Sharing another lovely image from 1904. Here are more shirtwaist designs from 109 years ago. The illustrations are just lovely. And the hats! *swoon*.
What I think is particularly interesting is the sleeve design. The placement of the tucks and the way they controlled where the fullness is released, as well as trim or decoration accenting the cuff… simply brilliant!
Click on the image for a larger version you can read.
I just got a few lovely old Ladies Home Journal magazines. This one, from April, 1904, shows us the fashion in shirtwaist decorations from 109 years ago. Maybe you could take these designs and incorporate them into my Edwardian Blouse Pattern.
What is novel about the designs below is that they are adapted from e pretty flourishes and borders that are often seen in magazines of this period. These, of course, come from the Ladies Home Journal. In fact, the blouse just below the title has the same motif as the title decoration. Novel, isn’t it? If you enlarge the article you can read their suggestion for enlarging the designs for use in garments.
Click on the image for a larger version you can read.
Hello all! Long time no post! I’ve been a bad, bad, blogger.
We’re currently working on a new production of His Girl Friday at the La Jolla Playhouse. I’m so excited, and feel so blessed to be working on one of my favorite movies in one of my favorite time periods and years for fashions! They’re setting the play in 1939 and I’m loving the costumes we’re building. Of course, that means I’m wanting to make all sorts of 1939 fashions for myself! Here’s some great images that I’m inspired by, from the Spring and Summer of 1939 Chicago Mail Order catalog.
What I love about this, and several other fashions from the late 1930s, is how some of them actually look like seperates but are actually a dress! These dresses often include a few different fabrics in order to get a very tailored look. In these pages it’s called the “basque styles”.
Even if matching different weight or style fabrics isn’t your thing, these pages are inspiring for what to do with trims. Bows, buttons, ruffles… you can take a relatively simple dress and add a lot of whimsical details to make it more fun.
Although these styles are aimed at juniors, you can tone the proportions or styles down in you don’t want something so playful or “youthful”.
Hope the rest of your weekend is wonderful!
I’m a bit under the weather today, so I figured I should post another set of images in the “Keeping Warm” series.
Here’s two pages of catalog images from 1937-1938 showing coats to be worn in the rain, and outfits for play in the snow.
I find the fabric descriptions pretty fascinating. Rubberized fabrics like silk crepe de chine or cotton tweed, all rubber, or cotton gaberdine or whipcord- which were both supposed to be water repellent on their own. Also notice the sensible headwear, umbrellas, and rubber overshoes (which are made of rubber and hollow in the heel so that you can slip your regular footwear inside. I think they should make a comeback!).
This image shows darling snow wear! I admit I have a love for the vintage ski jackets- but I’d rather wear them in regular life than in ski and snow sports. I think they’d look pretty cute even with modern jeans! I personally think ski and snow wear has come a long way since the 1930s. Although I’ve never tried it in the snow myself, it’s hard to imagine these “water repellant” styles keeping you dry, if you spend as much time as I do falling down or sitting in snow 
These are all mentioned to be lined in cotton Kasha. I have not personally ever run across this fabric. If anyone knows what the modern equivalent is, or if it’s still available, please be sure to let us know!
Wishing you a warm weekend,
Lauren
Now that’s we’ve taken a quick look at what goes on underneath, let’s skip to what goes on top! Many gals have mentioned that layering is what’s needed, since it can be frigid inside and then toasty indoors. Luckily, we can remove the overcoat.
Unlike today, when a girl can choose (or thrift, or make) several coats in one season, our counterparts in the 1930s would have to choose very wisely. Most women had one overcoat, and that coat had to last through several winters. Because of that, overcoats needed to be chosen with great care and thought. It had to match your wardrobe, go with your other clothing, and fit your unique style. This is why, often times, vintage overcoats could be a bit “bland”. The flashy ones were fun, but were more the luxury of women who could afford to have an alternate coat- or else the purchase could be regretted the following year when the fashion forward coat was suddenly out of style! It’s actually a great lesson to take with us into how we select our wardrobe today. Think of it as quality over quantity- or choose a great basic to mix with more inexpensive “fun” pieces, like a quirky hat, bag, or brooch.
However, I am in LOVE with all these more fashion forward versions of coats below. They scream the era they’re from, but aren’t they just delightful with their topstitching detail? (Actually, they’re a glimpse of things to come for Wearing History, since I’ve been back puttering away at a pattern with similar detailing, but from a different era).
The one below has a definate “Gay 90′s” flair, as they called it in the mid to late 30s. What a time to harken back to the 1890s! It’s kind of funny, actually- our harkening to 40 years prior would put us in the 1970′s, and we can’t say that there aren’t fashions floating around today that were influenced by the recent past.
I’ve got more great coat images I can share that fall more in line with “warmth” than “chic”, but these were so fun I had to share.
For past posts of mine with images of overcoats, check out these links:
It’s abnormally chilly here in San Diego! This cool weather has me thinking of things to keep warm.
One of the biggest misconceptions that I’ve seen and heard about dressing the past is our perception of keeping warm. Just like today, our 1930′s sisters layered and selected their cool weather garments with care. Instead of freezing in rayon satin tap pants and sheer hose, with a flimsy rayon crepe dress and jacket of questionable warmth, I’ve got a few posts coming up of images of what you’d wear to keep nice and toasty in cool weather. It’s easy to adapt these ideas to our wardrobe recreations. Remember no one looks chic while they’re shivering!
First up, here’s some great images of knitted underwear. If you’ve looked at vintage knitting books, you may recognize the look of these. Many knitted books contained patterns for wool knitted underwear like these (similar to long johns today). It seems they were especially prominent in UK publications. So, a clever knitter could find patterns today and knit up a set to keep warm- or the seamstress might be able to make up a set inspired by these from knits, or adapt a modern set of long underwear to a similar look (remember, cotton and natural fibres dye, so you could give them a pretty peachy pink look like these below).
Some might be turned off by these- they’re not the satin and lace dainty underwear we’ve come to associate with the 1930′s. But, remember, it’s better to be warm and outwardly stylish than shivering in cold rayon undies that will never be seen! Sense is always chic
Check it out… the original Snuggie!
All of these images are remastered from the National Bellas Hess Fall & Winter Catalog from 1937-1938
You can click on any of the images to take you to my Flickr and see a larger version you can read.
So what do you think? Would you be up for these vintage warm undies, or would you rather wear something modern, or stick with the rayon ones we’ve come to associate with the 1930′s?
Hope you’re having a lovely weekend!
Here’s some pretty things from a magazine in my collection that’s over 100 years old- McCall’s Magazine from December 1908. There’s lots of lovely hats- I’m a sucker for Edwardian millinery… or really anything to do with the fashion, actually.
Click on any of the images to be taken to a larger file on my Flickr.
I’ve added a few of these images to my CafePress shop, too.
Hope they’ve inspired you for your winter millinery creations!
Sharing some more images from the Mirror des Modes, October 1907 issue. Here are some lovely blouses. These give excellent ideas for trimming. It wouldn’t be too hard to modify my Edwardian Blouse Pattern to suit these styles!
And, as before, here’s images of the fashion images alone for you to use. Enjoy!
I recently acquired a lovely bound book containing issues of Le Mirror Des Modes form 1907-1908. I’m super excited to share images with you of these gorgeous illustrations of early 20th century fashions.
Many of you read a prior post about my allergies, one of which is an allergy to the mold that grows on old paper. However, I wasn’t about to give up all of my favorite things, so I have also now acquired a Darth Vader-esque face mask. I may look like a female version of something out of Star Wars (complete with two large pink air filters on either side of my face), but I can carefully handle some of these old papers and keep scanning in articles from my fashion history resources to share. So hurrah for implements to make things better (even if it does take some getting used to). It looks totally awesome when I add my vintage day-to-day 1950s cat eye frames with rhinestones. Just sayin’
But I digress… here is the first post of what I hope will be a regular blog feature of some fabulous Edwardian (or Belle Epoque, rather) fashions from Le Mirror des Modes.
For starters, I wanted to share a “before” and “after” example of what I do to the images I post here after I’ve scanned in the original source material. It takes a while to do, but it truly is a labour of love, and I’m really glad to have finally found others who appreciate these old fashion history treasures.
If you are fluent in French you’ve got an extra special treat, as I’m including scans of the entire article. For the rest of us, however, we must be content to look at pretty pictures. If you do understand what’s written, I’d love it if you would be willing to share any interesting tidbits written here. My French is somewhat questionable, at best
I also have a few of the images themselves here to share for your fashion history research/craft projects
I don’t know what it is about this Autumn, but all of my inspiration is coming from Victorian and Edwardian sources. Here’s some lovely images from a 100 year old catalog in my reference library. These are from Bedell Catalog, Autumn 1912. The inspiration for trimmings on otherwise pretty basic pieces are inspiring. The cut of the back of the Cheviot suit jacket, below, is a delight. Enjoy!
