Richard Tyler recently celebrated his eightieth birthday. In honour of Los Angeles’ master tailor, I’ll be presenting a series on Richard Tyler’s Vogue patterns, licensed while he was head designer for Anne Klein.
The Australian-born Richard Tyler (b. 1946) first learned to sew from his mother, who was a professional dressmaker. At sixteen, he left school to apprentice with a Savile Row-trained tailor. (See his bio at Museums Victoria.) Tyler went on to build such a reputation for impeccable craft that it’s said you can wear his pieces inside out.
Between 1993 and 1994, Richard Tyler designed three collections for Anne Klein. Tyler’s LA rock ‘n’ roll spirit ruffled some feathers at the time, but his brief tenure yielded some licensed designs that are intriguing for sewists.
1. Anne Klein Spring/Summer 1994
Richard Tyler presented his first collection for Anne Klein at New York Fashion Week in late 1993. A neutral palette complemented the finely cut slip dresses and long jackets worn with shorts or miniskirts. The models walked the runway in Anne Klein sneakers, flip-flops, and Wellington boots, their hair pinned back with bobby pins.
Anne Klein’s Spring 1994 ad campaign featured the actor Nastassja Kinski for the main line, with model Debbie Deitering for Anne Klein II. Tyler was also the designer for Anne Klein II, which was also licensed with Vogue Patterns (source: The Independent).
Vogue 1528 is a tucked pantsuit that was prominently featured in the Spring 1994 ad campaign, as worn by Nastassja Kinski. The campaign text describes the jacket as a “bar-tack back one button jacket” pictured in ivory viscose/silk. Matching tucks also shape the pattern’s high-waisted pants. For lightweight gabardine, lightweight wool crepe, and silk-like linen.
(A corresponding shoot appears in Vogue Patterns magazine, but V1528 was not included in that editorial; presumably it had to be ordered through Shop Vogue or the retail catalogue.)
Here’s the envelope description: Misses’ Jacket & Pants. Loose-fitting, lined, below hip jacket has notched collar, shoulder pads, welt pockets, back tucks and long, two-piece sleeves with tucks. Straight-legged, lined pants have raised waist, front tucks, welt pockets and front button and mock fly zipper closing. Purchased top.
It can be tricky identifying pre-1995 designs, without sources like firstVIEW and L’Officiel documenting Fashion Weeks. I couldn’t find a runway match for the V1528 jacket, with it subtle sleeve tuck detail, but two pairs of Spring ’94 pants are close. On the runway, Tyler’s high-waisted pants were styled with suspenders:
(Bonus points if you recognized Canadian supermodel Ève Salvail from The Fifth Element.)
Also from this collection, but published later, is Vogue 1820, a tailored jacket with optional contrast collar. The longer version has back vents and pocket flaps. This design seems to have been introduced in the Shop Vogue section of Vogue Patterns for September/October 1996. For lightweight gabardine, lightweight wool crepe, and lightweight twill; pinwale corduroy for the contrast.
Envelope description: Misses’/Misses’ Petite Jacket. Loose-fitting, fully interfaced, lined, below hip jacket has collar, slightly extended shoulders, shoulder pads, welt pockets and long, two-piece sleeves with button vent. A: contrast collar, back vents and flaps. Purchased top.
This jacket pattern must have stayed in print for at least six years. In 2002, for her first issue as editor, Kathy Marrone reimagined it as a riding jacket on the cover of Vogue Patterns magazine and the Early Fall retail catalogue.
For the Spring 1994 season, U.S. Vogue editors favoured not Tyler’s tailoring for Anne Klein, but his white mini dresses for the label.
Three years later, in spring 1997, American Vogue featured Tyler’s Vogue 1820 jacket in a Steven Meisel editorial, made up in white stretch gabardine and paired with matte jersey separates. View A was “[e]dited by Vogue. Three-button jacket has added patch pockets. The front darts were left out.” Editor Brana Wolf happens to be a fellow Australian, who grew up in Sydney, sewing Vogue patterns.
Next: Richard Tyler’s only Fall collection for Anne Klein.
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