Fashions for the 1920s lady of leisure

Slideshow: A Fashion of the Day

Between 1919 and 1922, The Times employed a fashion artist, Miss Bessie Ascough, to provide drawings of the latest styles, which were planted prominently in the middle of the domestic situations page under the heading, A Fashion of Today.

The Great War having removed such a huge slice of The Times's readership, its proprietor, Lord Northcliffe, realised that he was going to have to make his newspaper more attractive to women if he was to stay afloat. There were few people on the staff who were equipped to help, and he set about recruiting from outside, particularly from the Daily Mail, which he also owned.

Bessie Ascough had been a fashion artist on the Mail since 1913, and is thought to have graduated to fashion editor. While her drawings appeared regularly in The Times, she continued to contribute to the Daily Mail, principally with designs for dress patterns, which were either sold or given away with the paper.

The Times drawings seem mostly to have been her own designs although occasionally the captions suggest they might be something she'd spotted in Paris. Colour and fabric are described in such detail that one assumes the garments did, in fact, exist, although there's no suggestion that readers could go out and buy them and, unlike the Mail, The Times didn't do anything as useful as dish out paper patterns.

It's all a bit mysterious to the modern reader, until you look at the rest of the page. Among the advertisements for governesses, third housemaids and single-handed cooks is a section headed Drapery, Dressmaking and Millinery. On March 30, 1920, "Miss Renee (of Renee Soeurs)" announces that she has returned from Paris and is available to make up ladies' own materials. On August 24, 1921, there is an advertisement from a "Court Dressmaker; reduced terms; day or evening,gowns; town or country". And of course the ladies' maids: "Can any lady recommend Maid for two ladies? Wanted immediately; must be very good dressmaker and willing to go abroad; wages £40."

It looks as if Miss Bessie Ascough's gorgeous designs were simply intended to be ripped out of the paper by its new lady readers and handed to the nearest seamstress: "Just run me up this one, would you"?

The shapes and styles in the slideshow look wonderfully wearable, especially the spring suits and "walking toilettes". Despite the drawings being in black and white, the descriptions of the fabrics and colours are so seductive - banana-coloured silk trimmed with coney, string-coloured crepe de chine of heavy make, embroidered in chinese laquer red and blue silks - I want them all. Oh for a lady's maid. Where's Miss Renee now when you want her.