Holiday Clothing
Are you going on holiday soon? If so you might be thinking about buying a few new items for your wardrobe. Here are some very tempting garments from 100 years ago that you might like to consider.
No doubt the buyers of these would not be venturing to all parts of the globe like we do today. If they were going away at all it would probably be to what was often termed 'The West Coast'. No not California unfortunately, but Blackpool or Morecambe!
Day trips to local beauty spots, such as the Ribble Valley and Yorkshire Dales would have been far more likely.
If you were not going away then you could avail yourself of some of the Argenta Company's delicious lamb all the way from New Zealand. One imagines that it was not in its first flush of youth by the time it arrived in Blackburn! How they could prove that lamb was more digestible than beef in hot weather is open to speculation.
For us leisure wear would be light-weight things like shorts, tee shirts and bikinis. Certainly a suit would most definitely not feature on our list of holiday "must-haves".
The Illustrated London News of 9th July 1955 shows us some interesting beachwear!
"Jac shirt". This year's new idea. Figured designs in rayon. Various colours 55/-.Silk choker 25/-.Coloured shorts from 35/-. Sandals 30/-
Who said Englishmen can't be colourful? Not Austin Reed. We've shirts as gaily exciting as any you'll meet on the Riviera, the brightest shades in swimsuits that ever dazzled a mermaid's eye and bathing robes in glorious technicolour.
Come in and take your pick of the holiday wear.
"Sun-Toga", four times as useful as any other garment. You can change inside it, use it as a towel, stretch it out and sun-bathe on it, wear it for going smartly up for your aperitif. Man-sized waterproof pocket for cigarettes and matches. terry towelling, plain blue or plain white, 42/-.
Amphibious shorts, for prowling on the beach or crawling in the sea, from 35/-. Also swim trunks for being in the swim. Wool from 19/6, nylon from 35/-
Beach togas, shorts and swimwear may have been all very well for the wealthy who could holiday in the sun, but for most in the pre-war era holidays meant the British seaside, where the weather, to say the least, is unpredictable. Then, as now, waterproofs were needed to face the rigours of the northern coasts in July.
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