Remember the big and thick old Sears catalog?
And those of competitors, too. Divided if I recall from days of my boyhood into summer and winter versions, thus differentiating between the times where there was an occurring of the equinoxes and solstices. Might as well be that popular venue among metalheads and classic rockers alike, the televised spring pagan theme of a Blue Oyster Cult concert. Is that when the clams mated? Bred?
Of particular interest here is the latest Montgomery Wards catalog I got in the mail, and how there is a “wholesale” new approach to an old favorite, a 180-degree twist from how they used to advertise. That is wholly “wholesome,” taking a page from the book of a series of quaint rural-life magazines, long published right here in southeast Wisconsin, in a Milwaukee suburb.
— Metal musicians from Dio to Halford have done, or redone, Christmas favorite songs, mostly under the radar. But the first such song from the Skillet, a metal band identified as Christian, is perhaps the only to raise controversy, as some will associate anything with loud growling vocals and guitar as demonic. The first part of the song, O Come Emanuel, is very traditional in singing and instrumental and the video is at times gripping and in a church setting, but the last minute or so is all out metal, showing scenes from a recording studio and live guitar footage. The group has denied any bad intent, saying they hope people will get a positive message and find the song as inspiring as they have. —
These pages, in both these sets of publications, are chock full of small boxed images and blocks of text, packing several on a single page, that delve more into arts and crafts, and home decor and cheese, then what they used to lead off with — hundreds of pictures of women sporting dresses and underwear, some of whom were shown several inches high and took up the majority of a page itself. Some of the design elements like font and point size are often changed up too, and the current catalog is less then 100 pages. Some of these more modeling-type photographs, rather than stock quality, featured women together in a shot, often turned toward each other, and now you don’t see that pose. The number of pieces in this shopping wardrobe are a scant few, scattered about amidst other products at midrange through the catalog, usually portraying no more than someone lounging in a full-length robe, but standing straight up in front of the camera these days.
Social mores and ad strategies have changed … Or is it just the method of delivery?
The older catalogs showed dozens of pages of women in lingerie — as you didn’t need to be Victoria’s Secret to be sexy. But other bras paraded in front of you were downright matronly. Even in the bigger garments format, there would only be spread over three columns, the product designees A through H, typically to order, not stopping at D.
Separately shown were coats and pantsuits and shoes too. But ouch, almost ala Epstein-ish, some of the skimpier and more daring shots featured very young looking girls, such as on a beach with even the occasional see-through bikini top, and a small group of teens running through beach waves with their arms around each other, in a tack they do not show today and appear to consciously steer away from. Groups of some of these pages were glossy and thick, but some were dull yellow paper, running consecutively in sections of at least eight to accommodate the printer.
The newer versions, with maybe a half-dozen shots showing a full-length outfit on a grown woman, have about twice as many males pictured, selling the menswear they wear, in what appears to be a carefully chosen marketing move. Now we’re also more likely to see a bunch of cheese and sausage trays minus the person serving them, and I was surprised at the overall disparity between these different kinds of product photos. Of course, there were all the tools and small implements taking up the back, as the total pages numbered near a thousand.
In that same day’s mail, there was the pitch from the US Postal Service about how they can help with all your holiday shopping and shipping needs. Their photo, run quite big, harkened to a different kind of nostalgia, with the carrier wearing a trench coat and bowler hat, personally handing a package to a housewife standing with door open at the top of the small stairs of her brownstone.