Fashion history through DIY culture
Joy Emery, Professor Emerita of the University of Rhode Island and curator of the Commercial Pattern Archive, has died. She was 81.
Emery is the author of Stage Costume Techniques (Prentice-Hall, 1981) and A History of the Paper Pattern Industry (Bloomsbury, 2014), which I reviewed for this blog. Memorial donations may be made to the Joy Spanabel Emery Endowment Fund.
Read her obituary, or a 2016 URI profile upon winning USITT’s Distinguished Achievement Award in Costume Design and Technology.
Tonight at New York Fashion Week, Ralph Lauren celebrates his company’s 50th anniversary. Here’s a look at highlights of Ralph Lauren patterns from the ’70s to the ’90s.
Ralph Lauren started out in menswear, and Vogue Patterns’ first licensing with the brand was for men’s designs. The company released its first Polo by Ralph Lauren patterns in the summer of 1975.
That’s Polo Ralph Lauren on the right in Vogue Patterns’ American Bicentennial issue:
This Polo trench is classic for any gender:
Vogue’s licensing of Ralph Lauren women’s wear began in 1979. The earliest Ralph Lauren women’s patterns are for Annie Hall and Western looks like those shown in his Fall 1981 Santa Fe collection—prairie skirts, fringe, and serapes worn with cowboy boots and concho belts.
Ralph Lauren’s Spring 1984 Safari collection is said to have been inspired by Out of Africa, perhaps with a dash of Picnic at Hanging Rock.
Late ’80s Vogue Career designs by Ralph Lauren feature British model Saffron Aldridge, then the face of the brand.
Tartan was one of the main takeaways from Ralph Lauren’s Fall 1991 collection. (As L’Officiel observed, “For Ralph Lauren, tartan isn’t a fashion, it’s a lifestyle.”) Vogue released two patterns from this collection, a dress and trouser ensemble.
Although the envelope for the dress shows it in solid red, the tartan looks had pride of place on the holiday covers, both Vogue Patterns Magazine and the December catalogue.
The tartan pieces had already been promoted that same season in the Fall ’91 advertising campaign and a Grace Coddington / Linda Evangelista cover and editorial (“A Shot of Scotch”) in Vogue’s September issue.
Some later covers showing Ralph Lauren in a less WASP-y mode:
I’m delighted to introduce my blog redesign. Bear with me as I tweak seven years’ worth of content.
The new format has a more streamlined navigation, as well as increased space for images and an improved mobile experience.
I’ve also added a tip jar. Your contribution can help me maintain this blog without advertising. Thank you!
Let me know what you think, and stay tuned for updates on the shop and other new features.
This week, a free couture pattern from Callot Soeurs.
Callot Soeurs was one of the old couture houses of Belle Époque Paris, founded in 1895 by the four Callot sisters. Not many Callot Soeurs garments survive, and the house is best remembered for its role in the early career of Madeleine Vionnet. But in 2015, the New Yorker published an article on a collection of Callot Soeurs dresses found stored in Villa La Pietra, a Florentine villa that was once home to American heiress Hortense Mitchell Acton. (See Jessamyn Hatcher, “Twenty-One Dresses.”) Click the image below to see the gallery of Acton’s Callot Soeurs gowns.
LACMA’s Callot Soeurs pyjama ensemble includes a delicate top and harem pants—a radical element of the new women’s silhouette. (See my sarouel post here.)
Here are the museum notes:
This thoughtfully crafted hand-sewn and machine-stitched lounging pajama was made bifurcated by the attachment of the skirt length from the center front of the waist to the center back through the legs. Vertical side-front seams of the skirt were sewn with openings for the feet to create a stylized harem pant. The silk charmeuse skirt draped and outlined each leg while silk tassels at the foot openings would have drawn attention to the wearer’s ankles as she walked. A bifurcated garment of any style during the early 1900s was a provocative fashion that challenged ideas about established gender-appropriate dress.
Download the pattern here.
Note: Gridded pattern. Does not include seam allowance.
Back waist length: 52 3/8″ (133 cm)
Notions: 10 spherical buttons, 4 5″ (12.7 cm) tassels, cord, 1/2″ (1.3 cm) bias tape, 3/4″ (1.9 cm) trim, ribbon for plackets, hooks and eyes.
For more historical patterns, see the LACMA Costume and Textile Pattern Project.
Olivia Hussey has an autobiography out, reminding us of a legendary bomb: the musical Lost Horizon. Naturally, there was a pattern tie-in.
Ross Hunter’s Lost Horizon (1973) was adapted from James Hilton’s bestselling novel about Shangri-La, with costumes by the great Jean Louis.
There had been another Lost Horizon, in the 1930s, but it didn’t have music by Burt Bacharach.
McCall’s released at least ten patterns in its Lost Horizon-inspired series. The film opened in March, but the patterns came out later in the year. Two Carefree and Extra-Carefree styles from the series in the Fall 1973 Carefree catalogue:
The pattern envelopes bear a tiny version of the film graphics.
Did the hippie trail reach Tibet? Some of the Lost Horizon-inspired patterns look like contemporary western clothing, but most nod to Jean Louis’ fantasia of traditional Tibetan dress, textiles, and embellishment.
Of the two designs for men and women, this robe was the most popular. The men’s and women’s caftan came with its own embroidery transfers.
Unfortunately there’s no pattern for Hussey’s saffron robes.
Have you seen the new Fall patterns?
Vogue’s cover look is a cropped trench jacket by Sharon Lombardo for Anne Klein. Trousers also included:
The cropped trench is a signature Anne Klein piece, seen in the Fall ’15 (above) and Fall ’16 campaigns. (See my post on Vogue’s Winter/Holiday release.)
From Badgley Mischka, a day-to-evening sheath dress, with cuffed sleeves cut in one with the bodice:
The original is a navy poly-spandex crepe.
Brocade with a rose gold sparkle is the star of this Badgley Mischka cocktail dress with pleated sleeve flounces.
A closeup view on the designers’ site, with a different pattern placement:
The flounce sleeve featured prominently in Badgley Mischka’s Fall 2017 collection—in black lace for the opening look.
Paco Peralta’s new design is an edgy LBD with two-way separating zipper.
Plus, a men’s shirt from the team at Koos van den Akker. Make in a single fabric if print mixing isn’t your thing.
Lauren Hutton frolics in Martinique for McCall’s seasonal pattern book. Hutton wears two-piece swimsuit McCall’s 9704 in orange cotton velour.
More beachwear: Heat Wave! and vintage designer swimwear.
