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.

Suits VII (Vogue Pattern Book, 1955)

 The skirt suit was as popular as ever in the ladylike 1950s.  In 1955,Vogue Pattern Book devoted fully half of its covers to suits.

February-March 1955

"This spring it's pale tweed (like this butter yellow) for suits (like this tapered box jacket suit).  Noteworth: the collar that rolls away from the neckline, the low-placed belt.  Vogue Pattern S-4573."

August-September 1955

"A twelve-month-of-the-year investment... the good little jersey suit.  Here in a bold herringbone in black and white.  News: the bare neck, the spark of red in the hat and gloves.  Vogue Pattern Number S-4625."

October-November 1955

"Tweed, the seasoned green of an early autumn countryside... a suit as relaxed as a day in the country.  News... the follow-through of polished green leather accessories... the park of sky-blue.  Vogue Pattern No. S-4638."

In Glorious Black & White (1972)

 What colours do you imagine when you think of the 1970s?  I see brown and orange, with a dash of olive or avocado green and a bit of murky yellow to liven things up.  In reality, of course, people weren't strictly confined to earth tones during the 1970s.  In that spirit, and in keeping with my recent "colours" theme, I present these images of clothes in classic black and white from 1972.

Lana Lobell, Spring 1972

From Lana Lobell's spring catalogue we have daisy-printed skimmers in black and white.  The dress on the right is in polyester crepe, the one on the left is made of cotton!

Crimplene "Young Originals", 1972

An advertisement for "Crimplene" in the last days before the material moved from the category "fashionable" to the pigeonhole of "dowdy".  The dress is from the Australian label "Lemona" and it is accessorised with very 1970s bright green platform shoes and a matching floppy sunhat.

Style Pattern Book, Summer 1972

Style Pattern 3628 is made up in a white fabric with black polka dots—a fairly simply pattern for a fairly simple look. 

Vogue Patterns, Summer 1972

 

Vogue Patterns also goes for black dots on a white background for Pattern 8355.  "Take the excitement of dots..." the caption begins, 

"Deck that feeling with the season's most significant comback: ruffles.  Trail them all around a wrapped evening dress and stand them at the neck.  At last you can look exactly the way you feel... very romantic, very feminine."

Dots must have been "in" in 1973.  Other photographs in the same section of the magazine shows a black evening dress with white polka dots, and white dress with red!

Vogue Pattern Book, December 1966-January 1967

 With an early winter snapping on the heels of an Australian summer that never quite was, I think it's time to look at coats—like this dazzling specimen below.

Vogue pattern 6970 is for an evening coat in "shimmering silver... with classic trench coat lineage".  It's made up in nylon with a Thermolam underlining.  Very sixties... and dig the model's funky beehive hairdo!

"What To Wear To Work" (Vogue Patterns, Early Spring 1985)

 There was no way I was going to get out of the 1980s without a post about a suit.  It was, after all, the era of the power suit.

This version, designed Joseph Picone, is a classic which could almost be worn today.  I could have picked a more exaggeratedly eighties example, but in the end I went with this one because... the model was wearing a Walkman.  For those not old enough to remember, Walkman was the first personal audio device, the ancestor of today's portable media players.  First released in the West earlier in the decade, the Walkman became a quintessential 1980s accessory (and had a star turn in 1985  in Back to the Future!)