Monday, February 25, 2013

Chas. A. Stevens

Chas A. Stevens was a Chicago department store. It started in 1886 as a catalog business and eventually grew to 29 locations in the Chicago metropolitan area. In 1988 the chain filed for bankruptcy and liquidated.


Its flagship State Street store was the hub of fashion in the forties, fifties and sixties in Chicago. It featured six floors of women's clothing only. The top floor housed a beauty salon called The Powder Box, which employed more than 50 operators and was famous for catering to visiting celebrities, etc. The Powder Box at Chas. A. Stevens carried a popular but often hard to find line of cosmetics, by Irma Jean Shepherd. The store also was an exclusive retailer of Anjou fragrances. The display windows on the main floor were often chosen as the best in the city, and received many awards.



Chas. A Stevens sold perfumes under their own name. These perfumes are:
  • 1925 Durante el Invierno (During the Winter)
  • 1925 En el Verano (In the Summer)
  • 1925 Para el Otoño (For the Fall)
  • 1925 A la Primavera (In the Spring)
  • 1925 El Ano Perfumado (The Fragrant Year, a presentation)
  • 1927 Ci-Cix 
  • 1927 Tears
  • 1928 C'est Ca (Right)
  • 1930 Ci






Durante Pars Invierno by Chas A. Stevens: launched in 1927, black glass tall bottle, three corner bottle, the corners of the bottle feature finely molded & gilded women’s faces. This bottle was used for the following Chas A Stevens perfumes: A la Primavera, En el Verano, Para el Ontono, and Durante Pars Invierno. The women's faces and hairstyles were different for each scent.

A four piece presentation set called El Ano Perfumado, included all the previously named perfumes enclosed in a unique metal stand to hold the four bottles. Each bottle sold individually for $15. This set retailed for $70 in 1928 which is equal to $1,056.61 in 2020 according to an inflation calculator..

I believe the bottle may be a rare Lalique experimental or by Depinoix or Viard.


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