Object of the Day: A Trade Card for Universal Fashion Co.

Click image to enlarge.

Nothing says high fashion more than a skirt full of plants and dirt. I suppose that’s the message behind this Victorian trade card for the Universal Fashion Company of London, Paris and New York.

Actually, the image on the front, designed specifically for Universal Fashion depicts the sort of rustic and bucolic image which was en vogue in the late 1880s. A young lass poses, as if caught in a moment in time, with her rake and her plants as she tends to her pretty garden.

As if often the case, this card was distributed to agents and sellers of their products—mostly dress patterns—so that the individual could have the reverse printed with his or her specific information.

In this case, we see, next to an illustration of a fashionable lady:

MRS. C.E. FORD 

So. Broad St., NORWHICH 

FASHIONABLE MILLINERY 

--DEALER IN- 

Millinery, Fancy Goods 

AND LADIES’ UNDERWEAR 

                                                        AGENCY FOR THE                                      538

Universal Fashion Company’s Perfect-Fitting Patterns 

Album of Fashions. 64 Pages, over 1900 Large Illustrations 

15 Cents, post-paid 

PATTERNS SENT TO ANY ADDRESS, POST-PAID, ON RECEIPT OF THE PRICE