PatternVault

This week, part 2 of my three-part retrospective look at highlights from fifteen years of PatternVault focuses on the middle years, 2016 – 2021. (You can find part 1 here.)

Spotlight on designer patterns

During the next five years, I continued my designer pattern posts, starting with the conclusion to my Oscar de la Renta series and a summery roundup of vintage designer swimwear.

Other designers included Rachel Comey, James Galanos, Gnyuki Torimaru (Yuki), Mugler alum Mei Xiao Zhou for Guy Laroche, Mary Quant, and the great Jean Muir.

The PatternVault blog marked Betsey Johnson’s 75th, Bob Mackie’s 80th, and the 25th anniversary of Unzipped (1995), starring Isaac Mizrahi. For PatternVault’s eighth anniversary, I shared my research on Barbara Hulanicki’s Biba patterns.

In 2017, Paco Peralta became the first Spanish designer to join Vogue Patterns since the 1960s. I was privileged to be able to include Paco’s drawings on the PatternVault blog. The following year I contributed to his post celebrating the centenary of Manuel Pertegaz.

More Patterns in Vogue

In summer, 2016, I started expanding the Patterns in Vogue series with some Patterns in British Vogue, sourced thanks to the Youthquakers blog. (British Vogue needs its own archive.)

From American Vogue, a personal favourite that I got to share in 2019: Nick Knight’s 1994 editorial with Linda Evangelista at Stansted. (A different image from this shoot appeared on the cover of British Vogue‘s November issue.)

I marked John Galliano’s 60th, Anna Wintour’s 70th, and Grace Coddington’s 80th with — what else — Vogue images of patterns (and one knitting pattern). Coddington is the force behind “The Great Plain,” a decades-old editorial that still looks fresh today.

Let’s do the time warp again

During these middle years, my PatternVault costume odyssey ventured into sword-and-sandals territory with posts on official Xena patterns and unofficial Disney Hercules patterns. Fast-forwarding to the 18th century, my post on Outlander costumes proved very popular. This one I also kept updated as the show evolved.

I also enjoyed covering the gossamer lightness of faerie costuming.

Cybergoth was represented in a post on The Matrix. And when the Blade Runner sequel came out in 2017, I wrote about the futuristic-noir original and its influence in “Blade Runner, Fashion, and Sewing Patterns.”

Industry news and Selvedge article

In 2017, I began publishing my seasonal reports on new designer patterns. (I continued producing this popular feature until 2021.)

For Pride Month 2017, I published posts on the year’s rainbow trend (“You and Me and Rainbows“) and accessories designer Bobby Breslau. In 2020, PatternVault marked Stonewall 50.

Founded in 1870, the McCall Pattern Company turned 150 in 2020. To mark McCall’s 150th, I published an article in the Heritage issue of Selvedge magazine about interwar couture patterns called “Maison McCall.”

Marking some milestones

In early 2019, I shared news of the final issue of Vogue Patterns Magazine — first published in 1920, the print magazine had survived for some 99 years. In spring 2020, the PatternVault blog hit one million views. Later that year, I celebrated the centenary of Vogue Pattern Book.

The pandemic

In the first months of the pandemic, I dedicated a post to vintage nurses’ uniforms, as a salute to our health care workers. When the Costume Institute’s About Time show was postponed, I shared a preview of the catalogue.

Everyone (still) loves free patterns

In 2017, SHOWstudio free patterns returned after a hiatus, with a Simone Rocha skirt.

The next year, I shared PatternVault’s first free menswear pattern, LACMA’s Incroyables tailcoat. Other free pattern highlights from these middle years include Callot Soeurs, Mary Quant, Sarah Burton for McQueen, and wunderkind Iris van Herpen.

Next: PatternVault 2021 – 2026

Stay tuned for the third post in my anniversary series, covering years eleven to fifteen of the PatternVault blog.

(Rick Owens! Pucci! Tolkien!)