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.
Mad Men Era 7: Millinery
June 4, 2012 § 3 Comments
Carolyn (Cassandra Jean) in “Tomorrowland” (Mad Men, Season 4)
This week, four milliners who licensed their designs with Vogue in the early Sixties: Sally Victor, John Frederics, Guy Laroche, and Halston.
Sally Victor
Sally Victor (1905-1977) was one of the United States’ most prominent and successful milliners. She began her career as a department store buyer in the 1920s; after her marriage to the milliner ‘Serge’ (Sergiu Victor) she turned to designing hats, first for her husband’s salon and, from 1934, at her own custom millinery studio. Victor was known for her wearable yet sophisticated designs showing a diversity of influences.
Vogue 9992 is a pillbox hat with a large bow on the right-hand side:
Vogue 9992 by Sally Victor (c. 1960) Pillbox with bow. Image via the Vintage Patterns Wiki.
John Frederics
John-Frederics was founded in 1929 by partners John P. Harberger (1902-1993) and Frederic Hirst (1906-1964). The duo designed hats for Hollywood productions including Gone With the Wind (1939), in which Vivien Leigh wore their straw hat. The label has a confusing history because of the partners’ subsequent name-changes: John P. Harberger changed his name twice, first to John Frederics and later, after the partnership dissolved in 1948, to John P. John; he designed solo as Mr. John, and Frederic Hirst as Mr. Fred. (Vogue also had Mr. John patterns in the 1950s.) It was Hirst who continued the John-Frederics label into the early 1960s.
Vogue 5384 is a simple but dramatic toque with fold-over detail and jewel embellishment:
Vogue 5384 by John Frederics (1961) Toque. Image via the Vintage Patterns Wiki.
Guy Laroche
Guy Laroche (featured in my previous Mad Men era post) started out as a millinery designer. I have seen one hat pattern by Laroche: Vogue 5336, described on the envelope back as a ‘profile toque’ trimmed with knot-tied ends. Version B has contrast trim:
Vogue 5336 by Guy Laroche (1961) Toque. Image via eBay.
Vogue 5336 was featured in the August/September 1961 issue of Vogue Pattern Book (second from the left):
Illustration from Vogue Pattern Book, August/September 1961.
Halston
Born Roy Halston Frowick, Halston (1932-1990) also started out as a millinery designer. In 1957 he opened his own hat shop in Chicago; by 1959 he had relocated to New York to design hats for Bergdorf Goodman. He achieved fame as a milliner when Jacqueline Kennedy wore his pillbox hat to John F. Kennedy’s 1961 presidential inauguration. Vogue’s hat patterns refer to him as Halston of Bergdorf Goodman.
Vogue 7082 is a set of flower-like bridal headpieces made of soft fabric ‘petals’:
Vogue 7082 by Halston of Bergdorf Goodman (c. 1965) Bridal headpieces. Image via eBay.
Vogue 7082 was promoted with the wedding dress pattern Vogue 1745 (see pattern images here). The bridal headpieces are similar to this green one, pictured in Vogue magazine in April 1963:
Halston headpiece, Vogue, 1 April 1963. Image via Etsy.
This group of milliners, old and new, seem to reflect the fortunes of millinery in the twentieth century. By the Sixties, Sally Victor and John-Frederics were established labels run by senior designers nearing the ends of their careers, while the younger designers, Guy Laroche and Halston, were to leave millinery to focus on fashion design.
Next: McCall’s New York Designers.
