf was the original fashion statement but as this humor piece shows, the style evolution of her descendants has taken some interesting turns. Words by Nancy Sasser with illustrations by Sue Williams. Published in the September 1931 issue of THE CUNARDER Magazine.
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In America "It"* is lipstick, soft wavy hair, slim bodies; in Japan it's hair lacquered with fish oil, hidden ankles; in China it's tiny feet and silk trousers; and so on around the world, expression of the original "It" that fig-leaved Eve bequeathed to her descendants differs.
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There's the little Japanese girl. Her hair, black and gleaming as patent leather, has been rubbed with fish oil, which gives it both a shine and a smell equally noticeable. She wears a long under-kimono of material designed artistically in purple and yellow, a green and orange top kimono, a little fur, and mittens if it's cold, and of course, red wooden getas on her feet.
The dusky Philippine lady one meets on the walks in Manila looks like some light-winged butterfly. Her sleeves are of transparent, stiff material. If a puff of wind should rise behind her we feel that her sleeve-wings would fill and she would fly away.
The girl of Java is a lovely little chocolate skinned thing, with a tapering, graceful body. Dainty, starched, form fitting waists trimmed with lace, are worn over rich batik sarongs. The woman with less means has to content herself with a piece of cloth tied around her breast, leaving a strip of her dark skin showing just above her sarong.
In another island of the of the Dutch East Indies--Sumatra--the ideal of feminine pulchritude is based on a the evenness of one's tooth file. When a girl reaches the age of 12, her fond parents take her to the town passab, or market, where the dentist, a wholly untrained savage, throws the child upon the earth, commands her parents to sit on her, does so himself, and then commences to file away on her teeth. After the miserable operation is completed, the daughter is triumphantly led away, ready now for suitors, provided she doesn't die of infection or sheer pain.
In Siam (now Thailand) the yellow children wear nothing, for the traditional dress for babies has been appropriated by the men and women. They wrap cloth around their bodies, pass it in a loose fold between their legs, and pin it in the back at the waist. They look for all the world like grown up babies, with their diapers on backwards!
The woman of north India is altogether charming--tall, slim, with fine features. She has deep set eyes, fine black hair, and is quite Caucasian looking, even though her skin is brown. She dresses in a regal manner, in deep reds and golds, with purple cloth shot with silver, draped around her figure and a fold covering her head. She wears gold and silver anklets, and bracelets, and her person is sweet with eastern perfume. On her forehead she wears the symbol of her favorite god. If she is Mohammedan, she wears a black veil across her face.
The woman of Ceylon is much like the Indian lady, except that being nearer the equator, she wears fewer clothes and scrapes her hair straight off her face, into a great crest on top of her head.
The modern Cleopatras in Egypt often wear European clothes, but whether dressed in western style or in the long native robes, they seem to have nothing but eyes in their faces. This is because their religion forbids them to go about unveiled, and so they affect a little black cloth across their faces just beneath the eyes. To make up for any beauty that piety bids them hide, they rub black kohl around their eyes until they glam and sparkle from the flattering shadows.
The Arab girl of the desert is pretty in a vagabond sort of way. She wears a headdress with a multitude of glistening bits tied to it. She ornaments her nose veil with coins, which clink as she walks along. The Turkish woman has been told to discard her veil, so many of the higher class keep within doors. Others dress in smart European clothes, which is to them, a symbol of their new emancipation.
EUROPE IS SUFFERING A SLOW MAIL ORDER DEATH
Conformity seems to have seized them all.
Women dress to please men (there's no doubt about that)--and when women everywhere dress alike it will mean that men everywhere think alike--about romance. And when that day of supreme monotony dawns, we shall never travel again.
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* "It" refers to the term coined in the 1920s by author Elinor Glyn in her book of the same name describing the right combination of charisma and sex appeal.
Wednesday
Members Only
Above: Three men clad in one-piece wool swimsuits with skirts form an intimidating posse while hanging out poolside aboard an ocean liner, c. 1933.
The Road to Somewhere
Above: A sign within a sign points the way to the Albergo Angelo d'Oro Cavalese (Italy) in this unsigned Art Deco luggage label, c. 1934.
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