AA-2026-4BFE2E
On the image
At an outdoor exhibition booth — a sign behind her references electrical power — a young woman stands on a raised platform in a blue cape, a matching miniskirt, blue cowboy boots, and a headdress of paper or wire flowers, handing a brochure to a man in a fedora while a second man in a white shirt watches from below with his hands in his pockets. She is a promotional hostess, a standard feature of mid-century trade fairs and world expositions, her costume a deliberate spectacle designed to draw foot traffic to whatever utility or industrial company had rented the booth. The surrounding crowd of men in slacks and sport shirts is the exhibition's real constituency; the hostess is the furniture that makes them stop walking. In 1950s corporate marketing, the logic was unquestioned: sex appeal was a legitimate unit of measure for kilowatts, and nobody wrote a memo about it.
Visually related — by likeness
Trade Show Hostess in Blue Cape, 1950s Exposition. 1952–1959. Archive & Atlas, Historical Image Library, AA-2026-4BFE2E. https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/trade-show-hostess-in-blue-cape-1950s-exposition.
@misc{aaAA20264BFE2E,
title = {Trade Show Hostess in Blue Cape, 1950s Exposition},
year = {1952–1959},
howpublished = {Archive \& Atlas, Historical Image Library},
note = {Accession AA-2026-4BFE2E},
url = {https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/trade-show-hostess-in-blue-cape-1950s-exposition}
}TY - ART TI - Trade Show Hostess in Blue Cape, 1950s Exposition PY - 1952–1959 PB - Archive & Atlas, Historical Image Library AN - AA-2026-4BFE2E UR - https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/trade-show-hostess-in-blue-cape-1950s-exposition ER -
From the community
Identifications, corrections, and discussion from readers — reviewed by a librarian before appearing here.
Sign in to add an identification, correction, or comment.
No notes yet — be the first to add what you know about this image.