Fashion’s language is forever changing. Decades of trade talk and nuanced descriptions for textiles, clothes and accessories continue to shape the evolution of seasonal collections.
To assist designers, merchants and students, in 1916 the Fairchild Publishing Co. announced the release of its first “Dictionary of Women’s Wear” by Louis Harmuth, a fashion editor of Women’s Wear. The document contained over 6,600 terms and definitions related to the field, from fiber to finished fabric, with illustrations in commercial end use. The dictionary encompassed entries from the global fashion community in what was considered to be the largest work of its kind at the time of publication.
Fairchild’s “Dictionary of Women’s Wear”, Installment No. 11, July 8, 1916. Fairchild Archive
“A great deal of care was given to the accurate description of the fabrics,” WWD noted. It cited that the book’s intention was to assist in the burgeoning nuances of product descriptions in pictorial form, as well as serve as a tool for the trade and readers of the daily interested in costume and fashion.
To promote the sale of one of the first dictionaries of its kind published by a fashion publication specifically for the trade, WWD serially released a page from its dictionary every Saturday from 1916 to 1917, culminating in more than 80 entries. The daily noted its achievement as “A history of women’s apparel and accessories from the earliest times to the present.” The book’s entries, listed in alphabetical order, provided a general scope of the dictionary, which sold for $5 — about the equivalent of $147.46 today. It was a costly proposition at the time. To that end, the daily encouraged its subscribers to save the pages, as suggested in bold text when the first page was released.
Fairchild’s “Dictionary of Women’s Wear” Installment No. 64, July 14, 1917. Fairchild Archive
“The readers of this paper are advised to save the installments of the dictionary, as they will form a most valuable reference work.”
The dictionary provided unparalleled information for fashion journalists and fashion enthusiasts who wished to understand the nuanced language of fashion. Couturiers and designers used it as a tool to inspire new silhouettes for the coming fashion seasons.
Fairchild’s “Dictionary of Women’s Wear” Installment No. 72, September 8, 1917. Fairchild Archive
“The Dictionary of Women’s Wear” was updated and renamed in 1975 as “The Fairchild Fashion Dictionary,” extending its entries to 15,000 published by the Fairchild Group, with contributions and edits from Ermina Stimson Goble, one of the daily’s first female art and fashion editors. Now published by Bloomsbury under the title “The Fairchild Books Dictionary of Fashion” it remains one of the first attempts in the industry to demystify fashion’s terminology. A nuanced language that continues to evolve with decades of seasonal collections presented and reviewed while fashion remains ever-changing.
