In the '40s and '50s Charm was a fashion and beauty magazine geared to the career girl. It was eventually bought out by Glamour in 1959. Since it's April, and this issue is from April 1947, let's take a look!
In my previous post about Charm, I mentioned it was a magazine that catered to working girls and it was the first of its kind. Three very talented women, Estelle Rubenstein, as promotion director, Helen Valentine, editor, and Cipe Pinelles, art director, launched Charm Magazine because they realized there was no other publication at that time that spoke to the increasing numbers of women entering the workforce.
According to this article covering Estelle Rubenstein's career in publishing, she was quite the marketing genius. Her worked has actually been archived by the Smithsonian Institute's Center for Advertising History.
Below are more ads from the April 47 issue of Charm for merchandise in a style and price range that would appeal to this growing demographic.
This ad for "Pirate Earrings" by Coro states they are "lovely loot for your ears." They're all priced from 2.00-3.00 a pair.
Here's an ad for some rhinestone studded gun jewelry. Perfect accessory for the pistol packing "Girl Friday".
The chatelaine was $5.00. Matching earrings $2.00.
After a long, stressful week at the office fending off advances from the boss, while being paid about half of what a man earned, a working girl could relax on the weekend in one of these adorable playsuits with matching overskirt for only $12.00.
And last, but not least, the shoes.
These fabulous spectators were available in white suede with either brown, red, green or blue calfskin. I would have to have a pair in every color!
This ad for "American Girl" shoes states of their customer, "she has a job, a home and community life."
This post originally appeared on the website Blue Velvet Vintage. Republished with permission.
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DISCUSSION
I wish there was still a magazine like this today. Fashion magazines have pages and pages of bathing suits, but nothing about looking stylish and put together at the office (hell, I think Corporette may be the only blog that focuses on office fashion).
I can see it now: the cover of the magazine would have Condi Rice in a beautiful blouse or perfectly cut suit. The ads would have pearly J Crew tweed skirts, glittering Banana Republic necklaces, and Tahari suits. There would be a make-up section devoted to covering under-eye circles, covering blemishes (from acne to age spots!), with introspective discussion from women of all ages on what "office appropriate" make-up is — and how to do the bare minimum to look alert and professional in five minutes! With a core audience of women 20-60, there would, of course, be product reviews of anti-aging products, with all the intelligence and scientific explanation of Beauty Brains.
The clothes section — oh, the clothes section! Rather than hawking denim miniskirts, the magazine would skim the stable of women's office clothes sellers for "timeless essentials" and "lol look at this trendy thing!" every issue, and offer advice for dressing cute items up to office standards. It would explain how to choose a suit, how to choose clothes to go under the suit...
Oh, and there would totally be underwear reviews. Like, Spanx section! And "these leggings are cheap shit, don't buy them." And accessories! And shoes!
The true charm of the magazine would come from an interview once a month with a powerful businesswoman, interviewed looking gorgeous but in workwear, explaining how she got where she was and offering both career and fashion advice. Oh, and there would be less input from "celebrity stylists" and more from, like, "Executive Suiting Guru at Ann Taylor XYZ." Or maybe celebrity stylists who, like, tell you how to do really cute celebrity hairstyles but tone them down for the workplace. Yeah.
Wow, that was a long ramble of my imagination of the perfect magazine. Anyway, dammit, magazine industry, I wear office wear five days a week and street wear two days a week! I know you want to sell fantasies, but I need to buy suits!