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…
Free Designer Pattern: John Galliano Jacket
May 9, 2013 § 2 Comments
Model: Louise Pedersen. Photo: Craig McDean. Image via SHOWstudio.
This week’s second punk-inspired pattern puts the ‘couture’ in Chaos to Couture. (The first punk-inspired pattern was by Junya Watanabe—see my post here.) John Galliano’s ‘Pirate’ jacket is the most challenging of SHOWstudio’s Design Downloads, with 63 pattern pieces, all hand-labelled in French. But not to worry: 11 are guide pieces, and most of the French is translated.
Here are side and back views of the jacket:
The ‘Pirate’ jacket is from John Galliano’s Fall/Winter 2001 collection, entitled Techno Romance. Here it is on the runway:
Model: Angela Lindvall. Image via style.com.
The collection mixed glossy synthetics (techno) with delicate sheers and florals (romance): jaunty double-breasted jackets and long coats worn with sailor trousers, and long skirts and dresses, many with the same romantically skewed, off-the-shoulder, one-sleeved bodices as the SHOWstudio jacket. (See Suzy Menkes, “Techno Romance.”) In her short essay to accompany the Design Download, Jane Audas conjures an imaginary history for the SHOWstudio version of the jacket—a story of rebellion in which it was fashioned from the Union Jack, “the flag torn off a captured ship and hijacked as clothing, held together with sail rivets and ties.”
Here are the collection images from L’Officiel 1000 modèles (click to enlarge):
John Galliano Fall/Winter 2001 ready-to-wear. Image via jalougallery.
John Galliano Fall/Winter 2001 ready-to-wear. Image via jalougallery.
Fashion Channel has posted runway video of the collection on YouTube in three parts (jacket at 3:50 of part 2):
Download the ‘Pirate’ jacket pattern
Fabrics requirements: approx. 3 yards of 60″ fabric and 3 yards of lining; interfacing.
Notions: grosgrain ribbon, D-rings, large metal stud, press studs, 2 buckles, eyelets, snaps, cord, elastic, 53 cm (21″) separating zipper.
See the SHOWstudio submissions gallery here. Carolyn E. Moore made the jacket twice. Weatherpixie has posted process photos of her red, white, and blue version on Flickr.
