Meyer's Modeblatt 1946 - No. 2, 12th January

 

Now we're talking fashion - and you'll be meeting some interesting women too in this issue! Although this was a magazine aimed at the average housewife, they did sometimes put real glamour shots on the cover, like this black velvet evening gown by Marcelle Tizeau, Paris. Isn't it gorgeous? The amount of fabric seems quite frivolous though, considering the time.

I googled Tizeau and found something interesting... actually the name was Alix Marcelle Tizeau, and it was what became of the fashion house Alix, which had been founded in the '30s by Germaine Krebs (who from the 40s called herself Madame Grès and founded the fashion house of that name) and Julie Barton. There's not a lot of clear info, but someone else took Alix over in the 40s after Madame Grès moved out and renamed it.

 

Since this was a winter issue after all, there was a proposition for a ski tour to Flumserberge! No ski lifts there then, but already it was known as a place for skiing, and there were hotels etc. How interesting!

Keep it patriotic!

 

A portrait of the wife of federal councillor Philipp Etter.

The fashion!

Here we go... a big shot of a sporty woolen dress, with the model carrying a fashionable bucket bag. This is what one could by the sewing pattern for.

 

Clothes for girls of all ages.

And... something practical for the expectant mother!

Household tips

 

Advice on how to arrange one's furniture in a new home. Underneath is one of the serials - the "Diary of a young girl". Well, she's old enough to work and get a perm (cost: 35 Francs!). No author is credited, but I am wondering if maybe this was written by someone at the magazine who wasn't necessarily a young lady...

 

News from around the world

 

On top is a picture of the new Waterloo bridge in London. Great photo! At the bottom, a street shot of Nuremberg, saying that despite the going's on at court, normal people's lives went on "monotonic, hopeless and depressed by the terrible past and the unknown future".

More fun is the other part of the page, which talks of "Plastic - the material of the future". The pretty lady is Mrs. Gaby Schreiber, an industrial designer who had moved to England in 1938 (as they put it in Meyer's Modeblatt - not much imagination needed to explain this), and she designed all sorts of household items to be made from plastic - including a whole kitchen.

Oh - I googled her, and - wow! She had quite a career, just check this out: http://arts.brighton.ac.uk/collections/design-archives/projects/women-designers/gaby-schreiber I like her! 

 And here's another small blurb, about USAF pilot Mildred Clifford who had flown a plan from New York to Moscow (definitely wow!), and "America's most successful agony aunt, Dorothy Dix. What a mix!!!! I couldn't find anything on Mildred, but there's a Wikipedia entry on Dorothy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_Dix. They certainly did show their readers an interesting mix of female rolemodels!

Ad-tastic

What was the world without Ebay and such? Like this! A page full of small ads - the bigger part being of people wanting to sell clothes, furniture etc. And of course, there's also a few marriage ads. And one woman offered her services to mend stockings, to be paid 20 Rappen (cents) by stitch!

 

"Artificial honey - almost the same nutritional value as bee honey". Could be bought without rationing coupons. I just wonder what kind of artificial product this was - frankly, it doesn't sound nice! I googled it, it was actually made on the basis of a product one finds on a lot of ingredient lists of industrially produced food, called invert sugar. It's made from glucose and fructose, and starch is added to make it creamy, through which it becomes invert sugar cream - also called artificial honey. It still doesn't sound much nicer to me...

Slimming product ad 

 

 The Orbal ad from last week appeared again, but also this one! This is bad. Really bad. It basically says "lose weight so you can wear fashionable clothes". Ouch. The product is called a "famous French specialty", and of course it's "recommended by doctors". You only needed to take 4-6 pills a day, and particularly resisting parts of the body could also be treated with the lotion of the same name. Oh my!

 Breast enhancement ad

 

Yes, this one just had to come! No pills this time, just something to rub in. And you could ask for testimonials too! And of course the product is "absolutely harmless" *lol*.