Flair, January 1964

 Sixty years ago, Flair featured this cheerful "playsuit" for wear on the beach.

Our Cover: Looking sunwards, a playsuit of spanking white Arnel sharkskin, amusingly stencilled  with a giant-sized sunflower [you can reverse the jacket back-to-front if you wish . . . makes no difference]; made by Aywan, the set is priced at about £6:15:0...

"Sharkskin", thank goodness, is not made from the real skins of real sharks.  It is a twill-weave fabric with "a distinctive sheen" and can be made from many kinds of fibres.  In this case "Arnel" was the trademarked name of a brand of triacetate fibre.

"Lastex Swimsuit" (Distinction, Spring-Summer 1957-8)

On the cover of Distinction we have a:

 Strapless lastex swimsuit, shirring at top and shirred pants.

As you can see, it's a fairly structured garment.  Though we aren't given any details, it's clear that a lot of internal scaffolding was needed to hold the swimsuit up and mould the wearer's figure into shape.  Lastex had been introduced in the mid-1930s, but was only just becoming popular for swimwear.  Cotton was another popular material for swimsuits in the 1950s, and nylon was starting to make a splash (first used for swimwear in 1956).

Distinction was a bit of an oddity of a magazine.  Published in Sydney between 1948 and 1972, it set out to describe what was in fashion with few words and lots of pictures.  It carried no feature articles and no advertisements, but sold a few dressmaking patterns through its pages.  Its pictures were largely uncredited (which makes me wonder whether some of them were pirated from other magazines).  While it's a great reference for mid-century fashions, I'm left wondering who was its intended readership.  Perhaps it was aimed at people in the rag trade looking for designs to copy?

Anyway, here is some of the magazine's advice to readers in the Australian Spring and Summer of 1957-58:

Waistlines have moved again; this time to a position 2 or 3 inches above the natural waist, demanding attention by high placed belts, wide cummerbunds, draping and short jackets...

Shorter sleeves will play an important role for warm weather practicality.  Capelet and balloon sleeves vie with the dolman, set-in and unmounted styles for popularity.

Hemlines for street dresses remain approximately the same position, perhaps an inch longer, but certainly no more.

More detail is given to skirts, they look freer and easier, but it really isn't so—they are still basically slim.  This illusion is created with pegged skirts being curved at the hipline but tapered below...

The mood for absolute femininity is expressed in fashion by the use of soft clinging fabrics...

Fun In The Sun (Vogue Patterns, January 1948)

Recently I got hold of a Vogue Patterns counter catalogue from 1948.  Needless to say I'll be posting a lot of scans from it in the future!  For today I thought I'd start with some pictures of bathing suits and beachwear from the catalogue's "Work and Play" section. 

5766 One-piece Bathing Suit

A one-piece bathing suit with interest added by shirring.  The pattern was designed to be made up in either rayon or wool jersey.  By the 1940s there were swimsuits made of new, water repellant fabrics—such as lastex—but they don't appear to have been available for home dressmakers.

The Lammermoor Dress (Girl's Own Paper, January 31, 1891)

 The "Lammermoor" dress was probably named for Walter Scott's historical novel The Bride of Lammermoor.  The jacket is styled after an early 18th century gentleman's frock coat, with wide skirts, flap pockets and deep cuffs.  The little tricorne hat perched on the model's head completes the effect.   However, there are also many details that mark the jacket as being from late nineteenth century, including the basque bodice, the leg of mutton sleeves, and the deep revers exposing the high-necked bodice beneath.

The Lammermoor coat was available as a pattern from the Girl's Own Paper:

In our illustration of the "Lammermoor Dress" we show one of the long-waisted jackets such as that unhappy bride is supposed to have been arrayed in; and for our paper pattern we have selected the same, as these long coats or jackets, with their long coat-basques, will unquestionably be worn for some time to come.  They seem becoming, too, to nearly all figures save the very short and stout, and they go well with the plain skirt which is now worn...

The paper pattern for the month, as we have said, is a "Ravenswood", or a "Lammermoor Jacket",  which will be suitable for serge or cloth, and for use as a walking or indoor jacket, to be worn on mild days with a boa or ruff.  There are twelve pieces, and great care must be taken to bone the bodice firmly, and put in the linings evenly and neatly.  The long basque will need lining with silk, or if not, with sateen; and unless in the hands of a good fitter, the home dressmaker may fail in both the ways suggested, unless very careful.

(That last is somewhat discouraging advice for home dressmakers!)

What We Wore In '74: Beachwear (David Jones, Spring and Summer 1974)

 This year I'm going to do a series of posts looking back fifty years to the styles of 1974, an era which seems at once strangely modern and a very long time ago.    And since it's now the Australian summer, what better place to start than looking at what we wore at the beach?

F: You'll have it all wrapped up in this nifty beach wrap.  Drop shoulder style makes for comfort and of course it's styled in Bri-Nylon—what else?

G: Itsy bitsy, teeny weeny bikini.  A little nothing to turn heads on the beach this season.  Elasticised under the bust and back strap.  Fibre filled bra to give shape while still looking natural.  Bri-Nylon.

A: Handy chenille cover-up...

B: Comfortable hip-length cover-up...

C: Cool bias stripes on jersey...

D: Snappy shift to match bikini...

E: Ada jersey bikini.  Fibre filled bra, 3" side brief.  Fully lined...

F: Long-singlet shift in carefree cotton/nylon towelling.  Crisp stripes on white with flattering neckline and silver ring trim.

In spite of the number of "cover-ups" for sale, 1974 was the heyday of the deep, dark, fashionable tan.

Bikinis are front and centre in this catalogue, though a few one-piece swimsuits lurk around the edges.  You'll notice that there are no "string bikinis" for sale.  They had just been introduced in 1974 and were presumably still so new that David Jones didn't have time to include them in their catalogue.  However, The Australian Women's Weekly had things covered (or not so covered), with a pattern for a string bikini included in it's October 30 issue.