As Vogue Patterns was settling in under its new, British ownership, two seasons have gone by without my usual pattern report. I’ve been busy with the campaign to save the beautiful, historic St. Giles church here in Hamilton, Ontario. (If you want to help, please sign the petition here!)
V1777 by Rachel Comey, Vogue Patterns lookbook Spring 2021. Image: Issuu.V1813, Vogue Patterns lookbook Summer 2021. Image: Issuu.
Vogue’s spring cover look is a Rachel Comey dress from the Fall 2019 collection.
Tempo dress, Rachel Comey Fall 2019. Image: Vogue Runway.
A loose midi dress with front pleats, the Tempo dress was shown in stretch poly-rayon suiting and a silk scarf print.
Rachel Comey’s Tempo dress in Pink New Innsbruck. Image: Rachel Comey.Rachel Comey Pre-Fall 2020: Tempo dress in a silk scarf print. Image: Rachel Comey.V1777 by Rachel Comey (2021) Tempo dress. Image: IG Design Group Americas.
For summer, there were two more Rachel Comey dresses, both from Resort 2020. The Lurie dress is silk-blend taffeta with metal mesh trim, in black or Citron:
Rachel Comey Lurie dress in black. Image: Shopbop.Lurie dress in Citron, Rachel Comey Resort 2020. Image: Vogue Runway.V1798 by Rachel Comey (2021) Lurie dress. Image: IG Design Group Americas.
The New Cardiff dress is a longer, topstitched version of the Cardiff dress, which features unfinished hems:
The long, denim New Cardiff dress made quarantine-dressing trend lists early in the pandemic. As seen in Sky or Sherbert denim:
Rachel Comey New Cardiff dress in Sky denim. Image: Refinery 29.Rachel Comey New Cardiff dress in Sky denim. Image: Garmentory.V1799 by Rachel Comey (2021) Cardiff dress in Sherbert denim. Image: IG Design Group Americas.
From Guy Laroche by Richard René, a one-sleeved jumpsuit with attached half-jacket from the Spring 2020 collection. If I’ve translated my Russian right, it is cotton:
Guy Laroche by Richard René Spring 2020. Image: Vogue Runway.Guy Laroche jumpsuit, Elle Russia, June 2020. Model: Catherine McNeil. Photo: Gilles Bensimon. Editor: Vadim Galaganov. Image: Elle.ru.V1790 by Richard René for Guy Laroche (2021) Image: IG Design Group Americas.
Playing with grain and stripes is the focus of two recent Zandra Rhodes patterns. For summer, a dress with bell-flounce sleeves and handkerchief hem:
V1796 by Zandra Rhodes (2021) Image: IG Design Group Americas.
From the Winter release, there was this long-sleeved maxi dress from Rhodes’ Victoriana-inspired Fall 2019 collection, entitled The Golden Hour and exclusive to Liberty.
Zandra Rhodes Fall 2019. Photo: Richard Dowker. Image: WWD.Vogue 1762 by Zandra Rhodes (2020) Image: IG Design Group Americas.
Vogue has gone silent on their #SewTheLook designer adaptations. But in the Spring-Summer patterns, one inspiration is very recognizable — from SHOWstudio’s Spring 2020 free McQueen pattern.
Alexander McQueen Spring 2020 by Sarah Burton. Model: Vilma Sjöberg. Image: Vogue Runway.V1782 after Sarah Burton for McQueen (2021) Image: IG Design Group Americas.
Finally, could the new Vintage Vogue be a Schiaparelli knockoff?
V1809 (2021) Vintage Vogue top, ca. 1947. Model: Caroline Mathis. Image: IG Design Group Americas.V1809 (2021) Vintage Vogue reissue from ca. 1947. Image: IG Design Group Americas.Vogue 6036 (1947) Image: eBay.
Add a high collar and lace trim, and you have a New Look-era Schiaparelli blouse, as seen in Vogue.
Schiaparelli blouse and hat, Vogue, April 1, 1947. Photo: Serge Balkin. Image: Vogue Archive.
Happy New Year! Vintage reissues give a taste of the pleasures of sewing vintage, without the bidding wars and grading. Here is an overview—with rarely seen archival images—of the contemporary vintage pattern lines from Vogue, Butterick, and McCall’s. (Simplicity responded to requests for comment with promotional copy.)
Simplicity 1777 on the cover of the Simplicity catalogue, Early Autumn 2012. Image: eBay.
Deco evening dress pattern Vogue 2241 remains a favourite; I recently came across a version at Toronto’s Spadina Museum. I found an illustration of the original, Vogue S-3543, in a Vogue Patterns news leaflet from December, 1931. The description reads, “Here is a frock that expresses the newest movement of the mode, its originality and charm. It has a slender moulded look from the décolletage to the circular panels that trail slightly on the ground”:
Vogue S-3543 and Vogue 5849 in Vogue Patterns, December 1, 1931.
Butterick donated the original to the Commercial Pattern Archive:
Vogue S-3543 (1931) Image: Commercial Pattern Archive, URI collection. For research purposes only.
Retro Butterick and McCall’s Archive Collection
Both Retro Butterick and McCall’s Archive Collection patterns are recreated and sometimes adapted from archival materials, not the original patterns. With archival images, sticklers for accuracy can restore these adaptations to the original vintage design.
Early Retro Butterick pattern B6408 is based on Butterick 4391, a “Quick and Easy” late 1940s design for an evening gown with hooded scarf:
McCall’s introduced The Archive Collection for Early Fall, 2014. The recent 1920s coat pattern, M7259, is based on McCall 5057, a 1927 design by Agnès:
McCall 5057 by Agnès (1927)McCall 5057 by Agnès in McCall Quarterly, Winter 1927-28.
The Archive Collection’s Deco evening dress, M7154, is based on a design from spring, 1930: McCall 6057. An original copy sold on eBay in June, 2014 for over $800 US.
Catalogue illustration of McCall 6057 after Patou, 1930. Image: PatternVault on Etsy.
The McCall 6057 gown is a couture adaptation: the design is after Patou. Here is the description from McCall’s magazine: “The Patou silhouette is beautifully exemplified in a formal evening gown which has curved bands at the neckline and hipline, a short bolero and inserted panels lengthening the skirt”:
No. 6057 after Patou, McCall’s, April 1930. Illustration: Lebrun.
For more on the McCall Pattern Company’s vintage lines, see We Sew Retro’s interview.
PatternVault 