The Epitome of Fall Chic
September 22, 2016 § 4 Comments
Butterick Fashion Magazine, Fall 1935. Illustration: Myrtle Lages.
To celebrate the first day of autumn, here’s a vintage Butterick cover from fall, 1935.
The fur-collared cover look is Butterick 6399, “A brief and buttoned jacket, snugly fitted and collared with badger or wolf, plus a skirt worn shorter than the length you’re used to—these make the suit the epitome of fall chic.”
For more on vintage fur, both natural and faux, see Fur Cloth for Fall.
Patterns in Vogue: How to Make the Most of a Beautiful Print
September 18, 2016 § 2 Comments
Detail, British Vogue, October 1, 1970. Photo: Clive Arrowsmith. Model: Ann Schaufuss. Image: Youthquakers.
How to make the most of a beautiful print? As an early ’70s British Vogue editorial puts it, “Cape it… blouse it… kilt it.”
The Clive Arrowsmith editorial features Ann Schaufuss in three Vogue patterns that present the silhouettes of fall 1970 in glowing, ink-coloured prints. From Nina Ricci, Vogue 2406 is an “enveloping berber cape” and sleeveless dress made from two Staron fabrics in the same “glass-flower” print: a luxurious wool-viscose-polyamide for the cape and panne velvet for the dress, available at Harrods and Gasmey, London.
Vogue 2406 by Nina Ricci, British Vogue, October 1, 1970. Photo: Clive Arrowsmith. Model: Ann Schaufuss. Image: Youthquakers.
The second look pairs a yoked, full-sleeved blouse, Vogue 7538, and long Miss Vogue kilt Vogue 7889. The blouse is turquoise silk crepe de chine from Gasmey, while the kilt is Bombyx rayon panne velvet in a green and jewel-toned print, available at Liberty (boots to order at The Chelsea Cobbler):
Vogue 7538 and 7889 in British Vogue, October 1, 1970. Photo: Clive Arrowsmith. Model: Ann Schaufuss. Image: Youthquakers.
The boho Baba Yaga look may not be to everyone’s taste, but velvet and early ’70s style are trends for fall 2016… Time to dig out some vintage prints?
(See Youthquakers for more of the October issue.)
Jean Muir: Vogue Patterns
September 13, 2016 § 7 Comments
A Jean Muir look on the cover of British Vogue, February 1973. Photo: David Bailey. Model: Susan Moncur. Image: eBay.
Jean Muir was the only designer to ascend from Butterick Young Designer to Vogue Couturier. (See my post on Jean Muir’s Butterick patterns here.) This week, a look at Vogue’s Jean Muir patterns from the early 1970s to the mid-1980s.
Jean Muir sketches on display in the National Museum of Scotland’s new galleries. Image © National Museums Scotland
Pattern pieces for a Jean Muir dress, Spring 1980. Image © National Museums Scotland.
1970s
Jean Muir was introduced as a new Vogue Couturier in Vogue Pattern Book’s first issue of 1972. Three Muir designs (Vogue 2663, 2664, and 2646) were pictured throughout the magazine, but only the last two appear in the designer feature: Vogue 2664’s full-sleeved dress in saffron jersey, and Vogue 2646’s evening dress and matching short shorts in bone-coloured matte jersey. The model on the right is Joyce Walker (click to enlarge):
“Introducing Jean Muir” — Vogue 2664 and 2646 in Vogue Pattern Book, February/March 1972.
Posing for Richard Avedon, Faye Dunaway wears a Jean Muir dress with handkerchief sleeves:
Faye Dunaway in Jean Muir, Vogue, March 1973. Photo: Richard Avedon. Image: The Fashion Spot.
This dress with gathered centre panels and shirttail hem was featured on the counter catalogue in a lush floral print:
Vogue 2804 by Jean Muir (1973) Image: Etsy.
Vogue 2804 by Jean Muir, Vogue Patterns catalogue, May 1973. Image: eBay.
Vogue 2884 is an evening dress with raised waist and pintuck details. The back is particularly elegant (available in the shop):
Vogue 2884 by Jean Muir (1973) Image: PatternVault on Etsy.
David Bailey photographed Anjelica Huston in an olive version—with matching cloche—for British Vogue:
Jean Muir olive suede-trimmed angora dress and cloche, British Vogue, September 1, 1973. Photo: David Bailey. Model: Anjelica Huston. Image: Youthquakers.
Muir ensembles often involve matching hats, and her patterns sometimes include a head covering. This pattern has three (click to view in the PatternVault shop):
Vogue 1148 by Jean Muir (1974) Image via PatternVault on Etsy.
A news cover illustrated by Michaele Vollbracht recommends wearing View C’s ‘ScarfCap’ with a ‘BigDress’ for fall ’75:
Vogue 9239 with Vogue 1148 by Jean Muir, Vogue Patterns Eye on Fashion, September 1975. Illustration: Michaele Vollbracht. Image: eBay.
Vogue 1153 has characteristic Jean Muir dressmaker details—radiating Deco pintucks, tucked sleeves, released pleats, and contrast topstitching. The recommended fabrics include lightweight synthetic knits, matte jersey, tricot knits, and wool jersey:
Vogue 1153 by Jean Muir (1974) Image: Etsy.
On assignment for Vogue, Deborah Turbeville photographed Muir with models in her all-white apartment:
Models with Jean Muir in Vogue, February 1975. Photo: Deborah Turbeville. Models: Paddy Grey and Clio Goldsmith. Image: What Goes Around Comes Around.
Jean Muir with models in her suede dresses: Louise Pleydell-Bouverie, Clio Goldsmith, and Paddy Grey, for Vogue, February 1975. Photo: Deborah Turbeville. Image: the Wapping Project.
Turbeville’s legendary Bathhouse series includes a Jean Muir Liberty-print smock:
Right: Jean Muir Liberty print smock dress, Vogue, May 1975. Photo: Deborah Turbeville. Stylist: Polly Mellen. Image: the Fashion Spot.
1980s
Vogue 2399’s full-sleeved dress was previously seen in my Iman post:
Vogue 2399 by Jean Muir (1980) Model: Iman.
Vogue 2463 reinterprets Muir’s trademark cut-in sleeves and pin-tucked bodice for the early ’80s:
Vogue 2463 by Jean Muir (1980) Image: Etsy.
Vogue 1123’s two-piece dress arranges pleated volumes around smooth central panels:
Vogue 1123 by Jean Muir (1983) Image: Rusty Zipper.
The latest Jean Muir Vogue pattern I’ve seen is Vogue 1502, a jacket and skirt. The unlined jacket has deep kimono sleeves and a broad waistline tuck:
Vogue 1502 by Jean Muir (1985) Image: Etsy.
Postscript
Style Patterns—by then owned by Simplicity—produced this dress pattern to accompany Channel Four’s 1993 television series, Very Jean Muir. The pattern is found in the National Museum of Scotland’s Jean Muir Collection:
Channel Four / Style 0526 by Jean Muir (1993) Image: eBay.
Jean Muir’s dedication to the craft of fashion design gives her work a special appeal for home sewers. When Leeds Art Galleries mounted a travelling Jean Muir exhibition, dressmakers brought their Vogue patterns for her to sign.* Have you made any Jean Muir patterns?
* Maureen Cleave, “Makers of Modern Fashion: Jean Muir,” Observer supplement, September 21, 1980.
Jean Muir dress, British Vogue, September 15, 1973. Photo: Eric Boman. Model: Grace Coddington. Image: Beauty is a warm gun.
Karen Kain in Jean Muir, Vogue, November 1975. Photo: David Montgomery. Image: Barefoot Vintage.
Punched suede top and matte jersey skirt by Jean Muir, British Vogue, February 1973. Photo: David Bailey. Model: Donna Mitchell. Image: Youthquakers.
Jean Muir: Butterick Patterns
August 28, 2016 § 2 Comments
Jean Muir for Jane & Jane, Butterick Home Catalog, Spring 1965.
This summer, after extensive renovations, the National Museum of Scotland opened its new galleries, including a Fashion and Style gallery. Jean Muir’s archive is housed in the museum, so the new gallery returns this important collection of her work to public view. To celebrate, I’ll be posting a two-part series on Jean Muir sewing patterns.
Box with slides from the Jean Muir Collection. Image: National Museum of Scotland.
Though born in London, Jean Muir (1928-1995) is often called “the Scottish Chanel.” Muir began her career working at Liberty London. She was the designer for Jaeger before winning backing for her first label, Jane & Jane, in the early 1960s; she also designed for Morel London. In the fall of 1966 she founded her own company, Jean Muir Ltd. Acclaimed for her precise cut in jersey, leather, and suede, she preferred to be called a dressmaker.
Jaeger advertisement illustrated by René Gruau, 1957. Image: Jaeger.co.uk.
Muir and her designs are featured in Life magazine’s 1963 portfolio (headlined “Brash New Breed of British Designers”) on what was then called the Chelsea Look.
Jane & Jane “granny” dress at the Royal Hospital Chelsea, Life magazine, October 18, 1963. Photo: Norman Parkinson. Image: Google books.
Jean Muir licensed patterns with Butterick’s Young Designers line into the early 1970s.
1960s
In early 1965, Butterick introduced Jean Muir of Jane & Jane with four designs in the Spring 1965 catalogue (click to enlarge):
“From London: Designs by Jane & Jane,” Butterick Home Catalog, Spring 1965.
Butterick 3495 and 3494 by Jean Muir for Jane & Jane, Butterick Home Catalog, Spring 1965.
This simple Jane & Jane dress is accented with two narrow tucks above the hemline:
Butterick 3609 by Jean Muir of Jane & Jane (ca. 1965) Image: PatternVault on Etsy.
The tucks on Butterick 3609 recall the single, broad hemline tuck on this Jane & Jane dress photographed by David Bailey in Kenya:
Jane & Jane wool dress with secretary bird, British Vogue, February 1965. Photo: David Bailey. Model: Sue Murray. Image: Youthquakers.
This mod, A-line dress is trimmed with buttons and topstitching (click to view in the shop):
Butterick 3722 by Jean Muir of Jane & Jane (ca. 1965) Image: PatternVault on Etsy.
The young Grace Coddington posed in the sleeveless version for British Vogue:
Jane & Jane dress in British Vogue, March 15, 1965. Photo: Eugene Vernier. Model: Grace Coddington. Image: Youthquakers.
Previously seen in my Celia Hammond post, this Jane & Jane dress has a standing neckline, raglan sleeves, and Muir’s trademark tiny button trim:
Butterick 4153 by Jean Muir of Jane & Jane (ca. 1966) Image: Vintage Patterns Wiki.
Within a year of founding her own company, Muir saw her double-breasted ‘cavalier’ coat on the cover of British Vogue:
Coat by Jean Muir, British Vogue, August 1967. Photo: David Bailey. Model: Jean Shrimpton. Image: Youthquakers.
Burnished orange and navy blue striped cavalier coat in Garigue wool by Jean Muir, British Vogue, August 1967. Photo: David Bailey. Model: Jean Shrimpton. Image: Youthquakers.
With its shoulder yokes and double-breasted front, Butterick 5242 is a similar design:
Butterick 5242 by Jean Muir (ca. 1969) Image: Serendipity Vintage.
Muir’s signature topstitching and shoulder yokes define the details on Butterick 4937, a sleeveless dress illustrated on the cover of the August 1968 news leaflet:
Butterick 4937 by Jean Muir on the cover of Butterick Fashion News, August 1968. Image: Vintage Patterns Wiki.
The pattern envelope shows the dress with and without the low-slung belt carriers:
Butterick 4937 by Jean Muir (ca. 1968) Image: Etsy.
David Bailey photographed a similar Jean Muir belted jumper in green Harris tweed:
Jean Muir jumper in British Vogue, October 15, 1967. Photo: David Bailey. Model: Sue Murray. Image: Youthquakers.
1970s
Previously seen in my Mad Men-era Butterick Young Designers post, Butterick 5657 is the kind of fluid jersey dress Muir became known for:
Butterick 5657 by Jean Muir (ca. 1970)
The design is from Muir’s Fall 1969 collection—photographed here in cloud grey jersey:
Jean Muir jersey dress, British Vogue, August 1969. Photo: David Montgomery. Model: Moyra Swan. Image: Youthquakers.
Butterick 5954 was shown in both mini and midi lengths; the recommended fabrics include jersey, knit, and synthetic knits. The contrast cuffs and bib front give the opportunity for colour blocking or print mixing as in the Liberty-style illustration (available in the shop):
Butterick 5954 by Jean Muir (ca. 1970) Image: PatternVault on Etsy.
Before Butterick switched to illustrations only, there was a growing disparity in quality between pattern and editorial photography. Here it obscures the potential of Muir’s tucked and colour blocked peasant tunic:
Butterick 6222 by Jean Muir (ca. 1971)
Jeanloup Sieff photographed a similar dress-and-knickers ensemble for an editorial in Nova magazine:
Chiffon dress and knickers by Jean Muir, Nova, March 1972. Photo: Jeanloup Sieff. Editor: Caroline Baker. Image: Miss Peelpants.
The latest Jean Muir Young Designer pattern I’ve seen is Butterick 6398, a high-waisted dress with tiny self ruffles, button trim, and optional contrast sleeves and hemband:
Butterick 6398 by Jean Muir (ca. 1971)
I’ll close with this 1970 Norman Parkinson photo of a Jean Muir dress and turban in Monument Valley, in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery:
Jean Muir dress, British Vogue, January 1971 (1970). Photo: Norman Parkinson. Model: Jan Ward. Image: the National Portrait Gallery, London.
Next: Jean Muir’s Vogue Couturier patterns.
In memoriam: Sonia Rykiel
August 27, 2016 § Leave a comment
Sonia Rykiel ensemble, Vogue, January 1975. Photo: Deborah Turbeville. Image: The Fashion Spot.
Farewell to Sonia Rykiel—designer, author, queen of knitwear. She will be missed.
Patterns in Vogue: Cotton Landscape
August 16, 2016 § 1 Comment
Detail, British Vogue, June 1965. Photo: Brian Duffy. Model: Pattie Boyd. Image: Youthquakers.
In 1965, Brian Duffy photographed Pattie Boyd for a patterns editorial, “Cotton Landscape,” in British Vogue. The editorial opens with Boyd posing in Oliver Goldsmith sunglasses and an Op Art playsuit:
“Cotton Landscape: Pretty Dazzling” – Vogue 6491 in British Vogue, June 1965. Photos: Brian Duffy. Model: Pattie Boyd. Image: Youthquakers.
Boyd’s playsuit was made using Vogue 6491, a Young Fashionables pattern for a hooded ‘jump suit,’ bikini, skirt, and pants. As the caption says, “Powerhouse zigzags, electric pattern on a beach playsuit made to dazzle, not shock. Shorts shaped with a long front zip, smashing hood, and long cuffed sleeves.” The suit was made in Cepea navy and white cotton “with a Calpreta permanent sheen finish,” available from Bourne & Hollingsworth and Civil Service Stores.
For more of the June issue, see Youthquakers.
Pattie Boyd wears hooded jumpsuit Vogue 6491, British Vogue, June 1965. Photo: Brian Duffy. Image: Youthquakers.
Designer Swimwear: Vintage Patterns
August 9, 2016 § 6 Comments
McCall’s 7138 by Bob Mackie on the cover of McCall’s news, July 1980.
It’s been another hot summer here in Toronto. One of my earliest blog posts, Heat Wave!, surveys vintage beachwear patterns. This summer, let’s take a look at a more elusive beast: designer swimwear patterns.
1950s
The earliest pattern I’ve seen for designer swimwear is Pucci’s strapless one-piece, McCall’s 3977. This pattern was available in Junior sizes only. The suit was lined in jersey, and could be made with or without the brightly coloured appliqués:
McCall’s 3977 by Emilio Pucci (1956) Image: eBay.
1960s
From another Italian designer, Irene Galitzine, Vogue 1288 is a pattern for a bikini, dress, and hat. The bikini consists of a cropped, cowl-neck blouse and bikini pants with side ties:
Vogue 1288 by Irene Galitzine (ca. 1963) Image: eBay.
1970s
The 1970s were the heyday of designer swimwear patterns, often with a coordinating coverup, and always for stretch knits. Vogue 1416 is an early design by Donna Karan; from Anne Klein’s collaboration with Penfold, the pattern includes both a maillot and a halter bikini:
Vogue 1416 by Donna Karan at Anne Klein for Penfold (1976) Image: Etsy.
From Bill Blass, Vogue 1455 includes a two-piece swimsuit with bra top and bikini briefs:
Vogue 1455 by Bill Blass (1976)
John Kloss licensed a number of swimwear designs with Butterick. This ad promotes his patterns with a poolside photo of Butterick 4808:
Butterick 4808 by John Kloss, Butterick advertisement, 1976. Image: eBay.
Another Butterick designer, Gil Aimbez, designed this one-piece bathing suit. Contrast bias binding outlines the cut-away sides and bodice seaming detail:
Butterick 5449 by Gil Aimbez (ca. 1977) Image: Etsy.
Like the Anne Klein Penfold pattern above, this Penfold pattern includes both one-piece and halter bikini bathing suits. The one-piece and bikini top are cut on the bias:
Vogue 1655 by Penfold (ca. 1977) Image: Vintage Patterns Wiki.
Both Penfold patterns can be seen in a Vogue Patterns editorial photographed in Antigua:
Beach beauty: halter bikini Vogue 1416 by Donna Karan at Anne Klein for Penfold, Vogue Patterns, May/June 1977. Model: Clotilde. Photo: Albert Watson. Image: the Fashion Spot.
Vogue 1655 by Penfold with Vogue 9808, Vogue Patterns, May/June 1977. Models: Lisa Cooper and Clotilde. Photos: Albert Watson. Image: the Fashion Spot.
From spring, 1978, Vogue 1893 seems to have been the only Catalina pattern. Instead of a coverup, it includes three styles of bathing suit: low-backed view A, strapless view B with built-in boning, and blouson view C is a two-piece:
Vogue 1893 by Catalina (1978) Image: Etsy.
The magazine recommended making the Catalina suits in Thompson of California’s “second skin Tic Toc warp knit polyester crepes” in various prints:
Vogue 1893 by Catalina, Vogue Patterns, May/June 1978. Image: Vintage Goodness.
1980s
From 1980, McCall’s 7109 includes three one-piece swimsuits by the Italian label Basile: a mock wrap, belted halter-neck and variations on the strapless suit with gathered bust (available in the shop):
McCall’s 7109 by Basile (1980) Image via PatternVault on Etsy.
Jerry Hall (right) seems to be wearing the view A style in this Basile ad photographed by Irving Penn:
Basile advertisement in Vogue Italia, 1980. Photo: Irving Penn. Models: Michelle Stevens and Jerry Hall. Image: the Fashion Spot.
Also from 1980, Bob Mackie’s strapless, colour-blocked swimsuit, McCall’s 7138, was photographed for the July counter catalogue and news leaflet (seen at the top of this post):
McCall’s 7138 by Bob Mackie (1980) Image: Etsy.
1990s
Finally, this early ’90s DKNY pattern, Vogue 2897, is labelled ‘dress and bodysuit,’ but was photographed as beachwear:
Vogue 2897 by DKNY (1992) Image: Etsy.
After a long swimwear pattern drought, the big pattern companies seem to have noticed the renewed popularity of sewing your own, custom bathing suit. For this summer, Simplicity reissued a 1950s bathing suit pattern, Simplicity 4307 / S8139, and The McCall Pattern Company has released a number of new swimwear designs, including one Vogue and two Lisette swimwear patterns.
Two designers with existing pattern licensing, Cynthia Rowley and Rachel Comey, both have swimwear lines. If we voice our support, perhaps we could soon see patterns for Cynthia Rowley surf wear and Rachel Comey Swim…
Wetsuit by Cynthia Rowley for Roxy, 2010. Image: Pinterest.
Willy Somma self-portrait for Rachel Comey Swim, T Magazine, May 2013. Image: nytimes.com.
