"La Mode" (29 August 1915)

Looking for something to post I realised that this was published exactly 105 years ago today.  It seems like an omen—so here goes!

1.

   1. Robe de lainage.  — Jupe plisée devant avec empiecement  gansé, corsage blouse en mousseline avec bretelles de tissue.
 2. Costume tailleur pour fillette. — Jupe garnie de plis creux sur le devant.  Jaquette droite le découpée devant agrémentée de larges revers.
3. Robe princesse à 3 volants en forme — Elle est garnie dans le dos et la devant d’un large pli rond. 

 

1. Woolen dress.— Skirt pleated at the front with braided yoke, chiffon blouse bodice with fabric straps.      
2. Tailored costume for a girl. — Skirt with box pleats on the front. Straight jacket, cut in front with wide lapels.    
3. Princess dress with 3 shaped ruffles — It is trimmed in the back and the front with a wide round pleat.

Coats and Suits From Weldon's Ladies' Journal (December 1924)

 A cold snap has descending on my neighbourhood, making everybody shiver.  When that happens my thoughts turn naturally to warm clothes.  Luckily Weldon's Ladies Journal had matters in hand in 1924.

Weldon's describes these fashions as being "long", "straight" and "tube like".  Pattern 72071 (second from left) has a fashionably "curved, fur-trimmed hem".  Next to it no. 72072 is a coat "designed for velours finished with astrachan".  (Weldon's offered a transfer for the embroidery on its side-opening.)  At right is a coat and skirt "with an uneven hem and bold embroidery" to be made up in either velours or cloth. 

No. 72074 (on the left) is "suited for the fuller figure" while keeping a stylishly straight outline.  Next to it is "a smart street suit".  Weldon's suggests it be made up in "dead leaf or russet brown" colours.  Beside it are two coats made up in the "cross-over line"—so very fashionable in the 1924 season!

"Make It From A Pattern" (Fashion, February 1947)

 In the late forties, Hollywood films were still a great source of fashion inspiration for the world's women.  In 1947 Fashion, a Sydney-based publication, offered its readers sewing patterns to make fashions as worn by their favourite movie stars.

I must admit I'm a bit puzzled as to the source of these patterns as the magazine doesn't tell us. Were they authentic patterns for the garments in question, or patterns for clothes resembling the ones worn by the stars?  The studios were generous in handing out publicity stills of their stars and starlets, but would they make a deal regarding patterns with an obscure Australian publication?  Or did Fashion make an arrangement with one of the pattern manufacturers authorised to make Hollywood copies?  

"COCKTAIL SUIT of heavy black satin (New York's current love for cocktail wear).  The deep pocket flaps give a peplum effect... the sleeves are bracelet length... the top a collarless edge-to-edge line.  Eve Arden, of Warner Bros.' Mildred Pierce, wears it."

(Re-reading this caption I'm not sure whether it's saying Eve Arden wore this suit in Mildred Pierce, or Eve Arden wears this suit and she was in Mildred Pierce.  If it was worn in the film, Milo Anderson was the designer.)

"TWO-PIECE BLACK, with a one-piece look!  The slim skirt is topped by a diagonally draped blouse.  The surplice front closing ends in a short drape, caught at the waist by a jeweled and embroidered buckle.  Warner's star, Jane Wyman, wears it in Cheyanne."

Oops!  This one looks like a mistake.  Cheyanne was a Western, and the cast didn't wear contemporary dress.  The designer for Cheyanne  was Milo Anderson, but I don't know who designed this dress.

"This white crepe blouse is a highly styled adaption of the tailored shirt.  Voluminous sleeves and shirring from the yoke cut a swagger over a dark shirt.  Ingrid Bergman wears this one in the RKO film, "Notorious"."

Here's a star—and a film—from the "A" list.  Cary Grant co-starred and Hitchcock directed.  The costume designer was Edith Head.

"Eye-compelling gown of starchy white pique (just as lovely in taffeta).  The slim skirt is slit to the knees; the bouffant peplum is removeable, and makes for versatility.  Paramount starlet, Audrey Young, designed this dress, and wears it in Trouble With Women."

From A List to unknown... though Audrey Young appeared to have a knack for design.  She later married Billy Wilder and acted as costume consultant on his films Some Like It Hot and The Apartment.

Groovy Pantsuits from the Early 1970s

 Pants had been established as casual wear for women by the middle of the twentieth century.  However, there were strict limits on when and where you could wear them.  They were acceptable, for example, on the beach or at a picnic, for lounging around at home or even visiting your local suburban shopping centre.  They were not accepted, on the other hand, in city centres, at most places of work, or in most restaurants.

 All this started to change in the late sixties and early seventies.  On the one hand you had "Women's Lib", push the boundaries of what was allowable for women.  On the other, you had... fashion.  Ever-rising hemlines in the second half of the 1960s meant that many adult women were unhappy and uncomfortable in the fashionable skirt length.  Other women found their replacements, midi-skirts, dowdy and aging.  Clearly something new was required: not too casual, but easy to wear!

Enter the pants suit, one of the defining outfits of the 1970s.

National Bellas Hess catalog, Winter 1970

 

"Save to 21% on Knit Pantsets
Join the Pant Set in "sweatery" acryllic knits.  Machine washable."

Vanity Fair, November 1970

"ALL TRAFFIC STOPS HERE... Brenda Console spends thousands of pounds on clothes a year—and she reckons her dress allowance is nowhere near big enough.  She's bought the coat and gaucho on our cover... Cover coat and matching quilted pants... by Emanuelle Khan."

David Jones catalogue, Autumn and Winter 1971

A. The polo shirt by Aywon.
B. This sleeveless midi-cardigan gives a great affect over everything.
C. Slip-on and straight leg slacks in washable Acrilan.
D. Jacquard Acrilan jersey knit tunic top.
E. Wide cuffs, zip-fly front, matching buttons... that's these pure wool slacks.
F. Gaucho-teaming polo shirt in knitted Acrilan.
G.  Freedom-flared gaucho pants, contoured waist, contrast leather belt.

David Jones catalogue, Spring and Summer 1971

"See,now, how a pants suit fits every fashion context—bridging the mini-midi gap, shaping up clean-carved or beautifully relaxed, ready to go with you anywhere—stylishly.  Light, cool and yours to wear all summer long..."

Style Pattern Book, Autumn/Winter 1972

"Sparkle in this outfit for magic evenings.  The simple charm of the full-sleeved blouse, worn with wide flared pants and topped with a sequined waistcoat, heralds a return to the elegant '30s style."

Simplicity Pattern Book, Autumn/Winter 1973

"ON OUR COVER
There's a new line to jackets—they're shapely, deftly seamed to follow the silhouette; they have long lapels and curvy hems—splendidly dashing to wear oer cuffed, wide legged pants."

Suits on the cover of "Vanity Fair" (September-October 1953)

 There were a lot of magazines called Vanity Fair.  This one was published between 1950 and 1972 in Great Britain.  It was aimed at a middle-class audience, and its focus was on ready-to-wear fashion and beauty.  The editors of Vanity Fair were very careful not only to describe the clothes illustrated in the magazine, but list their prices and the stores in which they could be bought—along with the prices and availability of the accessories the models were wearing!

September 1953

The cover of Vanity Fair's September 1953 issue depicted two suits from Dorville available at Harvey Nichols in London.  The model on the left wears a corduroy suit at 11½ guineas; the model on the right wears a suit costing around 14 guineas.

October 1953

October 1953 features a "lapis lazuli tweed" suit by Mornessa (along with a matching coat in the background).  All available at Harrod's Budget Shop—the suit for around 10 guineas, the coat for ￡11 17s 6d.

Peterson's Magazine, August 1859

These are the sorts of dresses Hollywood would try to reproduce in its depictions of the antebellum South.  The key features of the styles depicted are the wide hooped skirts (at their widest in 1859), the flounces adorning skirt and mantle and the bell-shaped sleeves.  The wide skirts and sleeves made their wearers' tiny waists seem still tinier, though it should be noted that the models' proportions were exaggerated for this fashion plate— unrealistic figures being a feature of fashion illustration in the 19th century as much as today.

FIG. I. —DINNER DRESS OF PINK ORGANDY.—The skirt is trimmed with seven flounces.  Body high, with a low underlining, and round at the waist.  Over this body a cape of the material of the dress may be worn at pleasure.  A bow and ends of pink silk, trimmed with a figured ribbon, is worn at the waist.  Short sleeves composed of two ruffles.

FIG. II.—WALKING DRESS OF FRENCH SILK, IN LILAC AND WHITE STRIPES—Mantle of the same material as the dress.  Sun hat of white French lawn, trimmed with a bouquet of field flowers.

(Since the first dress is manifestly NOT pink, I can only conclude that there was some kind of mis-communication between the caption writer and the colourist!)