Mamma Mia: Designer Maternity Patterns
May 12, 2013 § Leave a Comment
Detail of Vogue 1689 (1995) Image via Etsy.
Last year, Peter of Male Pattern Boldness posted a general survey of vintage maternity patterns. Sewing patterns for designer maternity wear have a different history. In honour of Mother’s Day, here is a selection of designer maternity patterns from the ’70s to the ’90s.
The earliest patterns for designer maternity wear that I have seen are by Lady Madonna. (Yes, it’s named for the Beatles song.) A 1971 article in Time magazine, “Modern Living: Bellies Are Beautiful,” partly credits the Lady Madonna label with changing attitudes to maternity wear:
“Maternity clothes have always been designed like the Trojan horse: to hide, disguise and deceive. The wider the dress, the more pleats and folds, the less identifiable the condition—or so traditional pregnancy fashions would have it seem. Lately, however, the shape of things to come has undergone some happy alterations, supplanting voluminous tents and overhanging blouses with jumpsuits and knickers, low-cut evening gowns and even hot pants. Largely through the intervention of the Lady Madonna Maternity Boutique, women can now look great with child.”
Vogue Patterns released Lady Madonna patterns in the late 1970s. (The label later made the switch to Simplicity patterns.) Vogue 2157 is a long, Empire-waisted slip dress; the model is Pat McGuire:
Vogue 2157 by Lady Madonna (1979) Image via Etsy.
American designer Carol Horn also licensed some maternity designs to Vogue Patterns:
Vogue 2394 by Carol Horn (c. 1980) Image via the Vintage Patterns Wiki.
Vogue 2395 by Carol Horn (c. 1980) Image via the Vintage Patterns Wiki.
Around the same time, McCall’s had maternity patterns by Evelyn de Jonge, like this one for maternity separates:
McCall’s 7193 by Evelyn de Jonge (1980) Image via the Vintage Patterns Wiki.
As Peter points out, in the Eighties, even non-maternity styles could be roomy enough to be worn during pregnancy. Style patterns released a number of patterns by Jasper Conran, including this one for a maternity dress or tunic and skirt:
Style 4751 by Jasper Conran (1986) Image via Etsy.
In the early 1990s, Vogue Patterns had designer maternity patterns by Manola, an established New York maternity boutique. This Manola design uses front yokes to control the volume of the dress:
Vogue 1124 by Manola (1993) Image via Etsy.
Designer Lauren Sara already had some non-maternity patterns with Vogue Attitudes when she licensed her maternity line, M by Lauren Sara. This design for an evening-length dress includes a formal, strapless version:
Vogue 1689 by Lauren Sara (1995) Image via Etsy.
Like swimwear, a decade’s maternity wear reveals a lot about its attitudes to the female body. The absence of designer maternity patterns before the late 1970s seems telling. Yet today, Vogue Patterns has again phased out maternity designs…
Clash of the Titans: Goddess Gowns
February 20, 2013 § 11 Comments
Oscar season is upon us, and that means goddess gowns. Goddess gowns usually share elements of classical drapery and the simple construction of the toga and chiton. Here’s a selection of patterns for Greco-Roman-inspired evening wear.
This 1920s evening dress from the House of Worth features elegant back drapery, with a beaded appliqué holding more drapery at the left hip:
McCall 4854 by Worth (1927) Evening dress.
The illustration for this 1930s Lanvin ‘scarf frock’ plays up the classical mood with a fluted pedestal and ferns:
McCall 8591 by Lanvin (1936) McCall Style News, January 1936. Image via eBay.
This late 1940s one-shouldered evening dress has a long panel that can be worn belted in the back or wrapped around the bared shoulder:
McCall 7862 (1949) Evening dress.
Toga-like drapery distinguishes these short, Sixties evening dresses by Pauline Trigère and Jacques Heim:
McCall’s 6599 by Pauline Trigère (1962)
Vogue 1333 by Jacques Heim (1964) Image via the Blue Gardenia.
This late ’60s Yves Saint Laurent evening dress has a classical simplicity, with the bodice gathered into a boned collar:
Vogue 2093 by Yves Saint Laurent (1969) Image via the Vintage Patterns Wiki.
This Pucci loungewear has culottes on the bottom, but still has that ‘goddess’ flavour (modelled by Birgitta Af Klercker):
Vogue 2249 by Pucci (1969) Image via the Vintage Patterns Wiki.
Angeleen Gagliano models this mid-Seventies Lanvin evening dress and toga:
Vogue 1147 by Lanvin (1975) Image via the Vintage Patterns Wiki.
This Pierre Balmain evening ensemble, modelled by Jerry Hall, shows a more literal interpretation of classical dress:
Vogue 2015 by Pierre Balmain (1979) Image via the Vintage Patterns Wiki.
Finally, this jersey gown with beaded waistband, from Guy Laroche by Damian Yee, is an example of the recent trend for goddess gowns:
Vogue V1047 by Guy Laroche (2008) Evening dress.
(From the Spring 2007 Laroche collection, the pattern is still in print.)
“Goddess” was the theme of the 2003 Costume Institute exhibit; the catalogue, Goddess: The Classical Mode (Yale UP, 2003) is still available.
