Vintage Fashion Inspiration ~ 1947 Montgomery Ward Spring/Summer Catalog
- May 31, 2021
- by
- The Glambassador
I’ve clearly been on a vintage catalog kick lately. This time I’m sharing a video of my Vintage 1947 Montgomery Ward catalog. For this video & post I’m focusing only on the dresses. I’ll create other videos and posts where I will share the separates, suits, coats shoes, hats, shoes and so on.
These types of vintage catalogs are such a valuable resource for learning what the actual fashions were of the day. Montgomery Ward, Sears and Spiegel catalogs were some of the first mail-order catalogs in the US and were generally targeted to middle-class average Americans.
Be sure to check out my Lane Brant Catalog posts as well, for some great plus size vintage inspiration.
Montgomery Ward started as mail-order catalog business in 1872, later opening their first brick and mortar department store in 1926. A slow but steady decline in both the department stores and the mail-order catalogs ultimately resulted in the company filing for bankruptcy and dissolving in 2001. That’s 129 years, I’d say that’s not too bad.
The Average Cost of Items in 1947
What was happening in 1947 in the United States?
A lot happened in 1947 in the US and around the world. But here are just a few things that happened that year.
- Harry S. Trumen was President
- The Best Motion Picture Winner – The Best Years of Our Lives
- The Best Actress Winner – Olivia de Havilland for To Each His Own
- The Best Actor Winner – Fredrich March for The Best Years of Our Lives
Memorable Headlines of 1947
- The first Tony Awards were held in April 1947
- UFO allegedly found on July 7th in the Roswell UFO incident
- The CIA was established in September
- Jackie Robinson took to the field for the Brooklyn Dodgers becoming the first African-American to play in Major League Baseball
- The Polaroid camera was first demonstrated
- United States Air Force Captain and World War II veteran, Chuck Yeager became the first person to break the sound barrier
- Miracle on 34th Street premiered
- Howard Hughes’ “The Spruce Goose” took off but never went into production