James Terry's Nostalgic Fashions - 1976

 Some of our past history, so interesting to recall.

Crittenden Press, August 8, 1976

Everyone’s knows that if you keep your old clothing long enough, it’ll come back in style.

 Well the nostalgia craze sweeping the country has created a new market for the hundreds of pre-World War II fashions James Terry still has in stock at his antique store on West Bellville which was formerly a clothing store.

Terry, who has been wholesaling the older garments to an outlet in Nashville, credits movies such as the Treat Gatsby and The Sting with creating a new market for the old clothes. He says, too, that organizations such as antique car clubs buy the period pieces to go with their antique autos.

 

He estimates that he has 1,200 to 1,500 coats and dresses left from the flapper and Depression eras.

 

These are still in new condition, still on the racks and shelves as they were when the New Look came in after WWII and made them obsolete. 

 

The New Look, which took the fashion market by storm in 1947 dropped dress and skirt hemlines, making the older, shorter dresses virtually unsalable.

 

The New Look completely changed women’s fashions in about five months, sticking clothing stores all across the country with their old stock.

 

Terry said it caught them with their racks full of obsolete dresses in a town of this size.

 

Since in those days, a lot of the actual sewing was done in the shop, some of the older clothes were worked over to give them the New Look. Hems were dropped and laces and trimmings added to the bottoms to make them longer. But most of them stayed in the store.

… Stayed in the store until Terry heard of Debbie Stoup at Nashville.

 

Terry explains nostalgia clothes are really big in large Southern cities and on the west coast. He says he has received inquiries about the clothes from as far away as Texas and west coast cities, but distance makes it unprofitable for people there to come here and examine the clothes.

 

Mrs. Stoup did come here and did take many of Terry’s flapper clothes back to her store, where Nashville’s big name music stars often shop.

 

Some of the old clothes are remade to make newer looking pieces. She said, in a telephone interview, that halter tops made from Terry’s clothes have been shown in articles about nostalgic clothing and her shop by the New York Times and Seventeen magazine.

 

Stars dressed in Terry fashions, according to Mrs. Stoup, include Karen Black and the Pointer Sisters.

 

Surprisingly … or maybe not so surprisingly … the old clothes are still structurally sound. Made from natural fibers of cotton, wool or silk, they have not deteriorated over the years.

 

Terry explains that only wear and dry-cleaning will destroy them.

 

But what’s a 1920 or 1930 dress worth today? That all depends on where you are, Terry says.

 

These dresses wholesaled for $3-7 dollars when they were new and retailed for from $8-12 usually. "They got pretty cheap during the Depression," he said.

 

Now they still sell for about what they cost in 1940, Mrs. Stoup said. A new dress of comparable style will cost $25-35. 

 

Mrs. Stoup, who describes Terry as one of the most interesting people she’s ever met, says it’s a rare find to locate clothing such as his today.

 

But even more interesting to her is his collection of trimmings. "He has the most amazing collection of buttons and antique laces I’ve ever seen," she said. "And cards of jet beading you just don’t find anymore."

 

"I just enjoy going up sitting around and talking to Mr. Terry about the good old day," Mrs. Stoup said.

 

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This wonderful old building and all it's many, many memories was torn down in 1985.