Australian Home Journal, June 1939

 Unusually, the June 1939 issue of Australian Home Journal included an evening dress among its free patterns:

Evening Frock, 4921
Evening frocks look smart in bouffant effect from the hips, and the bodice moulded to the figure, a la early Victorian models.  Skirt is six-gored and gathered round the waist.

More typically, the magazine contained its usual assortment of fashion tips and tricks.  Reversible coats were coming into vogue:

Hard Wearing Coats
The most important place is presented to the hard-wearing warm coat worn for morning, sports and travelling purposes.  Here one notes the new supple winter tissues with reversible wrongside, held in some contrasting tone or having checked or plaid pattern...

Small waistlines were the latest thing.  If war hadn't intervened, we might have got a "New Look" a full ten years earlier than we did. 

How is Your Waistline?
If it is small, exaggerate it with a full bodice, wide, tight waistband, and an extremely full skirt.  That is the fashion advice of Robert Kalloch, noted Hollywood designer for Columbia studios.

Velvet? Very glamorous, very Hollywood.

Velvet Popular
Go in for velvet in a big way, and if it's black, so much the better.

 And a brief look at the shape(s) of things to come:

 Boleros and Tunics
Practical garments for winter wear!  Among the favourites are simple street dresses, besides suits and ensembles...
Bolero, tunic, jumper and tightly-fitting princess dresses come in many interpretations and are very different in cut, colour, fabrics and finish.

Going to All Lengths (Woman's Day August 1970)

In the 1950s, Paris dictated skirt lengths.  An inch or two either way decided whether your clothes were "In" or "Out".  In the 1960s the system came under stress, as the young rushed to wear shorter and shorter skirts and the older lagged behind.  By 1970, the system fell apart altogether, as designers tried to impose longer ("midi") skirts and many women just didn't want them.

What was a girl to do?  Well, (American) Woman's Day had some suggestions (in the form of Simplicity patterns) for fashionable skirts in various styles and lengths.  These ranged from a modest miniskirt on the left, to the longer but slit midi-skirt on the right which allowed you to still flash a bit of leg.

From left to right: 

THE SHORTEST ZIP in bold acrylic plaid.  Simplicity pattern 8739... Garland's clinging pumpkin sweater...
SO LONG KNEES—hello pleats, in wool flannel, newly-colored teal.  Simplicity patter 8842... Lady Arrow's frontier shirt...

THE WRAPPED SLASH in purple tweed-printed corduroy.  Simplicity pattern 8749... Over a cat-lady body stocking, by Irene for the McCallum Boutique...

THE BUTTONED SLASH in native-striped washable wool.  Simplicity pattern 8925... With Lady Arrow tab shirt... Also divine over one of your mini-dresses, giving you a split-level costume, another new look.

And if you were going out in your new skirts, you needed something to wear over them.  Woman's Day suggested coats, cardigans, capelets and capes you could buy.  From left to right:

SPONGE-IT-CLEAN TOPPER, in canvas, wipes clean with a damp sponge.  By Gangsters by Valstar of London...

STRING-BEAN CARDIGAN in chenille knit hs the elongated good looks just right for longer skirts.  By Garland...

KNITTED CAPELET with buttons down the front and swaying fringe is updated Victoriana for boutique fanciers.  By Garland...

PONCHO CAPE in henna-colored loden cloth is a versatile coordinate, has white topstitching.  By White Stag...

Styles of '65: Knitted and Crocheted Dresses (Stitchcraft, January and March 1965)

 Let's head back to 1965 again!  In this year, Stitchcraft featured patterns for full-length dresses on a couple of its covers. The simple lines of 1960s dresses would probably have meant that they were well within the power of the average amateur to make—though perhaps a bit more than average time and patience was required!

January 1965

 January 1965 features a knitted sweater dress—in double knitting!  For the non-knitters among you, double knitting is method of producing a fabric of double thickness using two sets of needles.  OK, maybe this pattern did take that little bit of extra skill, but the results would certainly have been warm and cosy! 

March 1965

In March we have a crocheted shift dress (so no need for shaping) in a fairly simply cluster stitch with fringed neck- and hemline.  Cluster stitch produces a double-sided fabric, so it's possible that this dress could have been worn inside-out.

"Paris Plays With The Eternal Feminine" (Woman's Journal, November 1938)

 Now for another look at high fashion in the final months leading up to World War II.

Creed

A year of browns, but all sorts of warm, alive browns, and a year of long coats, and all sorts of outlines in coats.  These three from that great tailor Creed show one fitted, and two straight and concealing.  There is a Magyar cut in the tweed coat on the left with a silk cord fastening twisted round the golden seal collar.  The centre model, in a brown that Paris calls brick, is one of those neat tailored sports coats of which no one tires.  The third model shows the new trim waist and the favourite seal fur on blue and beige tweed.

"Creed"was a French firm founded by an English tailor in the 19th century.  In 1938 most of the fashions produced by Creed were designed by the founder's son Henry and his grandson Charles.  Looking to the future, Charles Creed relocated to London after the fall of France, where he became the the first elected member of the Incorporated Society of London Fashion Designers.

Australian Home Journal, May 1948

 In May 1948, the Australian Home Journal offered its readers patterns for three "frocks" (depicted below) and its usual budget of fashion tips and news.  As you can see from the cover, the patterns were for dresses that were longer and fuller than their wartime predecessors, but still a long way from Dior's "New Look".

Here and There.
High rising necklines are accepted on day-dresses but are not particularly liked because they are not comfortable.  They are not wanted for wear after five.  It is felt the lower neckline is more appealing.

Everybody loves long sleeves, and hates capes because they expose the sometimes unattractive underarm and layers of underclothing.  Long sleeves are wanted on everything because they add to the long slim look of this season's favourite line.

Longer hemlines are selling well; in fact they started selling last season and are going well now.  They are popular on all type dresses because they are felt to be fashionable and make the wearer look slimmer.

Customers do not especially like dressed-up wool dresses.  They are buying jerseys and wools with sequin trim and detail because they can find nothing else.

It would appear that many women weren't satisfied with the clothes available in the shops!  Perhaps the magazine was hinting that they would be better off buying an Australian Home Journal pattern instead.

Found Online: Vogue, 1910-1919.

 Some generous soul (or more likely, institution) has put the complete run of Vogue  from 1910 to 1919 online at the Internet Archive.  That takes us all the way from the last Edwardians to the first flappers!

In 1909 Conde Nast bought an ailing weekly called Vogue, dedicated to recording the doings of high society (and their clothes).  Nast took this uninspiring magazine, gave it a new look, issued it fortnightly instead of weekly, added a dash of arts and news reporting, and expanded its readership.  In short, he turned it into the Vogue we know today (though fashion and Society remained at its core).

So let us take a look at the women of the 1910s and their fashions as seen in Vogue.  Hang onto your hats, gentle readers, because this is going to a helluva long ride. 

1st April 1910

Styles of '65: Pinafore Dresses (Simplicity Pattern Book, Autumn-Winter 1965)

 The pinafore dress (or jumper) was usually considered to be a youthful fashion, so naturally it was popular during the youth-conscious 1960s.  These designs from Simplicity Pattern Book of Autumn-Winter 1965 were intended to be worn by sub-teens, teens and juniors.

6098 - Sub-teens', teens' and juniors dress or jumper

6134 - Teens' one-piece jumper with two necklines - Simple-to-sew

Pinafore dresses were also easy to make, which made them perfect for girls just learning to sew.  The designs above were both part of Simplicity's "How-To-Sew" series of patterns.