“SUMMER COMFORTS”
aT LORD & TAYLOR’S AND ELSEWHERE
One hundred years ago today … As the summer heated up, New Yorkers of means could purchase new products to make the heat more bearable and the leisure time more pleasurable. A July 6 advertisement for department store Lord & Taylor hawked electric fans and picnic gear.
The Evening World, 6 July 1920, p. 6. Newspapers.com.
Lord & Taylor was located, then as it is now, on 5th Avenue between 38th and 39th Streets; its 1914 move to the spot was covered in a 2014 Bowery Boys post.
Its publicity department seems to have been attuned to the new season and the commercial possibilities thereof
“Lord and Taylor 1920.” Kimberley Mclennan, Pinterest.
Other companies used “summer comforts” as a hook, too, though their wares sometimes had a unclear relation to summer …
United Electric Shops advertisement. The Evening World, 12 July 1920, p. 8. Newspapers.com.
… or an unclear relation to comfort.
Advertisment for J. Blyn & Sons. The New York Times, 6 June 1920, p. 44. Newspapers.com.
WRITTEN BY JONATHAN GOLDMAN, JULY 6, 2020.
TAGS: summer, fashion, shopping, department stores, advertising, weather, Lord & Taylor, household good, leisure