1921 | Everyday Life
Everyday Life
Cuban chess master José Raul Capablanca y Granperra, 33, wins the world title at his native Havana March 15 that he will hold until 1927. He learned the game at age 4 by watching his father play, beat Cuba's best player in 1901, has not lost a game since 1916, and defeats Emanuel Lasker, who has been world champion since 1894.
Chanel No. 5 is introduced May 5 by Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel (see 1913); created for Chanel by Ernest Beaux, it has a woody base of sandalwood and vetiver blended with jasmine and rose, a floral top note of ylang-ylang and neroli but contains none of the "feminine" floral scent found in other fragrances, and it will become the world's leading perfume despite vigorous competition (see My Sin, Shalimar, 1925).
The "New Improved Gillette Safety Razor" is introduced in May by the Gillette Co., whose 1904 patent will expire in November (see 1904). While charging $5 for its new product, the company offers its old-style razors, with three blades in the package, for just $1; by 1925 unit sales will have increased by a factor of 10 over 1917 sales.
The Van Heusen collar is introduced by the New York firm Phillips Jones Corp., which has acquired rights to a starchless but stiff collar patented last year by John M. (Manning) van Heusen, 52. The collar is made from multiple ply, interwoven fabrics, and van Heusen has patented collars, cuffs, neckbands, and other articles made in whole or in part from such fabrics. Men have worn shirts with detachable collars since 1820, and many will continue to wear such shirts for more than 30 years.
The Arrow shirt is introduced by Cluett, Peabody Co. of Troy, N.Y., as demand begins to increase for collar-attached shirts (see strike, 1905). Veteran Saturday Evening Post cover illustrator J. C. Leyendecker, now 47, creates the idealized Arrow Shirt man. Arrow shirts will come to outsell all other makes, and Leyendecker illustrations will create a manly image also for the Chicago suit and coat manufacturer Hart, Shaffner & Marx (see Sanforizing, 1928).
The Seducta shoe introduced at Romans sur Isére by French shoe designer Charles Jourdan, 38, is a luxury item that launches its creator on a major fashion career. Jourdan set up in business for himself 2 years ago after working for 2 years as foreman of a leather-cutting establishment (see stiletto heel, 1951).
The Gucci fashion empire has its beginnings in a shop opened by Florentine leather craftsman Guccio Gucci, 40, who began making saddles in 1906 and has returned home to Italy after sojourns at Paris and London. He will found a company 2 years hence that will grow under the management of Gucci's sons Aldo and Rodolfo to have a worldwide presence.
The first Miss America is named in September: wearing dark, knee-high stockings and a chiffon bathing costume with a tiered skirt, five-foot one-inch Margaret Gorman, 16, 108 pounds, beats out seven other contenders, including a New York showgirl, to win the Atlantic City Bathing Beauty Contest (also billed as the Inter-City Beauty Contest) and begin a tradition that lasts into the 21st century.
The 11-year-old Jantzen Knitting Mills obtains a patent for a swimsuit that it advertises in Life and Vogue magazines with the slogan "the Suit that Changed Bathing to Swimming." An Oregon rowing-club member approached Carl Jantzen and his partner more than 5 years ago and asked if they could make him a pair of rowing trunks with an elastic rib stitch. Jantzen has adapted a hosiery knitting machine to make an automated circular machine with a fine needle-bed that produces a stretchable lightweight material at substantially lower cost than other machines.
Drano is introduced by P. W. Drackett & Sons, whose drain cleaner consists of crystals containing sodium hydroxide (caustic lye). Cincinnati chemist Philip Wilbur Drackett and his wife, Sallie, began distributing chlorinated lime, soda ash, and other bulk chemicals in 1910 and 5 years later started the company to sell Epsom salts (see Windex, 1933).
Clorox reaches East Coast stores (see 1913).
Electrolux vacuum cleaners are introduced by Swedish electric lamp salesman Axel Wenner-Gren, 40, who has founded the Electrolux Co. to produce the machines that will be the world's top-performing vacuum cleaners. Wenner-Gren's company will also be a major factor in refrigerators.