Dressing Modern Maternity: The Frankfurt Sisters of Dallas and the Page Boy Label KayGoldman. Lubbock: Texas Tech University Press, 2013.

Abstract

Dressing Modern Maternity: The Frankfurt Sisters of Dallas and the Page Boy Label Kay Goldman. Lubbock: Texas Tech University Press, 2013.Kay Goldman's Dressing Modern Maternity is the true-life story of three Jewish-American sisters and their attainment of the American Dream. This enjoyable read covers the birth of a fashion category and the challenges of family business and women entrepreneurs, offering a variety of information that will be of interest to those in fashion studies, women's studies, clothing culture, Judaic studies, anthropology and more.The book begins by placing maternity wear in historical context. The conundrum: how to construct a fashionable garment that allows for the physical changes of the body during pregnancy. One of three Dallas sisters, Elsie Frankfurt, puts her business and design skills to the test to seek a solution for her older sister during a first pregnancy. The solution: a twopiece dress including a pleated top falling to the hip, worn over a skirt with a unique window opening in the front controlled by a system of loops and drawstrings. The solution allowed for a fitted skirt throughout the entire pregnancy and matched the silhouette of the day.By the end of 1937, Page Boy, the sisters' business, opened its first store in the Dallas Medical Arts Building, home to many OB/GYNs. A patent for the design followed in 1938 setting the stage for Page Boy's development into a vertical manufacturing business. Edna and Elsie were shortly joined by their younger sister, Louise, and the three became quite successful providing innovative, stylish, and on-trend maternity garments for many years. The sisters were savvy businesswomen, able to parlay depression-era finances into a thriving company with a boost from the postwar baby boom. Increased profits allowed the sisters to build a new factory and showroom in 1949 that doubled their production capability.Elsie became the primary face of Page Boy and was responsible for many a novel marketing, promotional, and publicity campaign. In 1947, she arranged a show of maternity garments at New York's Stork Club, subsequently donating two storks to the Dallas Zoo on behalf of the company. The sisters made use their social connections, particularly within the Jewish community that included many players in the Dallas garment trade, including celebrated retailer Stanley Marcus.As the remaining single sister, Elsie began to travel extensively and spend a great deal of time away from Dallas. …