Montaldo's Tianne Perfume ad

This is an advertisement from 1953 and was featured in Our Town Charlotte. The “Petite”  Tianne Perfume is unique only to Montaldo’s. Montaldos was a lady's specialty shop started in 1919 by two sisters from Kansas (Blackbird, 2013). Lillian and Nelle Montaldo’s main goal for their shop was to have high-quality items with personal service. A short article in the Winston-Salem Journal from September 21, 1923, claimed that they carry goods of all prices, “highest priced gowns and hats” and also “styles in medium-priced apparel (Lizzie, 2023).” In 1995 they declared bankruptcy and discontinued their products (Lizzie, 2023). 

This specific ad is from 220 North Tryon Street in Charlotte. It was located on the bottom floor and had three levels above of living space ("Montaldo’s department store at 220 North Tryon Street outlet for upscale female clothing January 1985, Charlotte, NC," n.d.). It had a spread of large rectangular windows with a large domed archway in the center that customers could work through to go in. They had numerous stores in North Carolina, Virginia, Ohio, Colorado, Missouri, and Oklahoma (Lizzie, 2023). Montaldo’s was a new age of fashion for North Carolina,  “Before that (Montaldo’s) everybody had custom dressmakers. Montaldo’s would have an outfit from a designer model in the store and women would order it in a custom fit ("Fashion-ating rhythm," 2022).”

Something people may find odd about the ad is the price of the perfume. In 1953 it was $3.25 but in 2024 it is equivalent to $37.34, which is still decently cheap for a perfume ("Calculate the value of $3.25 in 1953. How much is it worth today?" n.d.). In 1953 people were paid significantly less than current times so the price of the perfume was still costly.