March - April 2004

BOOK REVIEW
Children's Fashions 1900 - 1950: As Pictured in Sears Catalogs
Edited by JoAnne Olian
Dover Publications, 2003 $14.95 (PB)
Reviewed by Sue Alexander

Need clothes for your characters? This is the place to find them. If you have ever, as I did, needed to know what kind of hats eight year old girls wore in the 1940’s, this book is the place to find that information. In addition to the pictures of the garments and children who were wearing them (it’s interesting to note that most of the pictures are drawings), prices are given for all of the clothes and for some, the accompanying ad copy. JoAnne Olian, who is the Curator Emeritus, Costume Collection - Museum of the City of New York, has written an illuminating introduction to the book, pointing out that the
pictures also depict the hairstyles and footwear of the time. A valuable research tool for anyone whose writing project is set in the first half of the last century.