S. T. Taylor Company, New York, 1848 - 1925

S. T. Taylor Company, New York, 1848 - 1925

Founded in 1848 by Samuel Thomas Taylor (1808–1877), a Virginia publisher, businessman, and influential promoter of women’s fashion, the enterprise helped bring European styles and ideas to American readers. Taylor published a wide range of journals, magazines, and catalogs, and translated several widely popular French- and German-language fashion publications into English for American readers. By adapting these publications, he made international fashion trends, commentary, and commercial information more accessible to a growing American readership. Taylor also developed and promoted a proportional pattern-drafting system that could be used to draft women’s garment patterns from a set of body measurements. Rather than relying solely on fixed-size paper patterns, dressmakers could use the system’s graduated proportions and drafting instructions to create patterns suited to an individual figure. This approach helped make systematic garment construction more practical and repeatable for professional dressmakers and home sewers alike.

 

S. T. Taylor Garment Drafting System:

 

Publications:

  • 1861 - Le Bon Ton Journal de Modes, April - Purchase Digital
  • 1861 - Le Bon Ton Journal de Modes, September - Purchase Digital
  • 1864 - Le Bon Ton Journal de Modes, July - Purchase Digital
  • 1872 - Le Bon Ton Journal de Modes, June to December, French - Purchase Original
  • 1892 - Die Modenwelt Paper Fashion, 1 August, German - Purchase Original
  • 1892 - Die Modenwelt Paper Fashion, 14 August, German - Purchase Original
  • 1895 - Le Bon Ton Le Moniteur de la Mode United, December - Purchase Digital
  • 1896 - Le Bon Ton Le Moniteur de la Mode United, November - Purchase Digital
  • 1897 - Le Bon Ton Le Moniteur de la Mode United, March - Purchase Digital
  • 1898 - Le Bon Ton Le Moniteur de la Mode United, April - Purchase Digital
  • 1899 - Le Bon Ton Le Moniteur de la Mode United, June - Purchase Digital
  • 1907 - Le Bon Ton Le Moniteur de la Mode United, April - Purchase Digital
  • 1914 - Le Bon Ton Le Moniteur de la Mode United, April - Purchase Digital
  • 1923 - Le Bon Ton Le Moniteur de la Mode United, July - Purchase Digital