If there was one garment that persisted throughout the 1960s, it was the "Chanel-style" suit. Consisting of a collarless, cardigan jacket and a straight skirt reaching a little below the knee, it was an almost timeless style.
To quote Chanel herself, "Fashion changes, but style endures".
To end the month, I thought I'd take a look at some Victorian fashions as pictured in the July 1897 issue of Weldon's Ladies' Journal. In the 1890s, Weldon's named all of its designs. Here we have Hilda, Rosina and Almira and their costumes.
Because Weldon's Ladies' Journal sold dressmaking patterns, the descriptions accompanying these illustrations were heavy on technical details. Suffice it to say that a lot of interlining was involved (often in horsehair cloth) to achieve the shapes of those skirts and those sleeves.
As with all good fashion magazines, Weldon's had a lot to say about current trends.
In 1962 the Australian Home Journal was on its last legs as an independent pattern magazine. In a few years it would start promoting McCall's patterns, and a few years after that it would switch its focus to interior decorating. Meanwhile in July 1962 the magazine offered three free patterns: a blouse (in two views, both with ruffles), a simple shirtwaister with a slim skirt, and a skirt and jerkin sized for a 10-year old girl.
Unfortunately, by the early sixties Australian Home Journal was no longer offering fashion news and advice to its readers. Fortunately there were plenty of other magazines taking up the slack.
If McCall Fashion Book can be believed, the "must-have" fabrics for coats in 1941 were plaids. Every coat listed in its Autumn issue was illustrated in a plaid version, often with a caption pointing out how suitable plaids would be for making it up.
To modern eyes, these coats appear decidedly formal. The writers of 1941 spent a lot of ink telling us how casual they were. This, more than anything, tells us how standards have changed since then.
Shoulders were inevitably "well-padded", though "rounded"!
CLOTH OR FUR CLOTH
The casual coats all have an excessively casual appearance this season. The nth degree of casualness. They are bulky-looking, with wide sleeves, deep armholes, huge pockets. Like all of them, this coat has the look of slipping easily over anything—dress, jacket or suit. It has the new smooth shoulder, well padded even though rounded.
The dress and coat that will lunch you charmingly in town then transport you to the country—still looking in the picture—are a difficult couple to find. Molyneux's ensembles have just the right touch of perfect simplicity. There is this pleated shirt frock of brick woollen, or the purple three-piece of a neat jumper suit beneath an equally neat fitted coat. Very charming is also the beige jersey dress that shows its pleats under a delightful coat lined with moleskin and complete with hood.
From the mid-1930s to the end of World War II, Molyneux was a London-based designer, with branches in Monte Carlo, Cannes and Biarritz. He began his fashion career working for Lucile in the years before the First World War.
Winter is here, and it's time to look back sixty years to see how women kept warm in 1965. These advertisements were all scanned from British magazines published in 1965.
Fashion turns vertical in 1909, with The Delineator describing these dresses as being on "popular long lines". They certainly use every trick in the trade to make the wearers look as tall and as slender as possible. Only the hats add a horizontal note to their ensembles, perching on the tops of their heads like large mushrooms.
... A very pretty design for a princess dress is shown here (3107) which is especially well adapted to development in the softer materials, as foulard, net, and in lawn or batiste... As hand embroidery is to appear on the most stylish garments this Summer, the woman would do well to add a touch of embroidery to this dress between the tucks and in the sleeves.
A design for a semi-princess dress is shown here (3056) which has the popular panel front and back... This design is equally suitable for a wash dress for Summer wear and for the elaborate silk gown every woman wants to have in her wardrobe.
