Weldon's Ladies' Journal Portfolio of Fashions, 1937

By the 1930s Weldon's Ladies' Journal was advertising the patterns it had for sale via a separate "Portfolio of Fashions" included with each issue of the magazine.  Here we have a selection of typically 1930s fashions available from a 1937 issue of the "Portfolio".

Style Pattern Book, Spring 1975

The public areas at my workplace have just been refurbished.  The temporary partitions have been removed and the eagerly awaited results unveiled.  And - the decorator has clearly gone for a 1970s approach!  Brown and orange furniture contrast with the purple patterned wallpaper.  Only the computers seem out of period.

To fit in I think I'll have to dress for work like the model in the picture above.  She's wearing a feminine adaption of the safari suit, a 70s fashion which did not survive the decade.

Vogue Pattern Book, April-May 1956

My latest acquisition!

There were two main fashion silhouettes in the 1950s: the bouffant skirt with slender waist and the tight and narrow sheath style.  (Both of which relied upon constricting "foundation garments" for their effect.)  This is an example of the latter as interpreted by "Vogue Patterns" in 1956.

Vogue Australia, Summer 1957 and Simplicity Magazine, Summer 1958

Though people today think of the 1950s as a very formal decade it in fact saw a huge growth in casual fashions.  More people had more money than ever before, and the leisure time in which to enjoy it.

Here we have two very similar beach outfits from the late fifties consisting of short shorts and sleeveless tops.

Handmade, September-October 1987

The 1980s was the era of the excessive and the oversized.  Here we have an example of an outsized dressed teamed with a big belt and huge shoulder pads.  The latter was THE signature look of the decade.

Style Pattern Book, Autumn/Winter 1975

This is a fairly moderate version of the "layered look" which was popular in the 1970s.  Some pop sociologists attributed the look to the various fuel crises plaguing the decade, but it could just have easily arisen as a contrast to the sleek mod look of the 1960s.

Snapshots, ca. 1940-1945

I found these three snapshots in an antiques and collectibles store in Adelaide a few years ago.  Unfortunately there is no information on where they came from originally.  However they were all clearly taken sometime during the Second World War.

The first is inscribed on the back: "To David with best wishes from Susan B."  David, no doubt, was with the armed forces.  It's impossible to give this an approximate date from Susan's dress alone, as floral frocks like this were fashionable before the war - and often worn for the duration.  Her hairstyle, however, with its high pompadour, came into fashion among younger women around 1942, so this picture was probably taken somewhere between 1942 and 1945.

The older woman whose picture was taken here with her soldier husband or brother is wearing a similar floral frock, ornamented with a broach.  She also wears a fairly conservative hairstyle and comfortable looking oxford shoes.

This last picture is of a woman wearing a much plainer outfit, which appears to be home-made.  Since her suit is without ornament - not even buttons, trimming or elastic! - it seems likely that she made her clothes at a time when such things were in short supply, and women were asked to go without in order to help the war effort.  In Australia that would be from early 1942, when the Japanese began their advance across the Pacific.

Weldon's Ladies' Journal, June 1911

The fashions of a century ago, via Weldon's Ladies' Journal.  The blouse at bottom left is described in the magazine as a "Puritan Blouse", no doubt because of its large white collar.