Oh My!

[Kim_B]

...my Grandmother's favorite thing to say about my gorgeous 16 year old cousin (who does have a little extra weight than most girls her age, but nothing to be ashamed of) is: "I just wish she'd loose that weight. She's so pretty in the face." And she wonders why all her kids and grandkids have eating disorders or issues with their self-esteem!

 

[pretty faythe]

Wow, those were chubby? What I wouldn't do to be chubby like that now then. lol. Matter of fact, I think that was what I was like in high school and when I look back I hit myself for my bad self esteem cuz I looked good then!

 

[pretty faythe]

Ad reads 10 1/2 - 16 1/2

It reads 10 1/2 to 16 1/2. I don't know about the sizes then, but I can tell you this about the childrens plus sizes of today though. They fudge the sizes ALOT to make the little ones feel better about themselves, I found this out a few years ago when my now 14 year old, who is currently an annoyingly thin jr 3 was a kids 10. I had bought her a 10 1/2 skirt thinking it would be an 11 when 10s where getting too small and 12s were too large and it was way past swimming on her, it was sizes too larger for her. It is the equivelent of a kids 16 or jrs 1. Last night I had her try on a pair of capris that were in the back of her closet and they were snug on her.

 

[pretty faythe]

...my Grandmother's favorite thing to say about my gorgeous 16 year old cousin (who does have a little extra weight than most girls her age, but nothing to be ashamed of) is: "I just wish she'd loose that weight. She's so pretty in the face." And she wonders why all her kids and grandkids have eating disorders or issues with their self-esteem!

Grrrrr....that's why I always felt fat in high school, my mom. As soon as I hear anything that sounds anything that sounds that it may be something heading toward the neg about my kids weight I cut her off at the pass, letting her know she isnt going to mess with them like that like she did to me and my sister. And come to think of it, of course I wasn't slender slim, I was always in the freakin pool in jr high and high school,grrrrrrrr.

 

[Vanessa Anne]

I just bought a vintage dress by Lane Bryant who used to advertise that their dresses were perfect for the "lady with a stout figure". This made me laugh.

I think I've accepted that at the age of 30 I will always be "stout". No matter how many pounds I loose or gain. The worse thing that I ever did was go on a diet at the age of 12. That set the scene for the yoyo dieting for the next 18 years

Yes my mother is to blame too...

 

[Vintage Betty]

Actually, my mom was pretty cool about the weight issue, until I was overweight and teased by it, and than she took me aside to let me know that I could stand to lose a few pounds. No lectures, no snide remarks, just a single quiet talk for about a minute or two.

My grandmother was a different story. She was the horrible Nana who was always comparing the grandchildren, whether it was complaining about your weight (while trying to feed you, of course) or anything else. I always couldn't stand her.

Vintage Betty

 

[Lady Day]

Wow, those were chubby?

I know! lol

And we wonder why we grow up with a warped body image. I think women do/did it more to other women than any influence men had in it. :eusa_doh:
Why cant we ladies love each other?

LD

 

[Vintage Betty]

WE do! That's why you're here! :eusa_clap

 

[pretty faythe]

Yup. darn women. lol.
I love you all!!

 

[Emmababy]

I used to get from my mum and dad "You're so beautiful, all the boys would like you if you were lighter", I was like "errr mum, they kinda already do (a)"

 

[Viola]

I found this one...

I think this is what most of it says...

Gimbela? , Philadelphia, Pa; Famous-Barr, St. Louis, Mo.​

That's got to be the now-defunct Gimbel's Department Store. One used to be right by my childhood house.

My mom was the opposite of some mentioned here; she always said I wasn't the least bit fat when I was. Which is kind but it meant I was 16 before it occured to me I could actually do something about how I looked.

-Viola

 

[ShooShooBaby]

my mother started encouraging me to diet and exercise with her when i was about 11. regardless of my weight, feeding my low self-image was cruel, in my opinion. even worse... looking at dance performance pics of myself from then i see now that i was not "getting fat" in the slightest - i was getting hips and boobs, like girls at that age start to do. i've had a difficult relationship with my body image since that age, which was 16 years ago now.

the socks and seamed stocking combo is HORRID! there's the real reason that gal's not getting dates. i know i have a chubettes ad in one of my magazines... hopefully i can dig it out soon.

 

[Sweet Polly Purebred]

Kind of interesting ad, you NEVER see weight gain for beauty ads anymore .. 1935 ..
The suite is great, eh?

 

[Etienne]

I'm wondering if, perhaps, the stockings with the socks is something that was done before young girls actually "graduated" to wearing just the stockings? I remember when I was young (and aching to wear my first pair of seamed stockings) my Mom was still forcing me to wear bobby sox. Graduating to stockings was a right of passage in those days, letting the world know you were now a young woman!

 

[ShooShooBaby]

i got the cutest postcard at the women's bookstore the other day!

it's by Stella Mars - she has used a Chubbettes image and updated it with, "she can have a tummy and still look yummy!"

she uses a lot of vintage imagery in her art - perhaps some of you would enjoy her pther designs as well

 

[sophia la shok]

Kind of interesting ad, you NEVER see weight gain for beauty ads anymore .. 1935 ..
The suite is great, eh?

we should DEMAND that these be put in every single womens magazine. and get ads on tv.

i'm sick to the back teeth of skinny size 0 girls being the face (faceless more like) of fashion and entertainment recently.
luckily, so is my fella

 

[Amy Jeanne]

This ad ran throughout the 10s into the very early 30s!

1932

These are the only two weight gaining ads I've come across in my magazines. I have COUNTLESS weight loss ads scanned, though!

 

[Vanessa Anne]

Now I nearly fell out of bed when I read this!

According to the book "The 1940's Look" by BROWN, Mike.

On page 123 there is an article from the magazine "Home Companion" from 1943 which reads:

"Slimming is dead as mutton and fourty-odd is the usual measurement given by service brides who plan rushed weddings and buy off-the-peg wedding dresses. The little thirty-six-inch-hip frock languishes in the show-cases. Nobody wants 'em. It's the fourty-sizes that get snapped up every time. And isin't it a tribute to Lord Woolton [Minister of Food] - to think that in this our fourth year of war, we girls are putting on weight? Going around looking like a hop pole just isin't smart. Victorian curves are the thing. So if, when you tot up your measurements, you arrive at a good figure, don't worry - you're in fashion!"

So there you have it - perhaps our image of the average 1940's woman is a bit skewed becasue the majority of pictures of women from that era are movie stars and fasion/pattern illustrations. And they did have airbrushing/cropping in the 40's you know!