Catalogs > Gift Guides
Shopping from the 1979 Neiman-Marcus Christmas Book
From being the purview of print magazines to the domain of online publications, and now within the scope of every newsletter writer and brand, gift guides are everywhere. Now that everyone writes a gift guide, it feels like the art of curating an interesting selection of presents is more a competition to show off someone’s taste and wealth or merely a bid for affiliate dollars—how many hundreds seemed to arrive in my inbox unprompted, yet not a single thing did I see that inspired me. I’m not the only one who has taken notice—
wrote A Brief Theory of the Modern Gift Guide, while spoke with former editors about what it was like to curate these lists pre-“Peak Gift Guide.”
Before the omnipresent gift guide, there were catalogs. The most famous Christmas catalog is the Neiman Marcus Christmas Book (now rebranded the “Holiday Book,” with “Christmas” fully excised from its vocabulary). It originated in 1915 as a Christmas card inviting customers to the store for holiday shopping. However, it truly began in 1926 (seven years before Sears premiered its first Christmas Book) as a 16-page catalog that “established a lasting tradition of showcasing the unusual, the humorous and the beautiful in a wide variety of prices, with keen emphasis on selectivity and taste.”
What made the Neiman-Marcus Christmas Book so famous—or more so infamous—is a publicity stunt dreamed up in the late 1950s: “In 1959, in answer to press inquiries about unusual Christmas gifts, Stanley Marcus and his brother Edward brainstormed about an extraordinary gift for that year: a Black Angus steer, delivered on the hoof or in steaks, complete with a silver-plated serving cart. The response was tremendous...” Apparently one steer was sold live to a customer in South Africa, “whereupon we learned we were responsible for the care of the steer while it was in quarantine for 6 months." The following year they decided to one-up themselves, introducing the first “His and Hers” with a pair of Beechcraft airplanes. The total price for the seven-place Beechcraft Super G18 for “him” and four-place Beechcraft Bonanza for “her”? $176,000 in 1960, or $1,875,904.32 today. Of course, the media far beyond Dallas picked up on these outlandish gifts, writing articles that made Neiman Marcus a household name nationwide.
By 1979, the Christmas Book was 100 pages, and in the words of the Wilmington Evening Journal, “better, bigger and bulging with more incredible merchandise.” As you’ll see below, the “His and Hers” gifts were still going strong—this time a pair of dirigibles for $50,000 each. Speaking of these couples' presents, a Neiman-Marcus spokesperson told the press that there had never been a year when they hadn’t sold at least one of them. He continued, “The most popular were the his-and-her hovercrafts at $4,000 each. We sold 17 or 18 of them. Last year we featured his-and-her vaults at $99,000 each with a 50-year lease. We only had three sets and we sold them all.”
Somewhere along the line, they realized that “his-and-her” gifts weren’t necessary—I mean, what couple really needs 2 two-person dirigibles?—and focused on “fantasy gifts.” In Neiman Marcus’ words, “Originally created in 1959 by Stanley Marcus, these exclusive one-of-a-kind creations are meant to inspire customers and remind us all that there’s a little fantasy in every gift. A tradition for over 65 years, Neiman Marcus has partnered with top brands, celebrities, and cultural moments to bring these remarkable Fantasy Gifts to life.” This year’s most expensive present is a $1.9 million, 18th-century carriage that belonged to the Spanish royal family, while other fantasy gifts include a VIP shopping trip in Paris with the costume designer of Emily in Paris ($175,000) and a trip to Florence to design a custom table-setting with Ginori ($90,000). Download the 2024 catalog here.
While trying to choose my favorite pages from the 1979 Christmas Book, I scanned far, far too many to include. Below are some of the most lavish, most ridiculous, most expensive, and most covetable items.
The Christmas Book is the ultimate in class. With the possible exception of a ceramic bagel paperweight and a box of Neiman-Marcus liquor-flavored toothpastes, everything reeks of superb taste.
How about a $100,000 throw of natural Russian lynx bellies that is accompanied by a $100,000 natural Russian lynx evening cape? Or on the same page, a $100,000 Russian Sobol sable coat. Sure, there are plenty of people who are starving, but there's nothing illegal or immoral about dreaming and that's what this book is all about for most of us.
For the housewife who's bored with the cable, the catalog has a remote-controlled, multi-satellite antenna that can pick up over 2,000 sports events yearly, 6,000 hours of special children's programming, 10,000 top movies, live nightclub shows from Las Vegas and New York, sessions of the U.S. House of Representatives, a direct line to news agencies and business reports, new "super stations" in addition to 100 television channels and much more. It's $36,500.
Other delectables: all 24 shades of Ralph Lauren's classic knit shirts for $660; earrings, pendant necklace and bracelet of amethysts, turquoise and diamonds for $125,000; a Dracula-inspired black-dyed Swakara karakul lamb cape for men at $5,000; an entire day with master chimney sweeps for $3,000 - excluding travel expenses; a dozen or more of the sexiest nightgowns to be found anywhere; a Devin carriage to battle the energy crunch for $9,950; a genuine cowboy boot, outfitted with spiked soles for the fashionable golfer at $320, and a padauk attache case with 24-carat gold plated brass fittings for $6,250.
- Wilmington Evening Journal, October 10, 1979
In the age of streaming, this satellite dish—an “exciting new space age development”—seems rather quaint.
I rather love the typography on the “Four tubes of liquor-flavored toothpaste (non-intoxicating)” and thought they would make a good addition to my collection of random packaging—unfortunately, both unused boxes I could find online are selling for $950.
Nothing like a Lynx cape for the equivalent of $434,000.
What everyone needs for Christmas: an all-singing, all-dancing chimney sweep performance.
The finest in disco looks.
I very much hope someone bought this $9k André Laug silk-and-maribou ensemble.
Poor Beverly Johnson, so beautiful yet sharing the page with a cowgirl pantyhose package.
Gotta collect ‘em all!
As promised, his and hers dirigibles.
Rhinoceros leather is something that I’m very glad we no longer come across in gift guides or catalogues.
A horse-drawn carriage, “a spectacular answer to the energy crisis.”
I do covet the lucite bed tray and valet.
Why yes, my barbeque tools do need a sheepskin bed.
That dinner sounds like a steal, in comparison to everything else in here…
In addition to catalogs, there was special holiday packaging to celebrate the season. No one designed more creative boxes than Joseph Magnin. They were so charming that customers sometimes bought a gift just to get the box, which could be any shape. 1966 featured Joe Hong’s Renaissance series: tower- and architectural-shaped boxes. Marget Larsen was another key figure who designed packaging and ads during that decade. JM gift boxes elicit a lot of memories for customers who shopped there in the 1960s. Merry, Merry.
Love! The toy section in the NM catalog in the 90s was my favorite.
They also had their own line of items, NM costumes for kids. It was really detailed and high quality. I had the waitress and a 50's girl, aka poodle skirt. Thanks for bringing back the memories.