Styles of '65: Short Evening Dresses (Skylark Fashions, Summer 1965)

 Long evening dresses certainly existed in the mid-1960s, but they were reserved for the most formal of occasions.  If you wanted to go out to a restaurant, on a date, to a party, for cocktails or dancing at one of the new trendy "discothéques", you would probably choose a knee-length skirt instead.  Below are some very stylish outfits for a night out from Skylark Fashions.

Style 828—SHEER ILLUSION—A floaty, flatering outfit that will lift your spirits right up to Cloud #9!  You're an angel, a blithe spirit, a fairy princess in this charming dress and drifty cape outfit of lace and nylon sheer.  The dress is fully lined with taffeta; the wispy coat has a face-framing lace collar that makes you look as beautiful as you are.  Maize, blue or pink with white lace.

Australian Home Journal, November 1949

 We're nearly at the end of the 1940s at this point, and the fashions foreshadow the 1950s.  The Australian Home Journal still reports on Hollywood fashions, but in this issue is very much focused on the latest collections from Paris.

The way that women look will not have greatly changed due to the Paris Spring dress collections...

Shoulders, despite a move to square them, remain on the slope.  And there are still plenty of princess, beltless dresses although we have said goodbye to the difficult Empire lines which rose so high under the bust...

Necklines
Necklines are styled this year.  For example, there are star-pointed collars, a mandarin neckline which develops from a bib-yoke of contrast stitch, a button-opening neckline with small Peter Pan collar and bodice-pocket flaps repeating the curve of the collar.

Pattern 7452 (the centre one on the cover) shows how a more "styled" neckline could be adapted to meet the needs of a home dressmaker. 

Peterson's Magazine, November 1878

 Peterson's Magazine for November 1878 shows a selection of dresses in the style of the late 1870s: close fitting (worn over long, boned corsets) to below the knees, with the bulk of the ornaments and the material pushed to the back in the form of trains.  The look is balanced by very high hair-dos and hats.  Even the "walking dress" has these features—reminding us that the outfit was intended for promenading rather than serious exercise.

FIG. I. WALKING DRESS OF OLIVE-GREEN CAMEL'S HAIR...

FIG. II. VISITING DRESS OF EMERALD GREEN VELVET...

FIG. III. VISITING DRESS OF GRAY SILK, TRIMMED WITH NARROW GARNET VELVET...

FIG. IV. RECEPTION DRESS OF YELLOW SILK, PRINCESS SHAPE; worn under a dress or black Spanish net which is woven to fit the figure.

FIG. V. CARRIAGE DRESS OF SLATE-GRAY SILK...

Number 4 strikes me as being the most interesting garment of the lot.  It's curve-hugging silhouette and plunging neckline could almost be from Hollywood circa 1950!

"April's Lady in Paris" (Woman's Journal, April 1939)

 Let's take another look at high fashion in the days leading up to the Second World War.

We shall be seeing many stripes this season —worked straight, slantwise or as you will.  Anny Blatt, who makes these fascinating knitted models, has caught the fever with charming results.  There is the neat tailormade in red and black stripes for the daring and debonair, and a delightfully youthful dress in stripes of grey, cornflower blue and wine red, simulating pleats at the hem.  The almond green rib knitted suit has a graceful hip-length cape which doubles its advantages.

Styles of '65: Stretch Pants (National Bellas Hess, Spring-Summer 1965)

 In the 1960s, the fashionable look was slim, sleek and figure hugging.  It was also active, so the problem became combining a tight fit with clothes that moved.  Enter stretch pants, made possible by postwar developments in man-made fibres.

H.  VERTICAL STRETCH tapered leg cotton-nylon pants; stirrups, side zip.

J. DACRON-COTTON stretch pants fit the way you want them with never a wrinkle showing!  Vertical stretch Dacron polyester-cotton knits—laminated to acetate , keeps shape.  Band waist, side zipper, foot straps.

K. STRETCH DOESKIN... creamy-soft matte knit of acetate-nylon bonded to acetate... gives such s-m-o-o-t-h fit!  Food straps, side zipper.  Hand washable.

L.  CHECK STRETCH.  Action ready cotton-nylon pants in swinging checks.  Stretch horizontally.  Tapered, side zip.

M. STRETCH DENIM.  Look, gals... something new's been added to pet pants... a fashiony button front!  Denim weave cotton and nylon, designed to stretch in width only.  Plenty of action-room... but they keep that tapered sleek fit you're looking for!

N. STRETCH JUMP-ALL for smoothest, curviest shaping!  Cotton-nylon jump-all stretches up, down.  Back zip, tapered, stirrups.

Most of these stretch pants are made of cotton blended with synthetics (the cotton presumably to let the garments breathe, while the synthetics provided the s-t-r-e-t-c-h.)  Nylon appears to be the most popular material, with polyester and acetate coming a distant second.

You'll also note that the designers have borrowed from ski and active sportswear: foot straps and stirrups to anchor the pants down.

Bayadere Cotton Dress (Myer, Spring-Summer 1954)

 Real life™ prevented me from posting last week.  This week I thought I'd post something cheerful, summery, and very, very 1950s.

Bayadere Cotton Dress

So casual . . . eye-catching . . .

Such value, too!  319HA: Cleverly fashioned to highlight a striking bayadere print.  Cool square neckline, cap sleeves and skirt of unpressed pleats.  Enchantment in royal blue, green, grey, carnation ruby.

"Bayadere" derived its name (though a number of steps) from Hindu temple dancers in southern India.  It has come to mean a fabric of brightly contrasting horizontal stripes.  This version is a printed cotton, though any material could be used.

Crimes in Crochet V (McCall's Needlework and Crafts, Spring-Summer 1972)

 I haven't done one of these in ages.  The pictures really speak for themselves, so let's just say that this is what happened when the "do it yourself" and the "do your own thing" crazes of the late sixties were combined.

Take this little number.  The summer dress in linen-orlon is OK, but the designer has paired it with a beanie.  Wouldn't a sunhat make more sense?

These two young ladies look as if they've cut up granny's table mats to convert into tabards.  Stylish, they are not.

... And these two ladies look as if they've been cutting up her bedding!  

These shorts are giving me a rash just looking at them!

Still more granny squares, outlining this—ahem!—interesting little evening creation.  I hope to God that anyone who made this little number also wore something underneath it.  Unless she was going to one of those swinging "key parties" we were told were the in thing in the 1970s!

(A number of other fashion disasters from this magazine—yes, this very issue—were featured in The Museum of Kitschy Stitches by Stitchy McYarnpants.)