After a week of over-indulgence party posts featuring sandwiches, booze, nicotine, and candy, it's now time to bid our guests a fond farewell, and finally turn in for the night. Not because we're tired, mind you, but because it suddenly feels as if our clothes aren't fitting properly anymore! Damn you, Pudgy Pie Maker! And I don't know about you, but I simply can not wait to get out of these duds and slip into something a little more loose fitting, and breezy-comfy. And if I were a daring dame of danger, I would most certainly choose something equally dynamic! Something made of exclusive acetate rayon, with a nylon crepe blend fabric, plus all nylon sheer trim! Enter Undies by "Sel-Mor." Now take a moment to admire the stunningly beautiful box design, and notice that it is indeed another long lost, forgotten Saint Louis brand. And if that scantily clad, deco dreamboat on the box can't sell these delicate dainties to you, nothing can! The colors, lettering, border shapes, and parrot, absolutely speak volumes in "art deco" style, but I actually believe this product is more from the late 40's and / or early 50's. While researching around the 'ol www again, I also found a variant version of the box lid design, and hello, it's for sale on ebay HERE! (see the last image below too.) Unfortunately, like our chocolate box in the previous post, this lovely Sel-More Undies box is just as empty. I guess we'll be retiring in our birthday suits instead, --which isn't such a bad thing either, now is it?
6 comments:
This is the best mention of unmentionables (as Grandma Charlotte would have called them) I’ve ever seen! That box design is everything. I think the daring dames of danger would definitely approve. (And their little parrots, too!)
Haha FUN FACT: Mr. Karswell survives on Danger Dame approval-- and his little blogs, too!
That is such lovely hand lettering. All the way down to the "by". There's nothing like seeing the work of someone who could do fine poster display lettering. This artist didn't cheat anything, either. Every word and letter is redrawn in every case. I can't believe they didn't photograph and resize the "Sel-Mor Saint Louis" logo at least. But nope.
One thing that always fascinates me about older art is the mix match of type faces. We've got a lot here -- from the 3D "undies" to the more deco "sel-mor", the more hand written parrot text, and the super deco by.
The "by" is my favorite bit of all of this, strangely. It connects the parrot to the "sel-mor" and equals the height (close) to the woman, which balances out the picture.
The artwork is great and I can only wonder if the parrot was a mascot/trademark of the Sel-Mor company.
This is one more instance of a brand or company that has slipped into obscurity over time time, a bit of ephemera that would be lost to the ages but has found its home in Karswell's museum of the mirthful, magical, miraculous and the macabre.
Thanks for sharing with us.
She's really giving that parrot a piece of her mind.
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