Looking Back 30 Years (Vogue Patterns, February 1991)

 Today I'm going to look at some slightly-more-recent than usual fashions from the Vogue Patterns counter catalog issued in February 1991.  Although the 1990s is associated with grunge and minimalism in fashion, these styles from early in the decade are still very much of the 1980s.  Big hair and BIG shoulder pads abound.  Only the colours seem a little more subdued than in  previous years.

Let's start off with a couple of dress patterns.

Firstly, short (knee-length) and narrow dresses.  The broad shoulders and lack of a waist give these a rather box-like shape.

Next, by contrast, this long and sweeping coat dress.  Only the shoulder pads indicate that it is from the same era—the same pattern catalogue!—as the dresses above.

Broad shoulders also made their way into patterns for evening fashions.  Not surprisingly there was only one pattern for a strapless dress in the entire catalogue—you can't pad out bare shoulders!

Here we have three variations on the same evening dress: with long or short sleeves, a "sweetheart" neckline, dropped waistline and a bell-shaped skirt which is longer in the back than the front.

Somewhat slinkier in effect, these evening dresses feature large, off-the-shoulder shawl necklines and narrow skirts.  

A decade after Prince Charles' wedding to Lady Diana Spencer romantic "fairy tale" wedding dresses were still in vogue.  This is a typical example (my sister-in-law wore one like it to get married in 1991) with puff sleeves and a long bouffant skirt.  The sleeves and the skirt would gradually narrow as the decade proceeded.

For more day-to-day activities, blouses were indispensable.  By modern standards, these shirt blouses are roomy, with big shoulders (of course!), large collars and generously cut armholes.  

 

Waistcoats for women were very fashionable—I owned a few.  Warmth and decoration in one package.

Of course shirts and tops need to be paired with bottoms.  Here are some typical examples: slacks and a pencil skirt.  The slacks are fairly high-waisted and wide legged.  Bumsters and skinny jeans still lay in the fashion future.

Coats.  Like shirts they were generously cut with big armholes.  Of all the clothes I have shown here, they probably had the widest shoulders.  Remember, in the coldest weather they might well have been worn over three or four layers of clothing—each with their own shoulder pads!

Here are some more body-conscious garments in the form of leggings, a unitard and bodysuits.  These would almost certainly have been worn as exercise gear.  (However, the figure on the left, dressed in all black, is giving me strange supervillain vibes!)

And lastly, for those leisure moments, women's shirts and pants.  Big and baggy, they are clearly designed for the wearer's comfort!