Weldon's Ladies' Journal (Christmas edition, 1924)

Seasons Greetings to all the lovely people who visit my blog!

And in the spirit of the season, enjoy this festive cover from Weldon's Ladies' Journal in 1924.  From left to right we have an evening dress, a simple dance frock and a fashionable "tube" frock.  All originally came as free patterns accompanying this magazine.

Vanity Fair (1963) and "John Bates: Fashion Designer" by Richard Lester.

This issue of Vanity Fair has a picture of an evening dress by John Bates for Jean Varon on its cover.

“Jean Varon” was John Bates’ own label, established in 1959.  (“Jean” because it was French for John, and “Varon” because there were no other designers with names starting with “V” in the directory!)  In the early sixties, conventional evening dresses like the one above were Jean Varon’s bread-and-butter.  However, by the middle of the decade John Bates was also designing some of the most modern and cutting-edge styles around:

“On the one hand sleek, beautifully styled traditional day and evening dresses; ultimately very wearable and designed to appeal to a broad cross-section of clients, and on the other an undercurrent of change, gradually introducing new ideas and, when seen in the context of the history of 1960s fashion, pure innovation.” (Page 27)

Bates’ designs steadily gained press-coverage as the decade progressed, but real fame arrived when he was commissioned to design Diana Rigg’s costumes for The Avengers in 1965, including 

“coordinated skirt and trouser suits, ‘fighting suits’, op-art fur coats, bold shift dresses with contrast stripes, vinyl double breasted ‘car coats’, a white crepe plunge neck dress with Cossack embroidery and elegant empire line evening dresses with guipure-lace bodices, gathered high under the bust.” (Page 38)

A modern and eye-catching wardrobe for an iconic action TV heroine!

As the 1960s became the 1970s, mod fashions went out, and fashions inspired by nostalgia and the counterculture came in.  Bates moved with the times, designing some lushly romantic dresses utilizing pleats, patterns and embroidery for a rich and sophisticated look.   In 1974 he opened his own name label specialising in the luxury-end of the ready-to-wear market.  He had

"proved beyond any doubt that he was just as adept at handling fine silk, suede and fur as the new manmade fabrics used extensively at Jean Varon." (page 116)

He also became famous—even infamous!—for his backless evening dresses, and his slinky and very décolleté “Cosmopolitan” dresses.  (“Cosmopolitan” because they appeared on the cover of Cosmopolitan, of course!)

In 1980 John Bates ended his fashion career, closing down "John Bates" and selling his Jean Varon label 21 years after he had founded it. 

John Bates: Fashion Designer
Woodbridge, Suffolk: ACC Editions, ©2008
9781851495702

Burda Moden (November 1975)

Fashions in the 1970s weren't all denim, disco and polyester!  Here we have some patterns from the November 1975 issue of Burda Moden which showcase some of the more grown-up and glamorous styles of the era. 

7504.  An innocently graceful style in a delicate rose fabric.  Voile and chiffon are  recommended for making this dress.

7505.  Designed for the larger woman (and the woman with a larger bust!)  Comes with a pattern for its own unlined jacket.

7509.   Skirt and vest of embroidered velvet allowing many fashion variations.

7611.  A slinky and figure flattering dress made in a glittering paisley-patterned fabric. 

Girl's Evening Fashions from "Butterick Quarterly" (Winter 1919-1920)

Grown-ups aren't the only people who go to parties!  Here we have Butterick patterns from the winter of 1919-20 for "small misses" and girls aged 14 to 19.  In other words (though the word hasn't been coined yet) teenagers!

The Rising Generation

"There is scarcely a word to be said for the young person to-day for she follows most of her mother's styles and uses almost all of her materials. One would like to offer a word of caution in regard to the brocades which are too old for her and add the suggestion that she use the younger shades of pink, baby blue, canary, white and green for her party frocks."

La Mode Illustrée (1880)

It's December and the festive season has begun—which means parties, parties and more parties!  In the spirit of the season I'm going to spend the month posting pictures of evening and party dress.  To kick things off, here is an engraving from La Mode Illustrée of November the 21st 1880.   It depicts three young ladies dressed for a ball, though I must confess their outfits look uncomfortably tight for dancing to me!

Vogue Knitting Book No. 38 (March 1951)

I had a lucky find the last time I visited Melbourne: I wandered into a charity shop to see what I could find, and discovered a plastic bag full of  vintage Vogue Knitting Books.  The asking price was $2 for the lot, so I left the shop loaded down with a pile of wonderful magazines like this one:

 

Bell Sleeved Jacket

On the cover, the wide sleeved jacket is shown in colour: a bright flash against fashion-right greys and neutral tones.  Try also jade, crimson.

Wartime Fashions in Australian Home Journal Part I - (1940)

The Australian Home Journal was first published in the 1890s as a vehicle for promoting Australian Home Journal patterns.  By the 1940s it still dedicated many pages to its patterns, but also offered short fiction, knitting patterns, recipes and an agony aunt column— along with fashion advice and gossip about what the Hollywood stars were wearing.

The War years saw world events push their way into women's domestic lives, even in places like Australia which was initially a long way away from the fighting.  Some women stepped out into the world doing jobs and going places they never would have dreamed of before the war.  Others stayed at home—only to find their usual occupations were vital to the war effort.

So let's see what fashion advice Australian Home Journal had for its readers in 1940.

The Day Silhouette

Your skirt remains fifteen and a half to seventeen inches off the ground, but it is full, very full.  It is either flared or pleated except (and the exception is a big one) when you are dealing with a classic taileur or an afternoon suit.  Your waist is nipped in enough to give you hips, rounded hips. 

It is not smart to ignore your curves, and above your waist you must have a bust—small, yes, but rounded. 

Your shoulders are still built out, but rounded also, not angular and military.

Jackets and Suits

Jackets and suits are "musts" and are seen more than ever this season.  They are extremely practical and their advantages are due to the two and three-piece system which permits of many different changes.  New effects can be obtained by uniting different blouses or jumpers with the outer garments.

No Freaks

The average woman is better dressed now than when she allowed herself to be a freak of fashion...  That, thank goodness, is changed, and now women are going in for sensible styles without lending an ear to the freakish dressmonger. 

Be British

There is no fashion trend from Paris or the continent to follow, so women are thrown very much on their own resources.  We have made arrangements to get all the latest fashion modes from England, America and Canada, so that women folk will have plenty to choose from—and these will be "English-speaking fashions."  Perhaps in the past we have been too content to follow the idiosyncrasies of some Viennese or Parisian fashion modeller. We have a chance to strike out now; so "Be British" in your fashions and remain British for all time.

It's obvious that as far as fashion went it was "business as usual" at the beginning of the year.   By the end of the year, it was a different story.  In June the Nazis had overrun Paris, cutting the Allies off from the world's fashion capital.  By December, when the last of these magazines was published, Great Britain was in the middle of the Blitz.   This was an era when Australia still considered itself to be very much part of the British Empire (see paragraph above).  Patriotism and practicality were to be the new fashion norms.

Found Online: "Voice of Fashion" (1897)

Are you a home sewer who enjoys reproducing Victorian fashions?  In that case you might find Voice of Fashion, available courtesy of the Internet Archive, to be a useful resource.

 

The Voice of Fashion was a quarterly publication that presented the latest fashions for women and girls—along patterns for scaling up drafting.  It was produced by the same firm that produced "The Diamond Garment Cutter" (some editions of which are also available on the Internet Archive).

The instructions are a bit sparse by modern standards, so I wouldn't recommend this magazine for a beginner!

Two issues are available online.  The first is from Fall 1897 (illustrated here by page 10, depicting a "ladies afternoon or evening toilet".  And below, from Winter 1897, a "ladies visiting toilet".

"Orlon" Advertisements (1962)

The postwar period was the golden age of man-made fibres.   For a time they were not only seen as being convenient, but classy as well.  With new synthetics coming on the market every day, manufacturers were anxious to promote their fashionable qualities.  In 1962 Du Pont commissioned fashion illustrator Tod Draz to do these stylish advertisements for their acrylic fibre trademarked "Orlon".

"Orlon inspires new Tweed Tones for autumn"—knitted suit with contrasting raised ribbing.  Created by Playfair in pure Orlon.

 

An "essentially simple overpull" (overpull?) knitted in Orlon by Allen Solly and available from Aertex.  "Wash it and wear it, wear it and wash it—ORLON will keep it in shape."

Lightweight cricket sweater with a skirt in the same stitch.  "Knitted in pure ORLON acrylic fibre by SUSAN SMALL".

 

"A washable version of that versatile favourite, the jersey two-piece".  In 70% Orlon with wool by Duala.

"Washable midi-suit" by Peggy Page, made "of double jersey, 70 percent ORLON with wool".  Available for around 9 guineas from John Barker at Kensington "and good stores everywhere".

"Home Fashions" (June 1914)

This very early issue of Home Fashions (only the third published) has 48 pages of vintage ads and fashions for home dressmakers.  Let's take a look and see what conventional dressers were wearing during the last days before the First World War.

The front cover is foxed, and appears to have some mold damage, but the details of our young tennis player's costume are still clearly visible.  And how active and modern she looks!  Her blouse (the free pattern that originally came with the magazine) is open at the throat and the armholes are cut with enough ease to allow her plenty of movement.  The skirt, plain except for a few buttons near the hem, reveals the wearer's ankles and a fair bit of one shin.

This is a sports costume, but outfits like this could easily be worn for other activities.  The blouse and skirt combo would become a staple in many a war worker's wardrobe in years to come.

For more formal occasions, we have the dresses on the back.  The model in the centre is a "young girl"—or in more modern terms, a teenager.  (You can tell she's not yet an adult by the fact that her hair is down, and her skirt is slightly shorter than the ones worn by the women flanking her.)  They are wearing skirts that descend to the instep, but their costumes are noticeably lighter and more streamlined than those that would have been worn even a few years earlier.

In other words, we have already left the Edwardian era behind and are heading straight towards the 1920s!

"Wake's" Catalogue (Summer 1939-1940)

There is a new way to buy clothes—clothes that always look smart and expensive—and that is the "Wake's Mail Orders" way.

Following the example set by mail order fashion houses of America, the firm of Wake's Mail Orders has designed and printed a most delightful and intriguing catalogue, reproducing from actual photography 1938's choicest styles, fabrics and ideas.  What with beautiful colour printing, and samples of materials attached, the thrill of city shopping is brought to the country home.  Because all their garments are produced under the direction of their overseas buyers, in their own workrooms, and are sent direct to the purchasers, the prices at which they are offered are claimed to be remarkably low.  Other factors which contributed to bring about this happy position are that no big city rents have to be met by the firm, there are no sales people's salaries, no laybys, no credits, no discounts, and no window displays.

(From Weekly Times (Melbourne) Saturday 21 May 1938) 

I haven't been able to find a copy of that first "Wake's" catalogue, but I do own a copy published a year later.  So since a picture paints a thousand words, let's see what was available to the woman shopper in the Southern summer of 1939-40:

"Elle" (1951) and "Shocking Life" by Elsa Schiaparelli

The 23 Juillet 1951 issue of Elle featured a blouse from Boutique de Schiaparelli on its cover:

The Schiaparelli Boutique opened in 1935:

The Schiap Boutique, the very first of its kind, has since been copied not only by all the great Paris couturiers but the idea has spread all over the world, especially in Italy. 

It became instantaneously famous because of the formula of 'ready to be taken away immediately'.  There were useful and amusing gadgets afire with youth.  There were evening sweaters, skirts, blouses and accessories previously scorned by the haute couture.

(From Shocking Life: The Autobiography of Elsa Schiaparelli)

Shocking Life is the unconventional autobiography of an unconventional woman.  It's full of  anecdotes and stories (including a rather hectic account of Schiaparelli's wartime adventures!)  On the flip side Shocking Life is a bit lacking in dates and details—so you mostly get Schiaparelli's impressions of events, not the whens, wheres and whys they happened.  (Schiaparelli also has a rather confusing habit of dropping in and out of the third person in the course of her narrative, typically referring to herself as 'Schiap'!)

 Because of this, it's not the best book to read if you're looking for an insider's view of the fashion industry.  However, it does contain plenty about Schiaparelli's approach to fashion, including her account of creating her original trompe l'oeil jumper, and descriptions of  her disagreements with the Chambre syndicale de la haute couture parisienne.  (Surprisingly, she agreed with her arch-rival Chanel about the positive benefits of being copied, and the futility of trying to prevent design piracy.) On the whole this is a fast-paced and entertaining read, if not a deep and analytical piece of writing.


Shocking Life: The Autobiography of Elsa Schiaparelli
ISBN: 9781851775156
V&A Publications, 2007
First published by J.M. Dent & Sons in 1954

"Dress Over Pants" from Roaman's catalog (1970)

A couple of months ago I posted an entry describing how I either love or hate 1970s fashions.  Well, I think it is time I posted a picture of one of the fashions I hate:

"Dress over pants" sets—a truly deplorable (but fortunately short-lived) fashion of the early seventies that made the wearers' look as if they'd put all their clothes on at once in a fit of indecisiveness.  

To be fair the entire fashion era was indecisive, especially for those who were neither young nor groovy.  Pants were only just becoming acceptable for women's wear in many situations, and there were still places—workplaces, churches, restaurants—where they were not allowed.  This is clearly an attempt at compromise, albeit an unsuccessful one!

Skirts were another area of contention, with women caught between the mini-skirt (unflattering to older legs) and manufacturers trying to push the calf-length "midi".  Evelyn Roaman nails it in the introduction to this catalogue:

I know you are wondering about the new lengths, and I hope my opinion may be of help.

I am confident that most Roaman's customers this season will want to wear their daytime dresses at or slightly below the knee.  This may be an inch or two longer than you wore them before, so we're cutting our garments accordingly. 

Wherever possible we are providing ample hems... to shorten or lengthen... so you can have it your own way.  And ... your own way is right! 

Many younger women will wear shorter lengths.  Many, of all ages, will want "midi"," down to the mid-calf—especially smart for coats, and many skirts.  Mix the long and short in one look (split level) or in "layers", or wear both separately (as in this catalog). 

This season you can choose, and be right, with the length that suits you best,

A far cry from the era when skirt lengths were dictated by designers!

"War on Waste!" McCall Style News, 1944

  

"McCall 1064.  Here's a pattern especially designed for restyling the tops of your "tired" dresses with new contrast fabric for the popular "two-tone" effect"!  If you have a dress whose skirt is still good, but whose top is outmoded, faded under the arms, split or faded across the shoulders, you can restyle it with this smart pattern.  Pattern includes two complete master patterns for blouse fronts and backs, from which you can cut any any of the yokes or lower waist sections shown."

"Restyling"—a nearly forgotten art in the era of fast fashion!  During World War II thrift was both patriotic and necessary on the "Home Front".

Elle (9 Mai 1955)

On the cover of Elle: A "sweet" and "charming" shirt dress designed by Gattegno, made up in material from the firm of Boussac and available for around 10,000 francs.   (As a side note, Marcel Boussac was the cotton manufacturer who bankrolled Christian Dior, making him a important player in the history of twentieth century fashion!)

Plate from "Graham's Magazine" (1846)

Graham's Magazine published this plate (originally engraved for Le Follet) in 1846, but alas! they didn't print the description that must have accompanied the original plate.  That means we can only guess at the details of the garments depicted—we get the general picture, but we have no idea how they were constructed or of what materials they were made.

At first glance these dresses appear to be a study on contrasts.  The costume on the left is clearly an evening dress (probably a ball gown) while the one on the right is as clearly a day dress (possibly a visiting dress?)   The ball gown is decorated with (what I assume to be) artificial roses, and appears to be made in light, fragile materials.  The day dress appears to be made of darker, sturdier fabrics, and it is definitely more modest.  While the ball gown bares the wearer's arms and shoulders, the model in the day dress is entirely covered except for her neck and the front of her face!

A second look, however, shows us how much the two garments have in common, particularly their underlying structure and shape.  Both dresses, for example, have long pointed waists, a look achieved by the wearing of corsets that moulded the figure from armpits to hips.  (You can see the ridge created by the upper edge of the corset quite clearly on the figure on the right.)  Then there are the bell-shaped skirts, fashionable from the mid-1830s through to the mid-1850s.  At this stage the skirts weren't held out by hoops: instead they were given bulk by the many layers of petticoats worn underneath them.  One was usually made from horsehair, hence the word "crinoline"—from the French crin, meaning horsehair—later applied to the hooped petticoat that replaced it!

"The National Money Saving Style Book" (1923)

The National Cloak and Suit Company was founded in New York in 1888 as a mail-order house specialising in—you guessed it!—women's cloaks and suits.  It expanded through the decades until it dressed men and children as well as women, and by 1917 it was:

"generally regarded as the Sears, Roebuck company of the wearing apparel field".

In 1923, the year of this catalogue, the National Cloak and Suit Company had net sales of $52,399, 782.   Despite its prosperity, however, the National Cloak and Suit Company was already in its final years.  It merged with Bellas Hess Co. in 1927 and thenceforth traded as "National Bellas Hess".

The dresses on these pages aren't quite what people picture when they think of 1920s fashion.  They have the straight, low-waisted silhouette typical of the decade, but the skirts are longer and fuller than the "flapper" dresses usually depicted in popular media.  

10 Plates from "The Delineator" (May 1903)

The Edwardian era at it's most luxurious and feminine—look at those sinuous, Art Nouveau curves!  Rich women bought their clothes from the great couturiers of Paris, and the rest of the middle class tried to emulate them by shopping at the new department stores, patronizing "little dressmakers" and making their own clothes.  This was greatly facilitated by the invention of paper patterns... like these, produced by Butterick.

The colour plate illustrates a "quintette of charming shirt-waists—all of which are of washable materials".  Then as now, a variety of tops were a wardrobe must!  All the examples here are elaborately ornamented with lace, tucks and embroidery—except for the pattern at top left which was described as a simple design that didn't "require a great deal of trimming".

These look like dresses, but they're in fact shirt-waists with matching skirts!  To the left is an outfit in tucked black taffeta with white ornamentation in lace and white taffeta.  To the right waist and skirt in shirred white silk mull with trimmings of "coarse antique lace".

Another pair of shirt-waists and skirts.  The one on the left is made of "cream-colored voile" with "Irish crochet adding materially to the dressy effect."  The one on the right is described as a "handsome visiting toilette" in "brown satin foulard with an appropriate garniture of filet lace."

Two more shirt-waists and skirts.  Of the one on the left the magazine says, "All-over lace and medallions have never been used so generously as at the present time."  Of the one on the right: "That this will be a "white" Summer is evidenced by the many charming creations exhibited in wool, silk, cotton and linen."

On the left we have another shirt-waist and skirt outfit, made in unbleached linen and ornamented with machine-stitched tucks.  On the right is a "charming toilette of white crash" embellished with hand embroidery.

On the left is a “severely plain” street costume made up in gray Summer weight cloth.  On the right the model is wearing a skirt and “a delightful little jacket called the “coffee coat” or “Monte Carlo coatee””, decorated with lace and ornamental buttons.

Both the figures in this plate wear capes and skirts.  “Jaunty capes”, we are told, “lend distinction to some of the latest and most attractive street toilettes.

On the left we have a “ladies costume” made in Swiss muslin “for informal wear”(!)   On the right is a shirt-waist and skirt.  “With the chemisette which the pattern provides” runs the description, “the waist will be appropriate for street wear”.

That dainty garment on the upper left is a jacket—specifically a “bolero jacket or coffee coat” made of lace, and described as a “jaunty and youthful” style.  The skirt it is paired with has shirred flounces and is bordered with satin ribbon.  On the right is a “ladies costume” in one piece, trimmed with lace medallions.

Lastly, for the boudoir.  On the left we have a “dressing-sack” worn over a “skirt petticoat”.  On the right a “Japanese” wrapper or lounging-robe.   The garment was probably inspired by the kimono, but with its set-in sleeves and shirred neckline, only faintly resembles its model.