Grace in Motion: AugustaBernard’s 1929 Paris Fashions and the Elegance of Ocean Travel

🌍 Introduction

The 1929 article on AugustaBernard, featured in Harper’s Bazar, captures a pivotal moment in interwar fashion history. For educators, historians, students, and genealogists exploring the intersection of fashion and transatlantic ocean travel, this article is a stylish time capsule.

It documents both aesthetic choices and the social implications of couture design during an era when elite women sailed aboard luxurious liners like the Ile de France or the RMS Majestic, often debuting their Parisian wardrobes during the crossing.

Madame La Comtesse de Muñoz Models a Coat of Turquoise and Blue-Mauve Velvet. Gown of Blue and Silver Lamé. Photo by de Meyer. (Harper’s Bazar, October 1929) | GGA Image ID # 22626ffa49. 💃 Madame La Comtesse de Muñoz: Modeling a Coat of Turquoise and Blue-Mauve Velvet With a Gown of Blue and Silver Lamé, This Image—Photographed by de Meyer—Beautifully Illustrates the Luxurious Layering, Reflective Textures, and Aristocratic Bearing of Couture in Late 1929. This Visual Alone Makes the Article a Valuable Resource for Students Analyzing Visual Storytelling in Pre-War Fashion Photography.

AugustaBernard Fashion for Fall 1929

The AugustaBernard collection for 1930 contains "wearability interpreted with true Parisian stylishness." Every one of this clever designer's new models is carried out in perfect taste, emphasizing wearability and comfort. Up and down an extraordinarily slim silhouette, her waistline wanders. It might be called a movable proposition—placed wherever it benefits the line at its norm position as often as possible.

AugustaBernard's clothes are suggestive of height. They make women look tall.

Woolen gowns in this establishment are trim, neat, and short-skirted. Practically no sports clothes are shown—nothing but a variety of street gowns and coats.

Excellently cut, stylish because of novel detail work, well established, and beautifully carried out. The unique details in AugustaBernard's designs are sure to captivate and intrigue fashion enthusiasts.

Boleros complete some of the AugustaBernard models. Others are slim-looking three-quarter-length jackets that tend to rise in front. They are worn over long satin blouses, almost tunic-like in effect. They are finished with the typical AugustaBernard tie—elongated triangles.

The street gowns shown in this house are mostly made of plain or figure jerseys. Greys and browns are a popular combination, worn with plain sleeveless box coats and a straight overcoat trimmed with either badger fur or fox. A bow of the figured texture is tied at the throat.

Black mousseline de soie is a prime favorite for afternoon and dinner hours. It is treated with much lightness and has a delightful quality—floating grace.

Most afternoon skirts are short, and some droop to one side or in the back. Few afternoon models have sleeves.

The AugustaBernard evening gowns deserve the term "supremely elegant." They are a perfect expression of what modern imaginative elegance should be. The narrow-looking skirts with interesting additions —such as trains—on the fishtail order are awe-inspiring. Some of these trains reach out to great lengths, adding to the overall impression of elegance.

In many instances, two trains are used instead of one. Apparently, superposed materials, panels, and flounces produce undulating grace when in motion.

A tubelike gown of white crepe has narrow crosswise draperies looped across the skirt. They remind one of a series of tunics. The draperies are slightly raised and fastened at one side only.

The Elided Name recognizes a European Tradition, Including Designers like Augustabernard or Louiseboulanger, who combined two names. We opted to modernize that practice by Capitalizing the Second Part, like AugustaBernard or LouiseBoulanger, so that most readers would know that it is a combined name.

✨ Most Engaging Content:

Silhouette and "Wearability":

The phrase “wearability interpreted with true Parisian stylishness” reflects a core theme: practicality blended with couture. AugustaBernard designs emphasize elongated silhouettes and strategic waistline placement to flatter height—a clever visual tool for women making grand entrances at shipboard dinners or promenade deck strolls.

Evening Gown Descriptions:

Descriptions of evening wear—especially the “tubelike gown of white crepe” and fishtail trains—offer vivid insights into how elegance was dramatized. These details are ideal for fashion historians or costume designers recreating 1920s wardrobes for exhibitions, documentaries, or historical reenactments.

Color & Fabric Trends:

• Greys and browns in figure jersey street gowns
• Black mousseline de soie for afternoonwear
• Turquoise and blue-mauve velvet and silver lamé for coats and gowns

These pairings reflect the subdued elegance of post-Flapper design and pre-Hollywood glam.

🧵 Brief Dictionary of Terms for Casual Readers:

Term Meaning

• Lamé: A shiny fabric interwoven with metallic threads, often silver or gold.
• Bolero: A short cropped jacket, often worn over dresses or blouses.
• Mousseline de soie: A sheer, lightweight silk fabric with a soft drape—ideal for flowing garments.
• Fishtail: A skirt or train that flares at the hem, resembling a fish's tail. Popular in evening gowns.
• Jersey: A soft knit fabric commonly used for dresses and casual wear.
• Box coat: A straight, loosely fitting coat, often without defined waist shaping.

🧭 Relevance to Ocean Travel:

Many of AugustaBernard’s garments—particularly the “street gowns” and “coat ensembles”—are perfect examples of what wealthy transatlantic travelers would pack for an ocean voyage. For instance:

Short-skirted woolens and box coats were ideal for embarkation day or deck promenades.

Mousseline de soie dresses and evening gowns with trains would dazzle in the first-class dining saloon or ballroom.

Such garments not only reflected status but were part of the ritual of steamship travel among the elite. For genealogists, noting references to such styles in passenger diaries or shipboard photos could confirm the fashion choices of specific individuals or families.

🧠 Conclusion:

This article on AugustaBernard is a rich primary source that combines fashion history, visual culture, and social context, especially for those interested in the lifestyle of women traveling aboard transatlantic steamships in the late 1920s. Its vivid descriptions and refined imagery offer students and teachers a lens through which to examine the interplay of modernism, elegance, and social mobility.

For genealogists, understanding fashion trends such as those seen in AugustaBernard’s work can contextualize passenger portraits or descriptions in manifests and letters. And for historians, it charts the shift from the Flapper's defiance to a sleeker, more sophisticated 1930s femininity.

🎓 Encouragement to Use GG Archives:

📚 Students! Use resources like this AugustaBernard article from the GG Archives to explore how fashion shaped identity during transatlantic travel.

🧳 Teachers and Historians! This page is a goldmine for discussing early 20th-century couture and its role aboard grand ocean liners.

🔍 Genealogists! Dive into period-specific wardrobes to decode the social standing and preferences of ancestors captured in photos or passenger lists.

🖼️ Discover. 👗 Analyze. 🚢 Imagine. All at the GG Archives!