Modenschau, Issue #183, March 1928

Fashion illustrations and editorial content from the German fashion magazine Modenschau (English title: Fashion Show, subtitle: Illustrated monthly magazine for home and society) no. 183 for March 1928. Published by Gustav Lyon, Berlin, Germany.

Pages in total: 64 (completely online)

Scan format: 22.6 x 30.6 cm / 8.90 x 12.05 in

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64 Pages

Title page or front cover of the German fashion magazine Modenschau (Eng. title: Fashion Show, subtitle: Illustrated Monthly Magazine for Home and Society) no. 183 for March 1928. Descriptions of the color cover. J 4272. Red wool rep dress for girls from 4 to 8 years. White collar and cuff trim. Breast pocket. Fabric usage: 1.25 m, 130 cm wide. Pattern 75 pf. J 4273. Afternoon dress in rosewood-colored kasha with brown trim and ribbon bow at turn-down collar. The inserted pleated sections of the skirt finish with flaps. The upper belt trim is guided through incisions. Fabric usage: 2.60 m, 130 cm wide. Pattern size 44 and 46. Price 95 pf. J 4274. Jumper dress in cocoa-colored fine wool jersey. The skirt is extended by groups of pleats. At the jumper tucks and fabric edging. Colored tie led through incisions at the front. Fabric usage: 2.70 m, 130 cm wide. Pattern sizes 42, 44, 46 and 48. Price 95 pf. Price per copy: 70 pf., with pattern sheet 80 pf., plus local delivery charge. Publishing house Gustav Lyon, Berlin SO 16 — Distribution for the book trade in Germany Wilhelm Opetz, Leipzig. Title illustration/title drawing: unknown/unsigned.

Advertising: (T. TUCHFABRIK UND TUCHVERSAND [CLOTH MILL AND SHIPPING]) Spring fashion brings lovely novelties in new women's fabrics. Our new sample collections in woolen fabrics, in silk and in washed fabrics will show you a particularly rich selection. Please write us your address so that we can send you these lovely samples free of charge for your perusal. Especially now, at the approaching spring time, when you will have to deal especially much with dress questions, nobody will advise you in your considerations more faithfully than our samples. Do not let the joy of choosing your fabrics be spoiled by nervous haste, by restless pushing of clumsy salesmen. In the comfort of your own home, in hours of leisure, it is much easier to make important decisions. How often have you regretted having made your resolutions too quickly? How often have you been subject to the wrong influence of third parties, people far away from you? Look at our samples at home in peace and quietness. Reviewing them will be a pleasant and comfortable activity for you. You will be pleased to be able to make use of our offers in such an advantageous and convenient way. Whatever fabric you buy from us, you will always enjoy it and prove its value for money by wearing it well. Order us today to send you our offer I. 231 without obligation and at no cost to you, the small effort of asking will pay off abundantly. (T. TUCHFABRIK UND TUCHVERSAND) TUCHFABRIK CHRISTOFSTAL G.M.B.H. in CHRISTOFSTAL (WUERTTEMBERG.) Drawing/illustration: "It" or "Jt" (unknown signature). Aspirin TABLETS the unsurpassed painkillers! (ASPIRIN 0.5) Available in all pharmacies! Healthy youth has the urge to express increased zest for life. Allow your little ones to frolic in the open air in both sunshine and snow and rain. Fears for your children's health due to colds and the associated increase in your own worries are unfounded if you take preventive measures at the right time. For this purpose, we do not give you medicine, but a much better and cheaper means to protect you and your loved ones, and most especially cough, catarrh, sore throat eliminate it quickly and safely. Give your little ones Kaiser's Brust-Caramels [Kaiser's Chest Caramels] before every outing and outdoor play and look for the protective mark "3 Firs" in pharmacies, drugstores and where posters are visible. Bag 40 pf. Tin 80 pf. Kaiser's chest caramels with the 3 firs. Drawing/illustration: unknown/unsigned. Bed feathers, recognized cheap and real. Per lb. gray 60 pf., worn 90 pf., pluck feathers 1.75 M., half down 2.75 M., 4.— M., white full down 5.— M., down 4.— M., 7.— M., white 9.— M., to 10.— M., worn down feathers 3.50 M., 5.— M., topnotch dense and heavy ticking feathers for bed weighting 8 lbs. 12.— M., 18.— M., pillow 3 lbs. heavy 3.50 M., 5.50 M., also cash on delivery. Samples, price list free, no risk, non-fitting back. Boehmisches Bettfedern-Spezialhaus [Bohemian Bed Feathers Specialty House] Sachsel & Stadler, Berlin C 329, Landsberger Strasse 43. Agent wanted to sell ladies dress fabrics directly to private individuals. High earnings, no risk, especially suitable for ladies, dressmakers. Rich, tasteful sample collection provided. Inquiries with return postage under keyword "Vertreter" ["representative"] Greiz i. V. 15, post-office box 44. Do you wish to have such hair? You can fulfill this wish! Because such beauty is almost always the reward for regular care of the hair. So take care of your hair regularly! Wash it not only "occasionally," but every week with "Schwarzkopf-Schaumpon" [shampoo]. The white pack 20 pfennigs; the "extra" pack with permanent perfume 30 pfennigs. (The type "light" for blond hair, the type "dark" for dark hair.) Schwarzkopf-Schaumpon. It's "foam" that counts! The film actress Ruth Weyher [1901-1983]. Phot. KIESEL-BERLIN. photo: H. E. Kiesel, Berlin (biographical data unknown).

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Title page or cover of the Modenschau (Eng. title: Fashion Show, subtitle: magazine for home and society) no. 183 for March 1928. Article: Wedekind, Anna P., The Housewife's Eight-Hour Day (by Anna P. Wedekind, biographical data unknown). The photograph in the center of the page shows a young woman sitting at a table, spellbound, reading through the August 1926 issue of Modenschau. The caption reads "A wealth of inspiration is conveyed by the high-quality issues of your 'Modenschau'. [Signature of] Grete Reinwald [1902-1983]." Photo: Alexander Binder, Berlin, (1888-1929). [Wedekind, Anna P., The Housewife's Eight-Hour Day.] There are all kinds of comforting proverbs and quotations that are supposed to deceive people about the fact that they have to work. But what use is even the most philosophical remark that work is man's purpose in life, what use is the assertion — which, by the way, is sufficiently refuted by the opposite — that work sweetens life, if one always has to work and work and never actually finds a bit of time for oneself? One would like to be lazy once with consciousness, to do absolutely nothing, to hold the hands quietly in the lap and to go with the thoughts for a walk, one would like — not to work at least once in a while! Actually the people, who have a profession, have it there much better, than the much-plagued housewives! For them there are laws about the sanctification of holidays, about the regulation of working hours — but the housewife still works according to Schiller's formula: "… and never rest!" This is in no way intended to raise the call for legal remedies that is often so quickly voiced today. The peculiarity of housewife work makes it quite impossible to issue schematic regulations on the scope and duration of work; anyone who has a "housemaid" already knows from his own experience that the regulations applicable to her working hours cannot be strictly adhered to, but must be replaced by amicable agreement with the helping house spirit. Nor can one declare once and for all: "The eight-hour day must also be introduced for the housewife!" Big cleaning, domestic festivities, cases of illness will sufficiently change this program. But there is nothing to prevent every single housewife from introducing the ideal three-part day for herself and her home: "Eight hours of work, eight hours of sleep, eight hours of rest and enjoyment of life. One must only once become clear about where the lever is to be set. Serious research today has everywhere devoted itself to the task of examining and improving the rationalization of work — the term "work science" is a child of our time which, despite its youth, has already developed quite vigorously and usefully. So why not take a close look at housewife work and examine it for its ability to rationalize. "Rationalize?" That sounds very dignified and masculine; basically it means nothing more than the art of achieving the highest possible degree of success with the minimum possible amount of work. There can be no doubt that the housewife can achieve this goal even without profound scientific preliminary studies in her field of activity. However, one thing belongs to it: the realization that every household is a real business of commercial-technical nature and has to be managed consequently. One would laugh at a factory owner who today still works and operates according to the methods used by his father and great-grandfather. But with most housewives one still finds the ideas and working methods that they once learned in their mother's household. Yes, it may sound uncharitable (truths have that in common!): the majority of housewives… [continued on page 2.] [Page] 1

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Article: Wedekind, Anna P., The Housewife's Eight-Hour Day (by Anna P. Wedekind, biographical data unknown). Matching the article are three photographs. The captions read [photo left] "This is how the modern housewife works: card index, notebook and work plan are the basics of proper work scheduling! (Erika Renal [German actress, biographical data unknown]). Photo: Becker Maass", [photo above right] "The practical housewife does not need to go to the kitchen during the meal: all dishes come at the same time on the table, on the electric hot plate and under the warming bell everything stays nice and warm! (The actress Erika Renal and the film actor Borwin Walth [1882-ca. 1956]). Photo: Becker & Maass" as well as [photo bottom right] "'When I come back from the walk, the good cooking box has finished cooking lunch!' (Erika Renal). Photo: Becker & Maass." Photos: Studio Becker & Maass, Berlin. [Wedekind, Anna P., The Housewife's Eight-Hour Day.] [Continued from page 1] … still have very little sympathy for progress — as far as it extends to housework and kitchen work. Here, then, is a point that must be vigorously reformed if we are to achieve the housewife's eight-hour day! But even more important than the working methods is the right structure of every business — also in the household. Hand on heart, my dear housewives: who of you today already works with a card index and work schedule? In the relative peace and quiet of Sunday afternoon, you may be making plans in your head: "On Monday you could have the windows cleaned, on Thursday it's laundry day — yes, and then the attic has to be tidied up, and then there's a mountain of mending laundry, and then… and then…". This is certainly not the way to achieve a rational distribution of work! Go a step further, take a pretty white sheet and divide it up roughly as your timetable looked in blissful school days. Now call your "pearl" — provided that you belong to the lucky few who do not have to take care of their household alone — and discuss with her first in broad outlines, then in detail, what special and what repetitive work has to be done on the individual days during the next week. In this way you will arrive at a very nice weekly program, in which, of course, you must not be too tight with the time for the individual tasks, in order to have the guarantee that it can be adhered to. Such a work schedule is already an enormous step forward for you and your possible assistant! It saves the housewife the constant thought: "What must be done now?" and also helps the helpers in the house to work independently. And now to the card index, the indispensable thinking and searching aid of every rational work! How often do you hear women complain that they had such an excellent address — but unfortunately they can't find the piece of paper on which it was written. Or: one wants to call an acquaintance or a supplier and does not know the telephone number any more. Or: you had found an excellent stain remover in the "Modenschau" that you could use so well right now — only unfortunately you have misplaced the booklet, forgotten the number or can no longer find the clipping you had made. The series of these "or's" can be continued at will; all these occurrences mean one thing: search — search — search —! And that costs time, time that is also valuable for the housewife. The businessman, too, has a thousand things to know, which he can use at any moment; he has been collecting them in the card file for a long time. A few marks is the price of a spacious box, in which thin cardboard cards are collected according to certain guidelines, always to be created individually, on which everything is written down that can be of permanent value for the household business: addresses, recipes, and whatever else one would like to know stored without burdening one's brain with the abundance of such knowledge. As a supplement, the notebook belongs to it, without which a modern housewife should not be at all. … (continued on page 50.) [Page] 2

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Article: Mahrlen, E., Modern Combination Furniture (by E. Mahrlen, unknown author). The two photographs matching the article show the interiors of a study and living room and a modern bedroom with a balcony. The captions read "Large living room in the home of Max Taut, Berlin (Photo: Dr. Lossen & Co.)" and "The secretary is modern again! Room in the Werkbund exhibition 'The Apartment', Stuttgart." Photos: Dr. Lossen & Co. (Dr. Otto Lossen, Dresden, 1875-1938). [Page] 3

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Article: Wentz, Paulina, Wonderful is Bacchus' Gift (by Paulina Wentz, unknown author). The photograph in the center of the article shows German film actress Lee Parry [1901-1977] in a robe de style with a wide taffeta skirt and a filled glass of wine in her right hand. With her left hand, she clasps an oversized bottle of champagne. The caption reads "If Lee Parry, the famous movie star, will drink the whole bottle? (Photo: Becker & Maass.)" Photo: Studio Becker & Maass, Berlin W. [Page] 4

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Article: Wentz, Paulina, Wonderful is Bacchus' Gift (by Paulina Wentz, unknown author). The photo in the center of the article shows Hungarian singer and actress Irene Ambrus [1904-1990] sitting on a wide pedestal in a short, light dress, raising a glass in the air with one hand and holding her pearl necklace in the other, smiling coquettishly at the camera. The caption reads "Irene Ambrus, the popular operetta singer drinks to the health of our readers. (Photo: Becker & Maass.)". Photo: Studio Becker & Maass, Berlin. [Page] 5

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Article: Stoecker, Lydia, The Main Clash in the Family. Mother and Daughter (by Lydia Stoecker, 1877-1942); Reuter, Gabriele, In Defense of the Mother (by Gabriele Reuter, 1859-1941). In the center of the first article is a photograph of the author, Lydia Stoecker. [Stoecker, Lydia, The Main Clash in the Family. Mother and Daughter.] One thing is indisputable: the last decade has brought more tremendous upheavals in the life of women than previous centuries. Never, therefore, has the abyss between the women of two successive generations been so deep — so unbridgeably deep — as between the mothers and daughters of our time; two worlds seem to separate them. Generations and generations had raised their daughters to one goal: for man, for marriage. Many mothers today still cannot get rid of this ideal, and phrases like: "With such views you will never get a husband…," or: "just don't let such things be heard in front of men," we can still hear in all variations; — every education, every educational purpose is here only "preparation for marriage." But the young girl of today knows that her marriage prospects are diminished by the loss of man in the war. With cool sobriety — incomprehensible to her mother, who comes from a pathetic age — she seeks to become economically independent, to earn money, to make herself independent. Independence, however, is the path to freedom, and the daughters of the new generation have made use of this freedom with a self-evidence that is incomprehensible to mothers. There are mothers — but they are rare, — who understand their new position and bear it with fine humor, with fine, quiet self-mockery, they try to stand above things. Much more frequent is the second type; its characteristic is: "Let it be granted." The daughters express it like this: "I have educated my mother." One hardly sees one's daughter's friends, does not ask where she is going if she does not think it is right to tell, sometimes even takes care of certain outward appearances such as the maintenance of clothes, etc., grateful for the little time the girl spends at home, only not to admit to oneself how completely foreign one is to one's inner self. — A close relative of this resigned mother is the one who believes that she "goes along" with her daughter in everything; and for her no word is more characteristic than this: "My mother tells me everything." How often I have heard it. What grave self-deception; — every stranger knows more of her daughter than she does. But much more dangerous are the mothers who want to force the trust of their children, who want to impose their "young-girl ideal" on them. Control of reading, cinema and theater attendance, friendships. These are all measures that today, at least in the big city, are as impracticable as they are futile. The young girl does not want to be protected, nor preserved, nor kept away from all that is evil and ugly; she wants to fight for herself, to make her own experiences. If she is an open and honest fighter, it will come to passionate arguments, to just as fierce battles as the brother once fought with the father. And if the mother then again opposes this implacability, the daughter will try to enforce her right to shape her life outside the parental home, standing on her own two feet. As long as the girl is a minor — I have encountered such cases — (where, by the way, the fight was against both parents), the difficulties are usually insurmountable. If the girl is then of age, then she is sometimes already mellow. Or else, the struggle only now breaks out in all its fierceness. But the fear of being left completely to her own devices, unlike in the case of the proletarian girl, is too great. Yes, I know of cases where after an "escape attempt" one simply returned to the parental home. Of course, there are also mothers and daughters who both live according to the old ideals and are quite happy in them. But much more often the other way out is: you secretly create the freedom that you would never get honestly and openly: Deceiving the mother. Once you have taken this path, you quickly develop and find more and more new ways to go the way you want to go, while the mother thinks her daughter is where she wants her to be. How this struggle will turn out? We don't know. It can be assumed that the young girls growing up will one day face their daughters with more understanding than the mothers of the present generation, and that the main battle will still be fought in our days. [Reuter, Gabriele, In Defense of the Mother.] The period of struggle between father and son, which has found such a rich expression in literature, is over, at least for the public. The topic under discussion at present is: mothers and daughters. Why not father and daughters? The reasons are obvious, partly biological: the young, blossoming girl has more respect for the opposite sex, feels in the father the attraction of the male. And the matter of fighting that leads to catastrophes between fathers and daughters: the question of profession, it is annulled once and for all by the hardship of the time. The father himself demands that the daughters learn early to stand on their own feet. The mother demands the same. But while the father, in the manner of a man, draws the necessary consequences, the mother, while enthusiastic in the idea for the working daughters, fails because of a hundred great and small inconveniences which, after all, affect her much more than the father. She begins to nag — and has already lost the love of the girls — usually the youth then quickly loses respect as well. Love — let's admit it — is not too high in demand today. Gratitude for the life of the daughter bought by the mother with agonies and pains is not felt by the daughter at all — she sees her existence skeptically and mercilessly clear-sighted, as the youth today tends to be — as a hard and bitter struggle interwoven with disappointments of every kind before her. Many young people, therefore, feel their birth to life only as a debt of the mother against them, which she can hardly query with lifelong bondage and servitude against the daughters. During the young girl's training period, the mother must remove every stone from her path; later, earnings are seldom great enough to make the daughter truly independent. She will make ample use of the help of the parental home, especially in food and housing. She does not provide any help to the mother, who is often overburdened with work. Well, her job and her necessary pleasures do not leave her time — … [continued on page 7.] [Page] 6

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Article: Reuter, Gabriele, In Defense of the Mother (by Gabriele Reuter, 1859-1941). In the center of the article is a photograph of the writer and author of the above article Gabriele Reuter. Photo: Elvira, Munich (Bavarian court studio Elvira, founded 1887, dissolved 1928). [Reuter, Gabriele, In Defense of the Mother.] [Continued from page 6] … but would she not have time for kindness and warm, appreciative words? — The young girl of today is a strange, still unfermented mixture of virility and innate femininity, which she is continually fighting within herself — indeed, if she wants to get ahead, she must fight! Warmth of feeling, a little sentimentality, a gentler pace, kind consideration, fine form in giving and taking, everything that has hitherto been called a woman's culture of the heart — and what the young woman continually fights in herself, she sees in the mother partly like an unspoken reproach, partly like a warning to herself, and consequently hates the bearer of these qualities, even if she does not admit it to herself. But are these aging women now supposed to discard all the qualities which until now were considered to them as crowns of existence? Can one expect an apple tree, whose fruit harvest is complete, to cover itself once again with blossoms? The mother, perhaps only shyly, also had some expectations of the daughter — had perhaps hoped to be relieved a little after her own youth of hard housework. She realizes that the circumstances, as they have turned out, must crush such extravagant hopes. She will continue to wash, iron, tailor, and darn stockings for the girl with weary strength and with this and that agonizing suffering. — But in return she is allowed to participate in the fresh young existence — she is the confidante who, in sympathy, in joking and seriousness, in work and the joys of love, herself becomes young again! In how many cases is friendship granted to the mother, is she granted only a patient acceptance? The sin that youth commits today against old age is the merciless derision with which it is treated. At the same time, the mothers of daughters between the ages of 18 and 25 are usually not old women at all. Can one be surprised if they resist taking up the fight for their own sense of self with all the weapons of their wounded hearts? Fifty years ago, youth had a hard time, it had to struggle for its human development. Today it is the winner all along the line. Must one call out to her, who has otherwise learned to think so clearly and sharply, that it is unworthy to humiliate a defeated opponent with contempt? Does it really look so sad in families everywhere? No — I can think of three mothers among my closest friends who live in the warmest harmony with their grown daughters. These mothers are all three clever, capable, energetic, enormously hard-working women. In them roars, given to them by nature, the rapid, fiery tempo of this present. Although thoroughly feminine in appearance, a good part of virility is mixed with their nature. They impress the young creatures they have given birth to. And — impressing is what matters today, to the young. Advertising: "Laxin —, yes, that's something completely different, I could take that every day! Laxin tastes great and afterwards you feel like you've been reborn!" — Children usually have a violent aversion to nasty-tasting laxatives. Give your child Laxin, whose pleasant fruit taste all children love and which works mildly and safely, your child will thank you by being healthy and cheerful. * The interesting brochure about "Laxin" free of charge from Lingner-Werke [Linger Works] in Dresden. Laxin. Photo: unknown/unsigned. [Page] 7

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Article: Muenzer, Kurt, Raffaelino. Novella (by Kurt Muenzer, 1879-1944). Advertisement: NWK Wolle (Norddeutsche Wollkaemmerei & Kammgarnspinnerei [North German Wool Combing & Worsted Spinning Mill] or Nordwolle [North Wool] for short), * since 1741 factory sign. Sternwolle [Star Wool] the good old-fashioned knitting wool. (BEUNDER) Schweisswolle [Sweat Wool] does not shrink and does not felt. 3 Kugel Marke [3 Ball Brand] knitwear. Taubenwolle [Dove Wool] most delicate zephyr wool. Drawing/illustration: unknown/unsigned. [Page] 8

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