Lana Lobell (Holdiay, 1962)

 Welcome to my last post for 2022!

 

 

 This isn't a picture of two dresses—this is a picture of a dress and overskirt.

TWO WONDERFUL DRESSES IN ONE!

YOU'LL GET 2 RAVISHING STYLES IN 1 BEAUTIFUL DRESS with our gayest, most glorious fashion for the holidays!  Wear the dress alone and look absolutely fabulous in glowing rayon and mylar metallic lamé.  For a glamorous change of pace, don the full skirt by zipping it on 'neath bias waistband... glimmering sheer nylon lace generates lots of excitement over the sheath beneath!  Sweet bow in front is a charming finishing touch.

Happy New Year everyone!

Ho, Ho, Ho! (The Delineator, December 1922)

 And a Merry Christmas to all my readers!

In honour of the day, I'm posting a picture of "Saint Nick in Fresh Gay Suit and Jingling Bells" from the Delineator of December 1922.  It is, of course, illustrating the pattern for a Santa Claus costume.

Not only is father in demand at home, but the various church and Sunday-school committees ask him to play the rôle of Santa Claus for their entertainments.  It is especially exasperating to drag out a dingy red suit, moth-eaten and four sizes too small, and foolish to wear it when one can make this suit so easily.  A cap and leggings are included with the coat, breeches or knickerbockers.

This costume seems to owe a bit more to folklore or ethnic dress than the modern versions of Santa Claus, and the recommended material for making it is red flannel rather than synthetic fibres.  The material trimming it is probably not real fur, but you never know!  Otherwise, this version of Santa Claus is completely recognisable today.

"Elegance", December 1964

 

ON OUR COVER: a look that took Paris by storm, the ultra-feminine pyjama suit.  Late day version in printed pure silk organza, Simon Masse, 15 gns.

The December 1964 issue of Elegance (Flair in Britain) devoted a number of pages to "Fashion After Dark" and a number of inches in their "Flair for living" column on the topic of women wearing pants:

... Smart leaders of society are already receiving their guests at formal dinner parties in pyjama suits...  But just because you are wearing the pants, don't throw femininity to the winds! If you want men to continue to treat you like a woman, you must behave like one.  Move like one.  If you wear the fluttering new evening pyjamas, don't fling yourself into tomboy attitudes.  Now, more than ever, you will need to move like a gazelle and sit as gracefully as your grandmother.  Look helpless and appealing and you'll find this combination of the female in fashions, stolen from the male, the most provocative thing that has happened in years.

"La Mode" (19 Décembre 1915)

Hems had been rising steadily since the beginning of the 1910s.  At first they only revealed the tips of the wearer's shoes, then they stealthily rose to her insteps, before clearing her ankles around the start of the First World War.  Here, just shy of eighteen months into the War they have risen to around the bottom of the wearer's calves—much to the shock of older and more conservative members of society!

This cover also illustrates, right at the end of 1915, an early version of the "war crinoline".  Unlike Victorian crinolines, these wide skirts weren't supported by a wire under-structure.  They remained fashionable through 1916 and most of 1917, before deflating towards the end of the war.

If these costumes look rather plainer than the fashions of 1910, it was because war shortages were starting to bite.  The editors of La Mode comment:

"La difficulté des approvisionnements on étoffes, passmenteries, dentelles impose forcemént des limites a l'imagination de nos grandes faiseuses."

["The difficulty of supplying fabrics, trimmings, lace, necessarily imposes limits on the imagination of our great creators." ]

Ladies' Treasury (December 1877)

 Christmas is nearly here, and once again it's time to get dressed up for parties.

At the left we have a dinner dress "of grey faille or satin... The princess form is perfectly plain in front, with the exception of the embroidery, which passes across the front, and is joined on one side with the side seam."  On the right is a "toilette for dinner or soiree in two shades of blue silk... Cuirass bodice and petticoat with train."

The Ladies' Treasury sold paper patterns for both these garments, for 3s. 7d. and 4s. 2d. respectively.  In other words, they were fairly expensive—but then again, these dresses would not have been worn by the average woman.

The Ladies Treasury also liked to keep abreast with the latest fashion news.  What was the latest gossip from Paris in December 1877?   Well it seems as if the House of Worth was making some innovations: 

"WORTH makes no more Princess robes!"  That is the greatest news of the day, and of more interest to the ladies than all the politics of the last four months.  What is the change of a Ministry, or even of a President, compared to the change of a sleeve?

The magazine hastens to reassure its readers that the Princess robe is still fashionable (in fact the dinner dress in the plate above is a fine example of the line).

I have said that the Princess robe is no longer to be worn.  This is nonsense, the robe and the Princess polonaise are still very popular, especially for walking.  Some are buttoned at the back, some in front, and some shawl-fashion, sideways, and across the figure.  There is but one rule— study your figure, and whatever best suits it adopt.  

100 Years Ago (The Delineator, December 1922)

 At last we reach December 1922, and the end of our look at the fashions of a hundred years ago.  To finish the year off, I'm going to look at some of the patterns for  "wearable gifts" advertised in the The Delineator.

At the left is "A gift which mother would appreciate—a becoming morning dress!"  On the right is a "gay apron of the slip-over type and in Russian effect."

On the left is another morning dress, "seasonable for any month; when one wears them on the street for marketing etc., a coat slipped over them is amply warm."  On the right, a "dainty gift" of a step-in combination.  "The chemise and drawers are embroidered in a delicate butterfly motif."

At the left, a "bright-colored fuzzy bathrobe" with a matching pair of soled slippers.  On the right, our model is holding "the newest kind of nightgown... with lattice trimming and which slips on over the head."

And lastly: embroidered boudoir caps!  Boudoir caps could be worn during the day to conceal undressed hair, or at night to protect one's hair while sleeping.  There was clearly room for them to be ornamental as well as useful!

Whatever Happened to Winns? (1960s-1970s)

Though the State Library of New South Wales' online collection of Winns catalogues stops in 1955, the store (and the Library's collection of catalogues in hard copy) continued into the late 1970s.  Fortunately, I own a few Winns catalogues from the 1960s and 1970s, so let's take a quick look at the fashions Winns was retailing and find out what happened to the store.

First, from the beginning of the 1960s, two summer frocks, pretty and conventional.

Spring-Summer 1960

 

Left: SATIN COTTON DRESS.  Full circle skirt and new wide belt.  Low neckline at back.  Colours: green peonies, blue peonies or red.

Right: NINNETTE OF MELBOURNE.  Poplin shirtmaker with contrasting striped cummerbund.  In pastels French blue, French pink, beige or in lime.

Autumn-Winter 1967

By the middle of the decade things were looking decidely more "mod", even  in the mainstream.

Left: Smart Coat Dress—the new Style Setter!  Worn with confidence by all age groups from sixteen to sixty.  Double breasted step-in style.  Prince of Wales check, emphasised with black covered buttons.

Right: Streamlined skimmer frock in 100% Pure Wool.  Shaped with artful seaming and highlighted with check collar and button trim.  Long back zip. 

 

Spring-Summer 1967

 In Spring-Summer 1967 Winns offers loose-fitting dresses with "Abstract colouring blocked out like sunshine..."

At left: Caftan with the glamour of the East.  An "all occasion" shift shape.  Set-in sleeves with wide cuffs worn turned up or down.  Mod-art design, vibrant with colour focused on flame pinks, gay greens or brilliant blues.

Centre: Linen-like cotton shift with striking bursts of colour.  Square neck—lower at back.  Multi floral design on harmonising grounds with tans, lemons or greens predominating.

Right: Screen printed satin cotton.  Sleeveless caftan style.  Crew neckband finishes with bow at back opening.  Colour unlimited with emphasis on glowing pinks, orange and blues.

In 1968 The Bulletin ran a long-ish article on Winns as a business—which was apparently thriving:

For a long time Winns has be considered a conservative, sleepy, family company which has quietly made enough profit to provide a good income for the Winn family.  Actually, this is another of the sharemarket myths which get asserted as solid fact after they have been floating around for a while...

Apart from activities in retail stores, Winns is operating a highly profitable mail-order business with thousands of customers throughout Australia and the Pacific Islands.  In the mail-order business Winns is one of the top two in Australia has the distinction of being the largest user of  the Post Office's parcel post facility.  Twice yearly (end of February and beginning of August) the company mails out an 80-page catalogue containing 1200 different products in a size and colour range which lifts the contents to just under 30,000 items.  The use of six punched-tape accounting machines feeding a data-processing installation ensures ensures peak efficiency in mail-order business.

The Bulletin, 9 November 1968

It almost sounds like the Amazon of its era!

Spring-Summer 1969

Winns goes groovy in 1969.  These garments are covered in stylised daisies (a trend begun by Mary Quant) but they're a far cry from the floral frock of earlier decades!

Left: New party-going hostess culottes to help you swing through summer evenings, have their own built-in bra!  They're the ideal way to keep it casual—with flair!  Cool and oh-so-comfortable, they're going to be the favourite of your summer wardrobe.

Right: This pretty playsuit is just made for you to go sailing, sunning and partying in... go to beaches, barbeques, or just laze around looking great!  No excuses now!  You can't help being the hit of the season when you're all matched up so perfectly.

In 1971 Winns was still very profitable, and considered ripe for a takeover bid.  And on the cover of its Spring-Summer catalogue of 1972 it offered the fashions below:

Spring-Summer 1972

Left: Easy care Treilon Frock.  The low set pleated skirt and cool V-neckline finished with a smart scarf gives this frock a very youthful look.

Right: Pants Suit.  The blazer jacket puts you among the best dressed of the season.  This smartly cut style may be allied with white or navy slacks making it the perfect co-ordinating outfit.  Made in fully washable pique and "Crimplene".

Autumn-Winter 1974

Left: The plush velveteen suit has embroidered trim on shoulder and Self buttons on jacket.

Centre: Now... the look of luxury in imitation Ponyhide.  Has rich fur-like trim.

Right: Sweet Velveteen with old-world lace frill front and elasticised blousy sleeves.

Notice the short skirts!  Miniskirts remained popular in Australia (at least at the lower end of the market) long after they'd gone out of fashion elsewhere.

Meanwhile, in spite of "the look of luxury" the economy was hitting a rough patch.  "Stagflation" was making its mark, postwar prosperity was winding down, and for the first time since the war Winns addressed its customers like this:

Dear Mail Order Customer,

As you are undoubtedly aware, world wide shortages of raw materials have resulted in severe shortages in manufactured goods.  To avoid disappointment we suggest you order early, this applies particularly to apparel where a second choice should be nominated.

By 1978, Winns owed money everywhere—including $160,000 for the printing of its catalogues!  Winns' creditors agreed to let it try and trade its way out of its difficulties, but in September 1979 the firm went into receivership.

I'll conclude this entry with one last story combining fashion with finance.

ANOTHER sidelight on the amazing Alfred Y. Zion, the Melbourne businessman who has gone abroad leaving a lot of his creditors wondering when they might see something out of $8-million odd owing.

Among many of his unfortunate experiences in the business world was his takeover battle for the losing Sydney retailer Winns Ltd now in receivership.

In an effort to help the embattled staff at this down-market women's fashion group, he sent a container load of frocks up for stock.

But when the box was opened, even the Winns buyers were appalled—they were out of season, out of fashion, out of this world.

The lid was quickly put back on the container and back to Zion in Melbourne it went.  Zion sent it up a second time and again it was returned.  the unwanted consignment was laid to rest in a warehouse and an unfortunate fire later consumed the lot.

The Bulletin, 18 September 1979

"Dressing Up For South East Asia" (Sydney Morning Herald, March 20, 1978)

 Sometimes blog fodder just falls into your lap—in this case literally, when I opened a book and a news clipping someone had cut out over 42 years ago fluttered out.  It's a little snapshot of late seventies fashion at its best.  These fabulous designs seem to be a far cry from the polyester and disco fashions of popular memory!

The team that will fly off soon to dazzle the East with our Couture fashion: left to right, producer Brian Hawes, model Zorica, co-ordinator Julie Bolton, models Di Parkinson, Petrina Devlin, Alan Lewis, Denise Austin; front row, models Rakanne, Steve Trgo and Dianna Gray.

By Mary Wilkinson
Fashion Editor

ONE of the most ambitious attempts to put Australian fashion on the South-East Asian map takes place in a few weeks.

For the first time, audiences in Hong Kong, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta will have a chance to see couture-level clothes by designers such as Mel Clifford, Hall Ludlow and Indonesian-born Goet Poespa, now living in Sydney.

Couture furs by Berhard Hammerman and special designs by Carla Zampattia and George Gross will also be show.

Emphasis will be on elegance and there won't be a bikini in sight (though Speedo have provided some stylish one-piece swimsuits).

"I am not taking a skin show," said co-ordinator Julie Bolton, who has been working on the project for many months.  "It is a haute couture fashion show."

A jungle riot of blue, green and red birds on swirling cream georgette in this John Kaldor fabric, styled by Mel Clifford into a full floating cape over handkerchief-point top and long skirt.

It will be a "welcome back" for Mel Clifford, who recently returned to designing under his own label after working for a Double Bay boutique.

He has certainly come a long way from the young boy in Echuca, 250km from Melbourne, who left his job in a bank after seeing his first ballet from a touring company.

Mel trained as a dancer in Adelaide and won a scholarship for further study in England, where he joined the London Festival Ballet.

He was with the company for nine years, and after his return home in 1966 he started designing opera and ballet costumes for the Elizabethan Trust.

However, there is little trace of a theatrical background in his couture work; all is simple, subtle and restrained.

One of the Mel Clifford Designs to be shown in Asia; pure white double georgette, bare backed, superbly cut in a John Kaldor fabric.

Sydneysiders will have a chance to see the collection before it wings off on April 9.

A gala preview will be held at the Hilton Hotel on Monday and proceeds will aid the Australian Opera Auditions Committee (NSW).

Peggy Page Advertisements (1959)

 These ads were originally published as two double page spreads in a 1959 issue of (British) Vanity Fair. Peggy Page could clearly afford to place four colour full-page ads in one issue of a fashion magazine!

The firm had been founded in London in 1933 by Harry Massey, who brought an expert, Sam Krohnberg, from the United States to set up production along American lines.  His most important innovation was introducing American sizing to British ready-to-wear. 

 

 

 These dresses are typical of the youthful fashions popular in the late 1950s and early 1960s.  Fitted bodices spread out into full skirts reaching a little below the knee.  Nothing is too extreme or exaggerated.

 

 

 Also typical of the late 1950s are the brightly coloured prints.  Flowers are popular, along with stripes and geometric shapes.

Found Online: Winns Catalogues VI (1950s)

 Now for the final installment of our study of Winns catalogues.  The State Library of New South Wales takes us to 1955, just before the advent of rock n' roll.  It's a conservative era, so don't expect any dramatic changes to the fashions.

Autumn and Winter 1950

As if to make up for the scantiness of the war years, all the clothes here use lots of material.  The skirts are long and full, the jackets boxy and full.

So snug and comfy are these finger length Topper Coats of Luxurious All Wool Coatings with brushed wool effect.  An ideal any occasion coat, being equally attractive over your evening frock as with street or sports wear.

A Superior Quality All Wool Fabric is used in this Sweepingly Full Flared Skirt.

Knitted Two-Piece Jumper Suits smartly styled in all wool fancy knitted design of self colours.  The jacket fits snuggly over the hips, the skirt is cut on a flare to give that swing.

My mother recalls being an awkward teenager around this time, and finding the calf-length skirts most unbecoming!

Spring & Summer 1950

This copy of Winns catalogue has been mended, and tape covers part of the text on the front cover.  This is a pity, because the dress on the left is made of a "Wonder Fabric", but the actual name of the fabric is hidden!   A number of new fabrics (trademarked or not) were being touted as "wonder fabrics" in 1950.  Here are a few of them:

• Miltum, a silvery fabric with a metal finish on one side
• Terylene, (an early polyester) just going into production at ICI in Britain
• Celanese, an acetate fabric
• And of course, Nylon, a decade old at this point, but coming into its own as the fabric of choice for making shirts, socks, lingerie, nightdresses and, of course, stockings!

That's leaving aside the natural fibres that were now being treated to make them crease-resistant, flame-retardant, moth-proof and colour-fast. Wonder fabrics indeed!

Autumn & Winter 1951

Winter 1951 sees a full-length coat and a suit feature on the front of Winns catalogue.  

These Smartly Cut Coats are featured in English All Wool Mohair Like fabric.  Generous swing style (note inset of back which is the feature of coat).  Attractively finished with large pockets and novelty button trim.  Fully lined of course.

This Charming Tween Seasons Suit is of Smooth Satin Back Crepe, the collar and pockets of the slimly styled Jacket are cleverly trimmed with embroidered thread, popular gored skirt.

Your Little Girl's Favourite Frock for this winter.  A nice rich Corduroy Velveteen with its lace collar and velvet bows, the pockets are trimmed to match, ties at back.

The coat is very full, but the bodice of the suit follows the wearer's figure closely.  Having watched re-runs of the 1950s Superman TV series in my childhood, I always think of suits like these as "Lois Lane suits"!

Spring & Summer 1951

All Winns' summer dresses for the 1950s are going to conform to this basic pattern: short sleeves, nipped in waist, bouffant skirt, light materials.  The variations for Summer 1951 are:

New, muted brilliance and the crisp feel of fashion in Floral Organdi.  Graceful flared skirt, wide sash, pearl buttons, cap sleeves and collar are effectively scalloped.  The captivating frock for any occasion.

The prettiest frock you can wear this summer, featured in Satin Back Crepe.  The soft falling skirt is gored with an unpressed pleat in front, pockets are lace trimmed matching the yoke, pretty plastic gold buttons and neat roll collar all add to make this a classic for you.

Autumn & Winter 1952

In the upper left hand corner is a "A cosy Winter Frock in the popular Velvet Cord" for a "Winsome Maid".  For the adults:

Popular coats in pinwale Velveteen (finely corded), the all-occasion garment, being ideal for either sports, street or casual wear.  Yoke action back gives ample freedom, finished with belt at back.  

The Very Newest in Ladies' Skirts, now so popular overseas.  They are in a nice All Wool Fabric with diagonal contrasting coloured stripes, cut with twelve gores.

Smartly Cut Casual Coats in All Wool Coating, very popular box style (note inset for the very attractive back treatment).  Beautifully lined throughout, finished with two very large pockets.

Spring & Summer 1952

Summer sees more summer frocks on the cover of Winns catalogue.  The little girl at the top left is described as wearing a "Winnsome" (pun no doubt intended) spot dimity with Swiss embroidery.  Her elders are wearing a "Morocain crepe Frock... with self toned embroidery" and a "Summery Frock ... in a panel stripe and floral British crepe".

Autumn & Winter 1953

An interesting thing to note is that all the garments illustrated on this cover are made of pure wool (as is all the knitwear inside).  By the end of the decade you would expect to see at least a few of the jumpers and cardigans advertised to be made of Orlon or a similar artificial fibre: light, moth-proof and easy to wash!

Lest you get the impression this catalogue is dominated by separates and casual wear, page 3 illustrates (in colour) "dressy" frocks with pearl and bead embroidery, and classic 1950s evening dresses made of taffeta.

Spring & Sumer 1953

The word of the moment is "Everglaze", a new-ish (in 1953) method of treating cottons.  The little girl at the top is wearing a "Winnsome" (that pun again!) dress in checked Everglaze, and the woman on the right is wearing a "gaily coloured floral frock, featured in an imitation linen with new "Everglaze" finish.

Everglaze was:

...the trade name for a scientific process which imparts stiffness, spring, lustre and other permanent properties to cotton materials as well as giving them new surfaces.

The possibilites of these new fabrics in the fashion field are legion.  Suitable for round-the-clock wear, and equally attractive for beach or ballroom, the bring within the range of the budget buyer long-wearing garments with the luxury appearance of those made from more expensive materials.

(Weekly Times, Melbourne, 31st of October 1951)

Autumn & Winter 1954

Autumn and Winter 1954 sees Winns promoting suits and separates.  The little girl wears a double breasted all wool suit.  In the centre a woman models a "superbly tailored Ottoman suit" with a nipped-in waist.  At the right is a model wearing a short coat with "novelty button pockets... a perfect combination with your skirts for casual wear".  The skirt is made of flannel and has sun-ray pleats.

Spring and Summer 1954

The dress in the centre is "styled in the latest Straw Fabric" and is "strikingly different".  Though straw cloth was mainly used in the making of hats, it seems to enjoyed brief popularity as a dress fabric.

However, not all "straw" fabric was actually made of straw.  The Glen Innes Examiner of March the 17th 1954 reported:

One of the new cloths of moderate price which will be in the shops this year will be "straw" fabrics made from cotton yarn in which thick and thin yarns and coarse weave help to capture the appearance of the original straw cloth which is too expensive for the average woman.

It's up to the reader to guess whether the dress on the cover of this catalogue was acutally made in "straw fabric", or whether it was made in a cotton imitation!

Autumn & Winter 1955

The cover of Winns catalogue for Autumn and Winter 1955 is unusual, because it features fashions designed for "the larger figure".  Larger women usually don't appear on the cover of clothing catalogues, unless it's for a firm specialising in selling outsizes!  Perhaps Winns discovered that they had a large number of older women customers in 1955 and wanted to represent that part of their market.

Except in size, these shirtwaist dresses don't differ much from similar fashions for slimmer women on the inside pages of this catalogue.  Perhaps the most interesting thing to note is they're made in darker fabrics with small repeating patterns: an old trick to make the wearer look thinner than she really is!

Spring & Summer 1955

... And finally we come to our last catalogue.  

The figure on the right illustrates how haute couture got translated into inexpensive ready-to-wear.  It is described as "the new H-line, manufactured in Polished Cotton".  The "H-Line", intoduced by Dior in 1954, featured a slightly flattened and raised bust and a dropped waistline.  Here, a year later, Winns is selling a dressed belted at the normal waist, but with a bodice fitting tightly to hips where the skirt flares out.

You'll notice that the larger woman on the left is not wearing an H-Line dress.  This was a silhouette definitely not for the full figured: the Australian Women's Weekly insisted that it was preferably worn by the slender and small-boned!

"The Sports Coat is Short and Swagger" (McCall Style News, November 1932)

 

 

 

Inside this little brochure this ensemble is described as : "Ladies' and Misses' Ensemble; coat in three-quarter length... four piece skirt".  It is portrayed on the cover in some kind of tweedy check with contrasting patterned collar and cuffs.  The dress buttons on one side and has a low hip yoke: the coat has patch pockets (trimmed in the same material as the cuffs and collar on the dress). 

100 Years Ago (The Delineator, November 1922)

 In its November issue The Delineator included a number of patterns for evening dresses.    This would give home dressmakers plenty of time to make their outfits for the upcoming round of Christmas and New Year's parties.

All these dresses seem strangely uniform, though they are in fact different designs.  The key features of these designs are:

• A straight, tubular silhouette
• Very low waists, dropped to hip level, and either draped to one side or emphasised with floating panels
• Skirts falling to the lower calf or just above the ankle, and
• Square or scooped necklines just below the collarbone (bosoms were not fashionable in the 1920s!)

The pattern designers attempted a couple of novel touches with Pattern 3990 (second left, top) being decorated by fabric roses and Pattern 4043 (bottom right) having an open hem-length sleeve.  I can't be sure, but I think these dresses were intended for young and older wearers respectively.

Between Seasons (Beyer Mode, October 1960)

 Spring and Autumn can be a difficult time sartorially.  What do you wear when it's too cold for short sleeves, but too warm for coats?  In October 1960 Beyer Mode made a suggestion.  The slim-skirted dress on the cover of the magazine has a characteristic early-1960s elegance.

 Das schmale Tageskleid mit betont sportlicher Note.  Hemdblusenform - ist ein beliebter Anzug für die Zeit zwischen Sommerkleid und Herbstkostüm.  Breit abgesteppte Passen akzenturien das Oberteil und die Hüftpartie.  Kennzeichen des Herbstes: die halblangen Armel, das krӓftige Material und die aktuelle Farbe.

 [The narrow day dress with a decidedly sporty touch. Shirt-blouse form - is a popular suit for the period between summer dresses and autumn suits. Wide quilted yokes accentuate the upper part and the hip area. Characteristics of autumn: the half-length sleeves, the strong material and the current color.]

"With Or Without Pockets" (New Idea, October 17 1956)

 This was a "Gold Seal Pattern" offered in the New Idea issue of October 17 1956 (just send postal note for 3/6 with your order form).  The pattern was available in sizes 14, 16, 18, 20.

A SMART coat-frock style that is suitable for any time of the day.  Make it in a fabric for Spring, or in a Summer material for the warmer days ahead.  This is a must in your wardrobe, as it is so variable.

I've got to say that I find those big pockets on the left-hand model enviable!

Found Online: Winns Catalogues V (Late 1940s)

Welcome to my second-to-last look at Winns catalogues (as made available by the State Library of New South Wales).  Starting from here we've reached the last days of World War II, and will be moving into the post-war period.

Autumn & Winter 1945

This catalogue would probably have been issued a couple of months before VE Day, and still been current at VJ day.   We really have reached the end of the war!  Winns has decided to showcase some of its more casual styles for women on this cover.  From left to right the models are wearing an all-wool twinset (pairing a short sleeved jumper with a long-sleeved cardigan), a boxy sweater coat in heavy wool ribbed knit paired with "all wool flannel slacks for leisure or labour", and at the right, an all-wool knitted pullover with a polo neck paired with a flannel skirt.

Spring and Summer 1945-6

 It's peace, but alas not yet prosperity.  Clothing is still rationed in Australia (and will be until 1948).  This Winns cover shows fashions for females of every age, from the small girl wearing a "dainty frock and bloomer set" at the far left, to young woman next to her in a floral frock, the "maid" (i.e. teenager) in the insert wearing a "two piece tunic suit in chalk stripe Art Silk Rayon" and her younger sister wearing "an Attractive Frock in the popular peasant style".  At the bottom right is a "Glamorous Shady Brimmed Picture Hat" worn by a mature woman.

Autumn & Winter 1946

One thing about these catalogue covers is you can see what the younger generations were wearing as well as the grown-ups.  The problem is, their clothes are very like their elders'!  Teen subcultures were clearly not yet a Thing, and teenagers were not yet considered worth marketing to in their own right.

Here we have a woman in a double breasted diagonal tweed coat, a teen in a wool two-piece tunic suit, and a little girl in a double-breasted coat cut on princess lines.  Apart from the size of the clothes, what chiefly distinguishes these models are the accessories and details: the grown woman wears her hair above her collar, while the girls wear theirs down, the little girl's hat resembles a bonnet, and the woman wears high-heeled pumps, the teenager flats, while the little girl wears mary-janes and ankle socks.

Spring and Summer 1946-7

Though the artist has posed his models on a beach, he's dressed them in outfits more suitable for a trip to town than a stroll by the shore.  On the right we have a dress made in imitation silk linen, trimmed with Cornelli stitching.  On the left is a "smart two piece costume of crease-resisting Imitation Knop Linen" by Adelyn.  

Autumn and winter 1947

Judging by these covers, women were dressing less formally than they did before the war.  While we have a woman in a "Smartly Designed Dressmaker Suit... attractively trimmed with fur" in the middle of this group, at the left we see a model more casually dressed in an "All Wool Ribbed Twinset" and an "All Wool Tartan Skirt".  Page 2 of the catalogue makes this postwar informality even clearer, with a colour picture of a woman in a sports jacket and flannel slacks.  Earlier in the decade outfits like that were relegated the middle pages of the catalogue and illustrated in black and white!

Though clothes rationing has about a year to run in Australia, the coupon price of clothes is starting to come down.  The suit is now available for 11 coupons, the skirt for a mere 4, while the twin set requires no coupons at all!

Spring and Summer 1947-48

Dior had launched his "New Look" earlier in the year, and while it was yet to be adopted by the world at large, elements of the style were creeping into popular fashion.  In this picture it's clear that ready-to-wear clothes manufacturers have adopted the narrower waists and fuller skirts of the New Look.  However, shoulders are still broad and skirt lengths still moderate.

Left: "Smartly Tailored Two Piece Jacket Suit in a Rayon Like Linen... Jacket is elaborately trimmed with Cornelli."  Right: "Style and Value in this Attractive Frock in "Marveloon"... Bodice opens to waist and is effectively trimmed with drawn thread and Cornelli."

Autumn & Winter 1948

In April 1948—mid-Autumn in Australia—a reader wrote to the Sydney Morning Herald:

Sir—Recent visits to a large number of inland retail businesses revealed that a very serious clothing and coupon problem exists. 

The stock of frocks at the end of the summer season is, in the aggregate, enormous, caused by two successive unfavourable seasons.

The Government belatedly recognised this, and reduced the coupon rating from 8 to 5 until April 30.  This is inadequate to shift the accumulated frocks stocks, and especially so with the advent of the "New Look" styles, and winter frocks coming in.

The solution may be to abandon all clothes rationing, to help the sale of the abundant stocks and new manufactures, then to review the other articles of cotton (which is definitely scarce in and from most world markets, though the garment trade offers a substantial second choice).  Rationing of the other articles essentially of cotton could, perhaps, be reviewed every six months until rationing can be entirely abandoned.

E.C. BRUCE MIDLANE. Sydney.

Meanwhile the clothes featured on Winns Autumn and Winter Catalogue for 1948 are very like the clothes on the cover of their 1947 catalogue.

Spring and summer 1948-1949

Histories of high fashion in the late 1940s make it seem as if styles changed in an instant.  Looking at publications like this, however, it becomes clear that fashions worn by ordinary women were only changing by increments.  Once again, Winns has decided to illustrate its summer catalogue with a "Smartly Cut Frock in Marveloon" and a "New Look Rayon-like Linen Two Piece Jacket Suit".

What has changed, however, is that these clothes are no longer valued in "coupons".  After six years, Australian clothes are no longer rationed!

Autumn and Winter 1949

For once there were no fashions illustrated on the cover of Winns catalogue—the store decided to use the space to sell bedspreads and curtains instead!   I took this picture from one of the three coloured pages at the beginning of the catalogue instead (the other two advertised lingerie and hats respectively).  The formal coats and suits have been banished to the black and white pages a bit further on.  By this stage the look is decidedly early fifties, even for casual wear!

Spring and Summer 1949-50

And so we reach the end of another decade.  Once again Winns chose to feature a "frock" and a "jacket suit" on the cover of its summer catalogue, but one only has to look back a year to see how popular fashions have changed.  Waists are nipped in and skirts flare out and fall to calf-length in these grown-up and ladylike outfits.

This Charming Frock is a "Hodgson" production garment... featuring the latest in new pleated back and bow belt... Smartly cut square neck line with embroidered trimming on collar...

SNAPPY JACKET SUIT... that you will be proud to wear.  The snappy little Jacket is effectively trimmed with White Collar and Cuffs; a generously cut skirt swings from the waist.

Die neue Mode bringt Op! (Burda Moden, February 1966)

 Art and fashion are related.  Sometimes they are very closely related.

Op Art (not to be confused with Pop Art) 

exploits the functional relationship between the eye’s retina (the organ that ‘sees’ patterns) and the brain (the organ that interprets patterns). Certain visual stimuli can cause confusion between these two organs, resulting in the perception of irrational optical phenomena, something the Op Artists used to full effect.¹

 In the mid-sixties, the cutting edge of fashion was young and futuristic, and geometric styles and patterns were In.  It's' no surprise, then, that Op Art crossed over into fashion almost as soon as it was born.  The optical effects that looked good hanging on a gallery wall looked smashing when printed on fabric and made into short shift dresses.  Designers in all the fashion capitals picked up the idea and ran with it.

Verzerrte Perspektiven!

4679  Aufgesetzte Balkenblenden verstärken den geometrischen Effekt dieses langärmeligen Modells aus Op-Art-Imprimé.  Weil es so gut zum neuen Stil paß: Das Knie darf freizügig gezeit werden.

[Distorted perspectives!

4679 Appliquéd stripes reinforce the geometric effect of this Op Art printed long-sleeved model. Because it goes so well with the new style: the knee can be exposed freely.]

4680  Op-Art-Kleid aus Baumwolle, mit Blendenkragen in Schwarz-Weiß.  Der Gürtel is echt, under den Längsblenden verbergen sich Schlitztaschen.

[4680 Black and White Op Art Cotton Dress with Placket Collar. The belt is real, slit pockets are hidden under the longitudinal panels.]

 Burda only supplied the patterns for these dresses, not the materials, so it's entirely probable that some cautious souls made these dresses up in less dazzling fabrics.  However I still like to think that a few young women startled the world in these vibrant dresses!

¹ Op Art History Part III - http://www.op-art.co.uk/history/op-art-history-part-iii/

100 Years Ago (The Delineator, October 1922)

 Through this series I've been looking at the fashions of 1922 through the medium of Butterick patterns.  These fashions were everyday fashions, available to anyone with a bit of know-how and the money to buy the pattern and some material.  However, at this date the clothes worn by ordinary women ultimately derived from High Fashion, or Haute Couture, which was only worn by an elite few.  During the 1920s, and for some decades afterwards, fashion was set in Paris. Anyone who aspired to be in the least fashionable kept an eye on what was coming out of the great ateliers of France, which is why The Delineator dedicated a few pages each issue to fashion reportage.

Here are a few Paris designs as described in The Delineator in October 1922.

A narrow skirt of the new length wrapped around the figure, a bloused coat with a belt that rests upon the hip, a chin collar and a pair of excessively smart top boots of fine wrinkled leather and you have Drecoll's idea of a winter costume á la mode.  It is of beige poplatrefine, with a collar of mole.

Drecoll embroiders a primrose yellow velvet with arabesques of white porcelain and dull crystal beads.  A black chiffon scarf falls and flutters in a cascade held at the hip with great ornaments of black jet.  The body makes its own sleeve and the décolletage is the familiar Grecian line.

Patou's dresses are exceedingly simple, but they have an extraordinary cachet from their hand-work, often in the form of insertions of crochet silk that looks like fagotting, of braid or embroidery or of fabric trimming.  On a dress of velveteen he simulates bretelles on the blouse and a tablier on the skirt with insertions of narrow braid and hand embroidery.

With that nicety of design, Patou follows the lines of a plaited skirt with a tablier of narrow tucks in the lower part of the jacket of a Winter suit.  The coat blouses a little at the low waistline, the skirt is longer than last year, and the material is beige velours de laine trimmed with astrakan.

A coat that might be taken as the definition of the coat silhouette of the year is wide through the body, deep through the arm and narrow, but of the same width from its hip to the hem.  It is made of beige buracotta and is trimmed in cape effect at the back with bands of castorette.  From Béchoff.

Russian in line and color and a magnificence that stops just short of the barbaric is an evening cloak of red cloth lined with blue crêpe and embroidered with blue and silver tinsel thread.  The waistcoat and edging are of a brown fur called "mundel" or marmot and the coat is from Béchoff.