N
Noir*Boudoir
Guest
\'Heaven\' or the old-style department store...
I hope it isn't breaching label forum etiquette to start a new thread concentrating on department stores. I've been inspired to do this for a number of reasons.
First of all, an interesting VCA thread about department store memories disappeared into the Ebay aether a few months ago and I thought it might be nice to have something longer lasting for everyone to contribute to, with a possible knock-on boost to the labels resource.
Second, from a UK perspective, although the boutique movement changed the face of the British high street and revitalised the fashion industry, there's also something to be said for looking at the cultural history of the old-style department leviathan. In many regions of Britain, the multi-tiered family name store remained shoppers' dominant showcase for all fashion, new, old and completely institutionalised, well into the 70s (and even, gulp, the 80s).
Third, I just got my hands on a heap of long-stored purchases from some well-off lady who liked shopping at the premier W1 department stores in the 60s and 70s. Being a total nerd, I photograph the labels before I deal with the garments...
Lastly, but most influentially, I wanted to quote this passage from a book recommended to all: I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith (playwright, screenwriter and author of '101 Dalmations'). Written in the 40s in wartime exile in California, it is an intensely nostalgic romance set in early 30s England.
The two female protagonists, poor sisters Rose and Cassandra, travel to London to collect their Aunt Millicent's wardrobe - a forbidding old woman, she has bequeathed them her forbidding old woman's clothes... They have to go to a luxury department store to collect her furs:
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'The taxi drew up at a wonderful shop - the sort of shop I would never dare to walk through without a reason. We went in by way of the glove and stocking department, but there were things from other departments just dotted about; bottles of scent and a little glass tree with cherries on it and a piece of white branched coral on a sea-green chiffon scarf. Oh, it was an artful place - it must make people who have money want to spend it madly!
The pale grey carpets were as springy as moss and the air was scented; it smelt a bit like bluebells but richer, deeper.
"What does it smell of exactly?" I said. And Rose said:
"Heaven."
There was a different scent in the fur department, heavier, and the furs themselves had an exciting smell. There were lots of them lying about on the grey satin sofas; deep brown, silvery. And there was a young, fair mannequin walking about in an ermine cape over a pink gauze dress...'
{The furs turn out to be bizarre Victorian relics - bear, beaver and sealskin}
'On the way out, we looked through the archway into the department we had come in by. There was a woman buying pale blue suede gloves. She wore the plainest little black suit, but Rose thought she looked wonderful.
"That's how we ought to dress," she said.
We stood there staring at the scent and stockings and things - we saw one woman buy a dozen pairs of silk stockings - until I said:
"We're like Ab {Abelard, their cat} when he sees birds fly past the window. At any moment we'll let out wistful cat noises."
Rose said she felt just like that.'
(plot implications of this scene are profound and the book is highly recommended!)
------------------------
And as for the stores - I've got Fortnum and Mason written up and some Lillywhites and Debenham & Freebody labels. I hope this draws a few more out of peoples memories!
Lin
I hope it isn't breaching label forum etiquette to start a new thread concentrating on department stores. I've been inspired to do this for a number of reasons.
First of all, an interesting VCA thread about department store memories disappeared into the Ebay aether a few months ago and I thought it might be nice to have something longer lasting for everyone to contribute to, with a possible knock-on boost to the labels resource.
Second, from a UK perspective, although the boutique movement changed the face of the British high street and revitalised the fashion industry, there's also something to be said for looking at the cultural history of the old-style department leviathan. In many regions of Britain, the multi-tiered family name store remained shoppers' dominant showcase for all fashion, new, old and completely institutionalised, well into the 70s (and even, gulp, the 80s).
Third, I just got my hands on a heap of long-stored purchases from some well-off lady who liked shopping at the premier W1 department stores in the 60s and 70s. Being a total nerd, I photograph the labels before I deal with the garments...
Lastly, but most influentially, I wanted to quote this passage from a book recommended to all: I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith (playwright, screenwriter and author of '101 Dalmations'). Written in the 40s in wartime exile in California, it is an intensely nostalgic romance set in early 30s England.
The two female protagonists, poor sisters Rose and Cassandra, travel to London to collect their Aunt Millicent's wardrobe - a forbidding old woman, she has bequeathed them her forbidding old woman's clothes... They have to go to a luxury department store to collect her furs:
--------------------
'The taxi drew up at a wonderful shop - the sort of shop I would never dare to walk through without a reason. We went in by way of the glove and stocking department, but there were things from other departments just dotted about; bottles of scent and a little glass tree with cherries on it and a piece of white branched coral on a sea-green chiffon scarf. Oh, it was an artful place - it must make people who have money want to spend it madly!
The pale grey carpets were as springy as moss and the air was scented; it smelt a bit like bluebells but richer, deeper.
"What does it smell of exactly?" I said. And Rose said:
"Heaven."
There was a different scent in the fur department, heavier, and the furs themselves had an exciting smell. There were lots of them lying about on the grey satin sofas; deep brown, silvery. And there was a young, fair mannequin walking about in an ermine cape over a pink gauze dress...'
{The furs turn out to be bizarre Victorian relics - bear, beaver and sealskin}
'On the way out, we looked through the archway into the department we had come in by. There was a woman buying pale blue suede gloves. She wore the plainest little black suit, but Rose thought she looked wonderful.
"That's how we ought to dress," she said.
We stood there staring at the scent and stockings and things - we saw one woman buy a dozen pairs of silk stockings - until I said:
"We're like Ab {Abelard, their cat} when he sees birds fly past the window. At any moment we'll let out wistful cat noises."
Rose said she felt just like that.'
(plot implications of this scene are profound and the book is highly recommended!)
------------------------
And as for the stores - I've got Fortnum and Mason written up and some Lillywhites and Debenham & Freebody labels. I hope this draws a few more out of peoples memories!
Lin
