Vogue Knitting Book No. 38 (March 1951)

I had a lucky find the last time I visited Melbourne: I wandered into a charity shop to see what I could find, and discovered a plastic bag full of  vintage Vogue Knitting Books.  The asking price was $2 for the lot, so I left the shop loaded down with a pile of wonderful magazines like this one:

 

Bell Sleeved Jacket

On the cover, the wide sleeved jacket is shown in colour: a bright flash against fashion-right greys and neutral tones.  Try also jade, crimson.

Wartime Fashions in Australian Home Journal Part I - (1940)

The Australian Home Journal was first published in the 1890s as a vehicle for promoting Australian Home Journal patterns.  By the 1940s it still dedicated many pages to its patterns, but also offered short fiction, knitting patterns, recipes and an agony aunt column— along with fashion advice and gossip about what the Hollywood stars were wearing.

The War years saw world events push their way into women's domestic lives, even in places like Australia which was initially a long way away from the fighting.  Some women stepped out into the world doing jobs and going places they never would have dreamed of before the war.  Others stayed at home—only to find their usual occupations were vital to the war effort.

So let's see what fashion advice Australian Home Journal had for its readers in 1940.

The Day Silhouette

Your skirt remains fifteen and a half to seventeen inches off the ground, but it is full, very full.  It is either flared or pleated except (and the exception is a big one) when you are dealing with a classic taileur or an afternoon suit.  Your waist is nipped in enough to give you hips, rounded hips. 

It is not smart to ignore your curves, and above your waist you must have a bust—small, yes, but rounded. 

Your shoulders are still built out, but rounded also, not angular and military.

Jackets and Suits

Jackets and suits are "musts" and are seen more than ever this season.  They are extremely practical and their advantages are due to the two and three-piece system which permits of many different changes.  New effects can be obtained by uniting different blouses or jumpers with the outer garments.

No Freaks

The average woman is better dressed now than when she allowed herself to be a freak of fashion...  That, thank goodness, is changed, and now women are going in for sensible styles without lending an ear to the freakish dressmonger. 

Be British

There is no fashion trend from Paris or the continent to follow, so women are thrown very much on their own resources.  We have made arrangements to get all the latest fashion modes from England, America and Canada, so that women folk will have plenty to choose from—and these will be "English-speaking fashions."  Perhaps in the past we have been too content to follow the idiosyncrasies of some Viennese or Parisian fashion modeller. We have a chance to strike out now; so "Be British" in your fashions and remain British for all time.

It's obvious that as far as fashion went it was "business as usual" at the beginning of the year.   By the end of the year, it was a different story.  In June the Nazis had overrun Paris, cutting the Allies off from the world's fashion capital.  By December, when the last of these magazines was published, Great Britain was in the middle of the Blitz.   This was an era when Australia still considered itself to be very much part of the British Empire (see paragraph above).  Patriotism and practicality were to be the new fashion norms.

Found Online: "Voice of Fashion" (1897)

Are you a home sewer who enjoys reproducing Victorian fashions?  In that case you might find Voice of Fashion, available courtesy of the Internet Archive, to be a useful resource.

 

The Voice of Fashion was a quarterly publication that presented the latest fashions for women and girls—along patterns for scaling up drafting.  It was produced by the same firm that produced "The Diamond Garment Cutter" (some editions of which are also available on the Internet Archive).

The instructions are a bit sparse by modern standards, so I wouldn't recommend this magazine for a beginner!

Two issues are available online.  The first is from Fall 1897 (illustrated here by page 10, depicting a "ladies afternoon or evening toilet".  And below, from Winter 1897, a "ladies visiting toilet".

"Orlon" Advertisements (1962)

The postwar period was the golden age of man-made fibres.   For a time they were not only seen as being convenient, but classy as well.  With new synthetics coming on the market every day, manufacturers were anxious to promote their fashionable qualities.  In 1962 Du Pont commissioned fashion illustrator Tod Draz to do these stylish advertisements for their acrylic fibre trademarked "Orlon".

"Orlon inspires new Tweed Tones for autumn"—knitted suit with contrasting raised ribbing.  Created by Playfair in pure Orlon.

 

An "essentially simple overpull" (overpull?) knitted in Orlon by Allen Solly and available from Aertex.  "Wash it and wear it, wear it and wash it—ORLON will keep it in shape."

Lightweight cricket sweater with a skirt in the same stitch.  "Knitted in pure ORLON acrylic fibre by SUSAN SMALL".

 

"A washable version of that versatile favourite, the jersey two-piece".  In 70% Orlon with wool by Duala.

"Washable midi-suit" by Peggy Page, made "of double jersey, 70 percent ORLON with wool".  Available for around 9 guineas from John Barker at Kensington "and good stores everywhere".

"Home Fashions" (June 1914)

This very early issue of Home Fashions (only the third published) has 48 pages of vintage ads and fashions for home dressmakers.  Let's take a look and see what conventional dressers were wearing during the last days before the First World War.

The front cover is foxed, and appears to have some mold damage, but the details of our young tennis player's costume are still clearly visible.  And how active and modern she looks!  Her blouse (the free pattern that originally came with the magazine) is open at the throat and the armholes are cut with enough ease to allow her plenty of movement.  The skirt, plain except for a few buttons near the hem, reveals the wearer's ankles and a fair bit of one shin.

This is a sports costume, but outfits like this could easily be worn for other activities.  The blouse and skirt combo would become a staple in many a war worker's wardrobe in years to come.

For more formal occasions, we have the dresses on the back.  The model in the centre is a "young girl"—or in more modern terms, a teenager.  (You can tell she's not yet an adult by the fact that her hair is down, and her skirt is slightly shorter than the ones worn by the women flanking her.)  They are wearing skirts that descend to the instep, but their costumes are noticeably lighter and more streamlined than those that would have been worn even a few years earlier.

In other words, we have already left the Edwardian era behind and are heading straight towards the 1920s!

"Wake's" Catalogue (Summer 1939-1940)

There is a new way to buy clothes—clothes that always look smart and expensive—and that is the "Wake's Mail Orders" way.

Following the example set by mail order fashion houses of America, the firm of Wake's Mail Orders has designed and printed a most delightful and intriguing catalogue, reproducing from actual photography 1938's choicest styles, fabrics and ideas.  What with beautiful colour printing, and samples of materials attached, the thrill of city shopping is brought to the country home.  Because all their garments are produced under the direction of their overseas buyers, in their own workrooms, and are sent direct to the purchasers, the prices at which they are offered are claimed to be remarkably low.  Other factors which contributed to bring about this happy position are that no big city rents have to be met by the firm, there are no sales people's salaries, no laybys, no credits, no discounts, and no window displays.

(From Weekly Times (Melbourne) Saturday 21 May 1938) 

I haven't been able to find a copy of that first "Wake's" catalogue, but I do own a copy published a year later.  So since a picture paints a thousand words, let's see what was available to the woman shopper in the Southern summer of 1939-40:

"Elle" (1951) and "Shocking Life" by Elsa Schiaparelli

The 23 Juillet 1951 issue of Elle featured a blouse from Boutique de Schiaparelli on its cover:

The Schiaparelli Boutique opened in 1935:

The Schiap Boutique, the very first of its kind, has since been copied not only by all the great Paris couturiers but the idea has spread all over the world, especially in Italy. 

It became instantaneously famous because of the formula of 'ready to be taken away immediately'.  There were useful and amusing gadgets afire with youth.  There were evening sweaters, skirts, blouses and accessories previously scorned by the haute couture.

(From Shocking Life: The Autobiography of Elsa Schiaparelli)

Shocking Life is the unconventional autobiography of an unconventional woman.  It's full of  anecdotes and stories (including a rather hectic account of Schiaparelli's wartime adventures!)  On the flip side Shocking Life is a bit lacking in dates and details—so you mostly get Schiaparelli's impressions of events, not the whens, wheres and whys they happened.  (Schiaparelli also has a rather confusing habit of dropping in and out of the third person in the course of her narrative, typically referring to herself as 'Schiap'!)

 Because of this, it's not the best book to read if you're looking for an insider's view of the fashion industry.  However, it does contain plenty about Schiaparelli's approach to fashion, including her account of creating her original trompe l'oeil jumper, and descriptions of  her disagreements with the Chambre syndicale de la haute couture parisienne.  (Surprisingly, she agreed with her arch-rival Chanel about the positive benefits of being copied, and the futility of trying to prevent design piracy.) On the whole this is a fast-paced and entertaining read, if not a deep and analytical piece of writing.


Shocking Life: The Autobiography of Elsa Schiaparelli
ISBN: 9781851775156
V&A Publications, 2007
First published by J.M. Dent & Sons in 1954