Under the Blue, White and Red

In a jumbled pile of thrift shop scarves J. spotted this bit of history—

Rayon scarf, app. 69 cm by 71 cm (27 by 28 ")

During World War II, clothing manufacturers used rayon to replace unavailable silk. Although the European war didn't end until May 8, 1945 (VE Day), this scarf might have been made any time after the August 25, 1944 liberation of Paris it commemorates.

Photo: Robert Capa

This month happens to mark the 70th anniversary. The distance is evident in France's political swings to the right, and in the latter's usual efforts at re-writing history.

But this scarf represents an historic moment in Paris, 1944.

From Sacré-Coeur at the city's highest point—

The steps of Montmartre sweep down to a city full of flags, banners, and jubilant cartoon characters.

The whole scene surrounded by victory slogans—

"Vive Les Sammies"—

This was a new one on me, and I didn't get it. But (as usual) J. did: "Sammies" for "Uncle Sam." This appears to date from World War I, when it was used by both French and British soldiers.

There doesn't seem much to be found (even in French) on designer Denise Louvet.

But the textile house was well-known. Its trademark, the Place Vendôme Column, denoted the shop's Paris location.

Some period ads are here. This is the shop in 1937—

The patriotic color schemes of these ads are from 1945—

By an interesting coincidence, J. found this scarf just after I had read Wearing Propaganda: Textiles on the Home Front in Japan, Britain, and the United States. The book was published in conjunction with this exhibit, curated by author Jacqueline Atkins.

It was fascinating to see how the French scarf continues the British and American war-time theme of morale-boosting messages printed on textiles. The chapter in Atkins' book devoted to English scarves, "London Squares," is written by graphic design collector and historian Paul Rennie. Rennie has a pdf of the material posted here. Illustrations are unfortunately small and low resolution, but Rennie's text offers some interesting social history of wartime Britain as background to propaganda scarf manufacture.

With their increased wartime presence in factories, women were admonished to cover their hair for safety—

Poster: F. Kenwood Giles, 1941
Imperial War Museum

Rennie writes that—

The scarf became, in the context of war work, an important element in safety awareness and part of the proper uniform of the female industrial workforce. These fashion notes were further emphasised through a discourse of make-do-and-mend and also in the pages of the fashion press. The pages of "Vogue" championed the active participation of women in the war effort and ran features on work wear and propaganda textiles.

(Some material on British Vogue's work at the behest of the government is here.)

Two English design houses of note, Jacqmar and Ascher, produced "up-market" scarves. Rennie offers some fascinating social background—

The designs produced by Jacqmar are unashamedly aimed at an economy of exchange between wartime sweethearts in London. The existence of designs aimed at American personnel, the Free French and Poles in London serve as a reminder that, whatever the official line, fraternisation between these different groups was popular. The existence of these textiles is evidence of a social transformation in London during WW2. The pursuit of an export market as a national priority during and after the war placed a premium of these products at home. The company office in Mayfair identified the products and brand as high class, as did the relatively expensive price point of the products.

(A friendship scarf example from the Imperial War Museum, along with other collection links, is here.)

Jacqmar's graphic style was one of

... dynamic and expressive line drawing. The inexact registration of colour blocks over the line give a pleasing looseness to the design and hint at "cubist" influences.

This short piece includes a nice slide show of Jacqmar samples from another collector. Even when scarf designs featured such text as war-time slogans, Jacqmar's style was particularly jaunty. This one was manufactured after the US had joined the war—

"Jacqmar Presents" featured catch phrases of BBC radio programs—

This collector suggests that, at war office request, Jacqmar did subtle pro-French propaganda with this—

It's hard to beat those colorful, clever peintures. Still, J's scarf was an amazing find, with an historic moment expressed in period graphic style.

The perfect souvenir for a Sammie in post-war France to bring home.