Millinery Retailing Ideas, 1940

Displaying Photos of Hollywood Stars in Hats

 

The October 1940 edition of The Millinery Monitor, a trade publication devoted to the millinery retail industry, offered a variety of ideas for store promotions. Glossy 8" X 10" photographs of motion picture actresses wearing timely new hats were available without charge at the publicity offices of most large movie companies. The photographs were not to be used in advertising, but most companies had no objection to their use in display. The store would simply tell the publicity people how they planned to use them.

Photo courtesy Rochester Public Library

This Sibley Department Store window from 1941 shows the effective use of photographs along with their whimsical display of hats.

Here are a few of my favorite Hollywood Stars showing off their fabulous hats. And who knows, their photograph just might have appeared in a department store or millinery shop display. 

Deanna Durbin courtesy Mandy Gould on Pinterest

Dorothy Lamour courtesy Linda Rubin on Pinterest

Linda Darnell courtesy Jessica Grayson on Pinterest

Lucille Ball courtesy Alice Anthony on Pinterest

Joan Crawford courtesy Diary of a Mad Fashionista

The Millinery Monitor was published monthly by Seymour Mittelmark, New York City, NY.