Advice from The Lady

"In continuous publication since 1885 and widely respected as England's longest running weekly magazine for women, The Lady is celebrated both for the quality of its editorial pages and its classified advertisements.

Copyright 2012 © The Lady Magazine Ltd 39-40 Bedford Street, Strand, London WC2E "

Last monthVanity Fair ran a story about the history and current events at The Lady Magazine. I admit I had forget it existed until reading the story, since then I've become enchanted. For generations the Lady was a license to print money. It has since fallen on hard times, the average age of its subscribers recently was 80, it now hovers near 60. Their web site has become one of my favorite reads. Often they offer peeks into their archives. I hope you enjoy.

FASHION ADVICE FROM THE ARCHIVE
Vintage tips from The Lady magazine
By Katy Pearson
"SOME women are incapable of selecting becoming attire. Style and effect is obtained in several ways, but outline is really the chief factor in a successful toilette."

The Lady. Hints on dress. 28th January, 1904

"THE little frock still comes in very many guises but it simply MUST be slim about the hips"

The Lady. The "little" frock. 12th December, 1929

"A VARIETY of colours is truly a sin against good taste in the sartorial sphere of a well dressed woman."

The Lady. Society Solecisms. 3rd September, 1903

"BELTS steals the limelight because much widened shoulder-lines require a pinched-in waistline for good proportion."

The Lady. Fashion is back in shape. 28th May, 1959

"WHAT woman does not find that a well-cut black suit makes the best possible basis for a wardrobe?"
The Lady.

The Art of Good Shopping. 21st February 1946


“WITHOUT books, a room looks lifeless and uninteresting, but too many books left lying about here, there and everywhere quickly produce an effect of disorder and untidiness.”"WHAT

The Lady. Books and Where to Keep Them. 14th November 1929.

"BLOUSES are part of the seasonless wardrobe that most of us aim at. Although casually easy to wear, nobody could describe them as 'casuals' when so many have a definite elegance of their own, a feminine softness combined with extreme neatness."

The Lady. A Special Year for Blouses. 7th August, 1969

“TULLE is not a good traveller, so the wise woman abandons it for the moment. Lace on the other hand, can never be out of place. When cleverly arranged it is extremely chic.”

The Lady. Evening Dress for the Casino Abroad and Country house visits at Home. 2nd August 1928

“A NEW hat is the best of tonics and so good an eye-catcher that it draws attention from a tired looking-frock. The matter of buying one should not be neglected.”

The Lady. Heads Up. 11th July, 1946

"NOW there is absolutely no reason why any woman should cease, at any age, to dress well and look well. A little dash of fun, a good deal of unselfconscious, and the battle is won. (Fat, wrinkles, years, do not matter so very much, though, nof course it is better to be without them.)"

The Lady. Clever with clothes. 5th January, 1933

“IT is by no means necessary to have an extensive outfit for the ordinary seaside holiday, but each item should admit of variation and the different gowns and blouses should be wearable together.”

The Lady. Holiday fashions. 7th July 1904

"MANY women earn the reputation of being badly dressed because they wear frocks bought at the sales and then hoarded through a season for which they are unsuited."

The Lady. The Week’s Best Bargains: What will be cheap at the Sales. 26th June, 1930

"ONE of the virtues to look for in choosing a well-cut blouse is the fit at the waistline. Who, in figure-conscious days wants extra fabric round the hipline tucked under pants or skirt?"

The Lady. A Special Year for Blouses. 7th August, 1969.

"DO not buy a corset that squeezes you into shape, but one that moulds. No belt can get rid of the flesh that is there."

The Lady. The fashion is for fit. 12th November, 1953

“THE small woman has to avoid clothes which emphasise the horizontal lines and choose those which empasise the vertical ones. That is the whole secret of creating an optical illusion of height.”

The Lady. Clothes for the small woman. 23rd April, 1936

"HOLIDAY clothes, in our opinion, should put comfort before everything else, and gaiety next. Meanwhile it is important that holiday beauty preparations should have the freshness that seems suitable for the simple life and days in the open air."

The Lady. Shopping for sea and county. 26th July, 1934

"NOT everyone can escape to country or seaside in the summer-time, but no one with sense goes out dressed for a garden-party to spend a day in town."

The Lady. For Summer Days In Town. 26th July, 1934

"WE must continue to wear gay and frivolous hats; it is the simplest and least expensive way of keeping up our morale and giving to our towns and villages an air of elegance."

The Lady. Bows and Bonnets. 22nd August, 1940

“AS in everything, lingerie divides itself into two schools of thought, the tailored and elegant type for the girl of decisive mind, and the dreamy frou-frou type, frothing in lace.”

The Lady. New Thoughts on Lingerie. 14th June, 1945

“SOME women are born with an innate sense of elegance which is very enviable, but how few such mortals exist, even in Paris.”

The Lady. The Elegant Women. 21st July 1955

“THE feeling that one is daintily and suitably attired helps considerably in the enjoyment of a holiday. But there is such a thing as being too smart, and this is undesirable. Better err on the simple side but have everything well cut and nicely made.”

The Lady. Dress and Fashion. 18th July, 1912

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