This is a variety of crepe paper packaged in folds of 10 feet long by
20 inches wide. The crepe paper sold for 15 cents per fold.
The Service Bureau
instructed salesladies
who were dedicated
to the Dennison stores
or to the Dennison
departments located
within major stores.
which is why it was looked upon as the go-to medium
for that special costume event. School plays saw actors
dressed in crepe. A costume could be a simple pull-over
dress or an elaborate gown with layers upon layers of
ruffled crepe.
From 1915 through the late 1930s many department
stores were holding fashion shows made of Dennison
Crepe Paper designs.
It was soon discovered that when these shows were
held in the stores they completely sold out of crepe
as well as the supporting materials used to make the
costumes. Supporting materials would include printed
crepe table coverings, festoons, die-cut favors and glue.
In addition to the fashion shows there were contests,
parades, window dressings, radio broadcasts and
booklets used as tools to draw in the customers. All of
these products and sales methods proved to be very
successful for the Dennison Manufacturing Company.
Back in the day, why would a person make a costume
in crepe instead of fabric? The simple answer was -
economics. In 1922 a yard (36 inches by 20 inches) of
This chart shows colors of crepe.
Dennison manufactured both solid colors
and a variety of prints and border-styled
folds for each of the holiday seasons.
DOLL NEWS * UFDC.ORG
145
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Doll News Fall 2016