10 Plates from "The Delineator" (May 1903)

The Edwardian era at it's most luxurious and feminine—look at those sinuous, Art Nouveau curves!  Rich women bought their clothes from the great couturiers of Paris, and the rest of the middle class tried to emulate them by shopping at the new department stores, patronizing "little dressmakers" and making their own clothes.  This was greatly facilitated by the invention of paper patterns... like these, produced by Butterick.

The colour plate illustrates a "quintette of charming shirt-waists—all of which are of washable materials".  Then as now, a variety of tops were a wardrobe must!  All the examples here are elaborately ornamented with lace, tucks and embroidery—except for the pattern at top left which was described as a simple design that didn't "require a great deal of trimming".

These look like dresses, but they're in fact shirt-waists with matching skirts!  To the left is an outfit in tucked black taffeta with white ornamentation in lace and white taffeta.  To the right waist and skirt in shirred white silk mull with trimmings of "coarse antique lace".

Another pair of shirt-waists and skirts.  The one on the left is made of "cream-colored voile" with "Irish crochet adding materially to the dressy effect."  The one on the right is described as a "handsome visiting toilette" in "brown satin foulard with an appropriate garniture of filet lace."

Two more shirt-waists and skirts.  Of the one on the left the magazine says, "All-over lace and medallions have never been used so generously as at the present time."  Of the one on the right: "That this will be a "white" Summer is evidenced by the many charming creations exhibited in wool, silk, cotton and linen."

On the left we have another shirt-waist and skirt outfit, made in unbleached linen and ornamented with machine-stitched tucks.  On the right is a "charming toilette of white crash" embellished with hand embroidery.

On the left is a “severely plain” street costume made up in gray Summer weight cloth.  On the right the model is wearing a skirt and “a delightful little jacket called the “coffee coat” or “Monte Carlo coatee””, decorated with lace and ornamental buttons.

Both the figures in this plate wear capes and skirts.  “Jaunty capes”, we are told, “lend distinction to some of the latest and most attractive street toilettes.

On the left we have a “ladies costume” made in Swiss muslin “for informal wear”(!)   On the right is a shirt-waist and skirt.  “With the chemisette which the pattern provides” runs the description, “the waist will be appropriate for street wear”.

That dainty garment on the upper left is a jacket—specifically a “bolero jacket or coffee coat” made of lace, and described as a “jaunty and youthful” style.  The skirt it is paired with has shirred flounces and is bordered with satin ribbon.  On the right is a “ladies costume” in one piece, trimmed with lace medallions.

Lastly, for the boudoir.  On the left we have a “dressing-sack” worn over a “skirt petticoat”.  On the right a “Japanese” wrapper or lounging-robe.   The garment was probably inspired by the kimono, but with its set-in sleeves and shirred neckline, only faintly resembles its model.

Australian Home Journal, November 1933

I found this, at a ridiculously low price, at a charity book fair this weekend.  Sadly, the "4 PATTERNS ENCLOSED" that originally came with the magazine no long exist.

However, the instructions for the patterns still remain, along with suggestions for fabrics, so it's possible to envisage how a home dressmaker would have made them up in 1933.

Figure 1:  Is a "frock with the slight cowl in front [that] has charmed the fashion world this season.  The cowl front is cut magyar; this is of contrast with the floral material appliqued on the sleeves."

Figure 2: "A delightful frock" for "golf, tennis and endless afternoon occasions".

Figure 3: A "demure" child's frock, made in "blue Swiss muslin, with self or contrast bows trimming the front".

Figure 4: "The floral organdies are cool, fresh, and fascinating—the material suggested for this frock, with white organdie frills."

Bustle Dresses (from "Mode Pour Tous", 1888)

Fashion historians call the 1880s the "second bustle era" (as opposed to the "first bustle era" which was the 1870s).  The distinguishing feature of the 1880s bustle was the way it stuck out the wearer's lower back at a 90° angle—and, oh, have you ever seen any fashion so ridiculous?

No, seriously, it's a bizarre style.  And how was it created?  Well let's take a look:

Here we have a contemporary advertisement for a "dress improver" from Myra's Journal of Fashion.  This contraption was buckled around the wearer's waist, and it looks like a fiendishly uncomfortable Victorian torture device.  Notice the springs on the back: presumably they made it possible to push the bustle aside when the wearer wanted to do complicated things like sitting down.

Looking slightly less like a mad scientist's nightmare, is this "muslin skirt" offered for sale in an Altman's catalogue from 1886.  The "steels" holding it out could be removed for washing, which must have been a tedious washday chore.

Lastly, from Strawbridge and Clothier in 1885: another bustle.  This one is made of hair cloth.  It doesn't specify what species the hair came from (probably horse hair), but at least the article in question looks well padded and comfortable to sit on!

"Winter Trends" (1970)

Confession time: I either love the fashions of the seventies or (more often) hate them.  Either way, my reaction is seldom indifference.  This example, from right at the beginning of the decade, falls squarely into my "love" category.

It certainly catches the eye!  The colours are vivid (and coordinated!) and the line is simple.  The bold geometric pattern on the jacket and skirt is striking but simple.  (This in contrast to many of the patterned styles prevalent in the seventies where a variety of different patterns in clashing colours were mixed together.)  All in all you could wear this outfit today—though you might want to change a few of the accessories!

A paragraph inside the magazine tells us that this was part of "the Italian collections", but alas, it doesn't name the designer.

Found Online: "Ponds" catalogues, 1937-1941

"Ponds" was a mail-order business that manufactured and sold women's clothing in Brisbane during  the 1930s and 1940s.  The State Library of Queensland has digitised a handful of their catalogues and put them online.  Taken together they are a wonderful illlustration of what Miss and Mrs Middle Australia were wearing on the edge of World War II.

But why waste time standing here chatting?  On with the main event:

Summer 1937: "Spring is upon us and swings into its stride with a host of new fashions that make their bow—this motion is passed and seconded by the new freedom of these glorious Swing Dresses, created in lovely new materials by Ponds' clever designers."

Winter 1938: "A great deal has been written about "BUYING DIRECT", by us and by others, and as this is our 14th Style Book of Fashions,it isn't easy to find attractive new phrases. On second thoughts it isn't very important either, because thousands of satisfied customers buy again, and again, from each new catalogue"...

Summer 1939: "A change has come over fashions. Suddenly all clothes look young. Suddenly all people look younger. "Little-girl" dresses are therefore the rage and heartbreaking on the "right" girl."

Summer 1941: "Clothes are not yet rationed in Australia but the combined effect of shipping losses, quotas, import restrictions, shortage of fast colour dyes, Defence Department needs, and such like all make for a shortage of popular materials. To overcome that shortage Ponds have used every endeavour; and the beauty of the frocks advertised here speaks for itself."  

"French Fashions Seen Through An Englishman's Eyes" (1947)

Every once in a while, towards the middle of last century, fashion magazines would stop to enquire, "What do men think about the latest women's styles"?  Here, for the enlightenment of its mostly female readership, is the version published in the November 1947 issue of Woman and Beauty.  (Drawings by Gruau.)

Top: Balmain.  Bottom: Christian Dior.

The  Paris collections were shown after the London ones, and a member of our fashion staff who was over there invited tall, dark, attractive Peter Jordon to  view them with her.  Director of a French news agency, he has been a journalist practically since the cradle.  Like most Englishmen he has never seen a dress show and found the first impact a little dazzling.

Hat by Christian Dior: Cocktail suit by Jacques Fath.

 However, he rallied swiftly and shook us by alleging that the figures of the professional mannequins weren't normal and that he much preferred Mr Cochran's Young Ladies!⃰  He thinks the latest Paris fashions beautiful, if a trifle too exotic for English life today.  Here are the ones he liked and why.

(⃰Mr Cochran's Young Ladies—a popular troupe of chorus girls at the time.)

Hat by Legroux: Suit by Jean Dessès.

So there we have it—the New Look at its newest and most shocking, and one man's reaction to it.

These types of articles continued to be published until the 1970s  (I own a splendid example where The Man on the Street is asked what he thinks of the midi-skirt!) but they faded out sometime in that decade.  I'll leave you to decide whether it was because fashion became so fractured that this kind of question became meaningless,  or because Women's Lib meant that women no longer cared what men in general thought about their clothes!

Advertisements for Myer (1983)

Myer was (and still is) a department store based in Melbourne and with branches all around Australia.  I found these advertisements for the store in a 1983 issue of Vogue Australia.  

Some of these outfits obviously owe a debt to the New Romantics.  The picture above shows the model dressed like a cross between a pirate or a cossack.

Speaking as someone who was around in 1983, the hair and makeup on these models is clearly exaggerated.   You would have been unlikely to encounter anyone quite like this on the streets—though you might have found someone trying to emulate these looks in a nightclub or at an expensive party.

Some slightly more subdued clothes here...

... And some late-70s, early 80s classics.

The thing to note about all these clothes is they weren't cheap.  (Who takes out full page advertisements for cheap clothes in Vogue?)  They were created in France and Germany and imported by Myer to Australia.  The potential buyers of these fashions would have been well-to-do women, almost certainly a bit older and a bit more conservative than the models wearing them in these ads!