Altman's Spring and Summer Fashions Catalog, 1915

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful, even in black-and-white!
Review: Altman's catered to a more upscale clientele than Sears or Gimbel's, so this volume makes an important contribution to Dover's wonderful series of fashion catalogs and illustration. The prices of the clothes are relatively high (32.00 for a dress must have been a fortune in 1915!), and the illustrations definitely a cut above many other catalogs. On a few pages, photographed models are used, with some detail drawn in by hand to better show the garment's features. Dover, as usual, reproduces the catalog in black-and-white, but the art quality is still great. The catalog is heavy on women's and children's fashion. "Men's furnishings" (as they are referred to) get only 3 pages. Some other goods, such as household linens, nursery furniture, silverware, 1 page of "bric-a-brac" (lamps, candlesticks, picture frames, a smoking stand), and one of sporting goods (golf, tennis, polo), also appear. For greater variety of goods, you'd also enjoy the "Gimbel's Illustrated 1915 Fashion Catalog" also by Dover.