"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.

The Anny Blatt brand is best known today for its knitting magazine (full of fashionable designs) but it was founded in 1933 as a Paris couture house specialising in hand-knitted garments.  In 1935 Anny Blatt set up a second company, manufacturing her own wools.  At this point she also started publishing knitting patterns, which appeared in the most prestigious women's magazines.

Looking into the near future, the war put a temporary stop to the firm's growth.  Being Jewish, Blatt's firm was forcibly "Aryanised" during the German occupation.  She left it in the care of her partner, who restored it to her in 1945. 

In 1968, Anny Blatt sold her firm to the textile group Hervillier and discontinued her couture line.

No spring without its tailormade—and, if possible, a Creed tailormade, since they are among the best in Paris!  Here is the kind of suit that smart Parisiennes wear on their morning walks in the gardens of the Champs-Elysées.  The model on the left is in navy blue, looking very alive with its gloves and scarf of cyclamen colour.  The clever grey shaded to black suit in the centre stresses the vogue for stripes, with fine distinction.  Checks are also certain to charm when made up into such an attractive tailormade as this green and brown tweed model worn with a deep green blouse.

Creed, the French firm founded by an English tailor, has appeared on this blog and in the page of Woman's Journal before.

These are the coat rules for spring—short wraps can be loose and boxy like this rich red model which Robert Piguet poses so effectively over a checked woollen frock.  Long coats, on the other hand, invariably have fitted waists and flaring hems.  Observe this silhouette in the practical sandy-beige coat with strikingly wide revers and a red belt threaded through the waistline.  The same line appears again in the new Algerian blue model trimmed with fine tuckings and set off by a gallant spotted scarft banded with the rich mahogany brown of gloves and shoes.

Robert Piguet, a Swiss-born designer, is today best know for training Christian Dior and Hubert de Givenchy.  He began working for Poiret, making him an important link in the history of 20th century French haute couture.  He founded his own house in 1933, retiring in 1951.