Up for sale is a wonderful vintage, high production value 1961 catalog of fashions and fabrics specially curated to be used for high end women's clothing (i.e. for Parisian "haute couture").
The front cover shows that catalogue is from "Elysee Fabrics" and that it has "original designs of the Paris haute couture". The cover model is "Balmain", and the photo is by Frank Horvat. She is wearing "a fiery-red shantung in pure silk (that) forms a stunning after-five silhouette".
At the bottom of the first interior page (see photo # 2) is information about the firm Elysee Fabrics. Its logo was the Eiffel Tower. The US office was located in Jamaica, New York. The Canadian office was in Montreal, Quebec Province.
The catalog's Adviser and Editor-in-Chief was Hilde Scheibe. Editors were Edith Pasquier (in Paris) and Anna M. Pressi (in Milan). Layout was by Margot Grundmann; artwork by Peter Maus; and photography by Frank Horvat, Philippe Poitier, Rolf Lutz, and Jacques Verroust. The majority of the photos are in color; some are black and white. All of the photos are credited to a specific photographer.
According to the bound-in page between pages 106 and 107, Elysee was "a world-wide fabric organization with branches in the leading fashion center of Europe, the United States, and Canada". It sold "only the the finest and most exclusive fabrics that can be obtained anywhere in the world." The Elysee Catalogue of Fashions and Fabrics was issued twice a year (Spring/Summer and Fall/Winter). [The catalog I am selling is Spring/Summer, 1961.]
A similar bound-in page between pages 26 and 27 states that all of the fashions in the photographs were made from Elysee Fabrics, that could be ordered directly from the company, "to have at your fingertips in a matter of days, for your fashion sewing". (Editorial comment: It's pretty remarkable that a considerable number of women in the 1960s were skilled enough to sew their own outfits using expensive designer fabrics purchased by mail order! The customers must have been quite brave, because the company's "money back" guarantee was void after only 10 days!)
At the time this catalog was issued, Elysee Fabrics already had a relationship with the staff of Vogue Pattern. When a reader returned the "Mail Coupon", with $ 3.00, they would receive a copy of the Elysee catalog, a swatched fabric brochure, and a group of Vogue Pattern suggestions. (See photo # 11.) I suspect that, at some point in the ensuing few years, Elysee Fabrics and Vogue developed a more integrated relationship, because Hilde Scheibe, the editor of the Elysee Catalog of Fashions and Fabrics, became the editor of Elegance Paris.
PLEASE NOTE: Issues of Elegance Paris apparently had little fabric swatches. The issue of the Elysee Catalog of Fashions and Fabrics that I am selling does NOT contain fabric swatches.
This softbound publication is quite oversized. It measures just under 14 inches tall by about 11 inches wide. As originally issued, the spine is protected by a strip of binding tape. The catalog has 154 numbered pages, which does not include the covers or the two bound-in sheets previously mentioned
The contents (i.e. designs) up through page 48 of this catalog are all connected to specific designers. A two page lead-in (see photo # 4) features Madame Gres, Michel Goma, Pierre Balmain, and Guy Laroche. However, several other top class designers are also included: Pierre Cardin, Madeleine de Rauch, Maggy Rouff, Jacques Heim, Jean Patou, Jean Desses, and Nina Ricci. Starting on page 49, designs are not credited to a specific designer. The descriptive captions for every design are in multiple languages: English, French, Italian, and German. Each design has a unique "Material Order Number" (from Elysee Fabrics). Interestingly, there are no prices associated with any of the fabrics. (Perhaps, if you have to ask, .... .) Each of the fashion design photos includes the name of the model, at the end of the caption.
The designers of the accessories are credited at the front of the publication. They include:
Hats: Jean Barthet, Ina Bockler, Hertha Mecklenburg, Claude Saint-Cyr
Handbags: Comtesse
Jewelry: Blairon, Casty, Delphes, Christian Dior/Henkel & Grosse, Langani
Gloves: Siegelsbacher