The Spiffy Fifties Suit in Today’s Secretary March 1953
I must admit a serious weakness for the fitted suits of the 1950s despite their drawbacks. The one you see here came in silk shantung, a spring and summer fabric, from the Nelly Don company. Nelly Don was the shortened version of the name a woman designer based in Kansas City who founded a garment company that ended up selling literally millions of items to women in the 20th century: Nell Donnelly Reed.
This suit came in navy, gray, beige, black and burgundy as well as violet, so it ranged from the very sober colors suitable for office work to at least one playful one more suited to social events. Suits were a standard part of a woman’s wardrobe in the 1950s. She was as likely to wear one to tea as into an office for work. The 3/4 length sleeves were worn with longer gloves, and then too much jewelry for the office worker, but the kind of trim hat that was popular for any day time occasion.
In 1947, along with the tiny waist and the full-skirt of the New Look introduced by Christian Dior, there was the tiny waist with the straight skirt as you see here. The jacket with belt had a seam at the waist to allow for “a stiffened peplum” and then a narrow skirt which came down to lower calf had a pleat “for walking comfort.” You can see the drawbacks even as you admire the hour-glass charm. This was a suit that fitted closely to the body and a foundation garment, or girdle, was probably needed for all but the leanest of figures. And then the long, straight skirt still hampered the stride of an active woman despite the pleat.
Despite the impossibly tiny waist on this model, this suit came in both misses sizes which then ran from 10-20 and women’s sizes of 10 1/2 to 20 1/2, which were for shorter and stouter women. The Nelly Don company must have considered a universally appealing look. The magazine assured its reader that it would “win praises--and raises.”
