Slip Into Something

I am an admitted old movie addict. You know that line where the femme fatale says, "Let me slip into something a little more comfortable...". These pajama sets are what she was talking about. Ah, those were the days, when sweatpants and oversized t-shirts didn't exist!

Pale peach silk charmeuse pajamas from the 1930's.

Luxurious rayon satin pajamas from the 1940's.

Asian influence rayon pajamas, also from the 1940's.

See these pajamas and more at Couture Allure Vintage Fashion .

Interesting Details

I don't think there is anything sexier than a vintage 1940's suit. Fitted through the waist, with flared hips and shoulder pads to balance the hip width, nothing is more flattering to the feminine figure. As an added bonus, these suits always feature unusual design details that make them totally unique and unlike anything you can buy today.

This particular beauty is fashioned from a black and brown boucle knit. The designer has decided to use a plain boucle for the A-line skirt and a co-ordinating plaid boucle for the jacket. The lines of the plaid are very subtle and are fashioned from an ombre yarn in the primary colors of the rainbow. If those lines in the plaid were any larger, it would be too much, but the single strand of yarn makes this suit go from good to gorgeous!

Note how perfectly the plaid is matched from the body of the jacket across to the sleeves. To get this right, the pieces of the jacket must be laid out on the fabric with great care when cutting. Then the seamstress has to get those lines matched up perfectly when sewing the garment. As a final touch, the collar and lapels have been finished with topstitching in the ombre yarn.

I also like the fact that the back darts have been placed in such a way that the vertical lines of the plaid form a gentle curve, serving to visually make the waist smaller.

See this suit and more at Couture Allure Vintage Fashion .

Individuality Takes Over

In the late 1960's, we begin to see the influence of "streetwear" on fashion designers. By 1968, young fashionistas had begun to wear clothing found in antique stores, army-navy outlets, and shops selling ethnic imports. It became important for young people to have their own individual and unique look. Designers soon caught on, and in 1968-69, peasant, gypsy, and ethnic looks were prevalent in body skimming styles.

This exotic dress in a high quality cotton is printed with a Far East Indian block print. The gentle A-line shape and bell sleeves are typical of the era.

See this dress and more at Couture Allure Vintage Fashion .

Inspiration Part 2

Designer Vera Neumann was greatly talented with colorful graphic designs for her textiles. Whenever I encounter a bright, splashy print in a simple dress or scarf, I can almost always be assured of finding the Vera signature in the lower right corner. Such is the case with this simple 60's cotton shift dress. Vera has taken inspiration from the colorful handcrafted tie dyes of the hippies, and made a more sophisticated version for the "Ladies Who Lunch" set.

A bright print like this is sure to cure those "End of Winter" blues! See this dress and more at Couture Allure Vintage Fashion .

Inspiration Comes from Anywhere

In the March 2006 issue of Bazaar, there is an interview with designer Marc Jacobs on the occasion of the opening of the latest Louis Vuitton store in Hong Kong. Marc speaks about design inspiration when he states, "Everything I see and do gets digested and comes out (in my designs) someway, somehow." Designers have a distinct way of looking at the world around them and translating what they see into something new and beautiful.

Take beadweaver and designer Susan Mandel as an example. Sue just bought this lovely Victorian era reticule from me. Sue states, "I find a lot of inspiration for my beadwork from past styles and designs - some designs are timeless."

We can't wait to see how Sue translates this Victorian design into something that works for today! Take a look at Sue's Beadweaver Blog. Or, if you're feeling inspired, purchase her beadweaving patterns.

Just Tip me Over!

We've talked before about how a designer sometimes uses the design of the fabric for inspiration. Such is the case with this sweet late 1950's dress. The fabric is a cotton pique with a large scale black and white plaid. Line drawn daisies fill the white squares of the plaid.

But the designer of this dress decided to make things more interesting by cutting the pattern on the crosswise grain, thereby tipping the daisies on their sides! What a great idea to add a bit of whimsey and visual interest to a simple summer sundress!

See this dress and more at Couture Allure Vintage Fashion .

Mom Said "No!"

I must admit that I am old enough to have been able to wear this jumpsuit during the Disco era 1970's. But there is no way my mother would have let me out of the house in this ultra-sexy jumpsuit by Mr. Boots.

The designer plays a trick by making the back of the jumpsuit look especially demure and plain. But turn around, and you'll have all the guys panting! The bare midriff is accented with criss-cross corset lacing that holds the front upper bodice in place over the breasts.

See this jumpsuit and more at Couture Allure Vintage Fashion .

Details Make the Difference

Details can make such a difference! This cute red, white, and blue stripe dress dates to the early 1940's. This is not a "designer" garment. It is an everyday dress that was probably purchased at a small town dress shop. But, even though it wasn't an expensive dress, take a look at the attention to detail in the construction.

The patch pockets are made from 3 separate pieces for visual interest by varying the direction of the stripes. The red, white, and blue circles of the buttons complement the stripes.

Also notice the attention given in matching the stripes at the center front and back seams of the skirt. If you sew, you know this is not easy to do. The pattern pieces must be cut and then sewn with great care to get the match exactly right. This type of matching is only found in the most expensive garments today, but was considered the norm back in the 40's!

See this dress and more at Couture Allure Vintage Fashion .

Letting the Fabric Define the Design

Sometimes the print of the fabric will dictate the design of the garment. Such is the case with this simple sheath dress by Krizia. This dress was designed in the 1980's and the straight silhouette with the boat neckline and kimono sleeves serves to set off the splashy print of the cotton fabric.

The clean straight lines of the dress with minimal seaming allows the textile to become the main focus here.

See this dress and more at Couture Allure Vintage Fashion .

Every Girl Deserves One

You can't call yourself a vintage girl until you have at least one alligator purse in your closet! There's nothing like the luxurious look of alligator, crocodile, or snakeskin to glam up your look.

And if you don't care for genuine skins, there are great vintage finds in embossed leather and vinyl to suit your taste.

See these purses and more at Couture Allure Vintage Fashion .

Pauline Trigere - Innovative American Designer

Pauline Trigere was one of America's finest and most important designers. She started her own line in 1942 and continued to design into the late 1980's. During that time she won the Coty American Fashion Critics Award four times, and was inducted into its Hall of Fame in 1959. In 1993, Trigère received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America.

Trigere was known for her crisp, tailored cuts and innovative ideas, particularly with outerwear and this coat is a fine example. Dating to about 1963-64, this coat is fashioned from a heavy black wool accented with horizontal lines of red wool stitching.

This coat is from the high end Pauline Trigere designer label, not the mid-range licensed line. The coat is very sculptural in its design and the wool is backed with stiff interfacing to hold the lines of the design.

What makes this coat so innovative is the use of small tucks at the back of the shoulders which flare out to the hem and make the back look like a cape.

The button and loop closure is completely hidden behind an extended front closure that snaps at the neckline.

See this coat and more at Couture Allure Vintage Fashion .

Raised Daisies

During the wartime 40's, the L-85 restrictions for garment manufacturing which the WPB (War Production Board) developed in the spring of 1942, had wide repercussions on the garment industry. The restrictions centered on the amounts of fabric to be used in individual garments. This is why we see shorter skirt lengths during the war years. Designers and garment manufacturers also had to become clever in their methods of adding visual interest to a dress.

The simple silhouette of this 1940's cotton velveteen dress is made whimsical with the addition of pintucks sewn in the shape of daisies on both sides of the bodice front. This decoration took no extra fabric, save for the small puffed center which is added on top. The pintucks are sewn with a double needle. The seamstress follows a design marked onto the fabric. The tension caused by a single bobbin thread working between the two top threads causes the fabric to raise into a pintuck between the needles. I just love the intricacies involved in the many curves and turns of these daisies.

See this dress and more at Couture Allure Vintage Fashion .

Making Do

Women had to "make do" in the Depression era 30's and this dress is an example of one woman's ingenuity. I can imagine this woman needing a dress for a special event, yet not having the money to purchase the fabric needed to do so. She goes up to the attic and pulls out one of granny's Victorian dresses and makes it over to fit the current style.

She uses the bodice with its elaborate passimentarie trim and cuts a modern skirt from the old silk twill Victorian one. Now that's what I call recycling!

Take a closer look at that gorgeous passimentarie trim. It is completely constructed by hand from narrow flat soutache braid. The soutache is placed on its side and wound around and around to form this elaborate botanical design. It is backed with acid green silk taffeta to set it off in a distinctive way. Just beautiful!

Masterful Seaming

Here is a deceptively simple 1940's playsuit by well known sportswear designer Carolyn Schnurer. This suit appears to be a straight cut bodice with a flared skirt. But take a closer look at how the designer has attached that skirt.

See those intricate zig-zag seams at the waist? If you've ever tried to sew a V neckline, you know how difficult it is to get these V pointed seams to lie perfectly flat. And yet, here are several of them all the way around the waistline! And there's more...

Additional seams extend diagonally up from the center front seam to the bustline. These seams draw the eye in to the center waist and help give the illusion of a slender middle.

None of these decorative seams is necessary to the finished garment, and they certainly added to the difficulty of manufacture and cost, but I think this playsuit is much more interesting and effective with them. Don't you?

See this playsuit and more at Couture Allure Vintage Fashion .

How Clever!

This is a simple little black dress dating to the late 1920's. The straight silhouette is a trademark of the 20's, but the longer length is a hint of things to come in the 1930's. Everything about this dress is straightforward and unadorned, save for the few pleats at the sides of the skirt. However, the seamstress has relieved the severity of the design with a clever trick. The center panel that encircles the waist reflects light differently than the upper bodice and skirt. This is because that piece of the dress was cut on the crosswise grain of the fabric rather than the lengthwise grain, as the rest of the pieces were. Such a simple idea, but it really works to give the dress some much needed visual interest!

See this dress and more at Couture Allure Vintage Fashion .

Balanced Asymmetry

Designers always try to "balance" a design to make it pleasing to the eye. A large pocket at the hip will be balanced with a smaller one at the bust. Trim that accents a neckline is repeated at the waist, hips, or hem. A large busy print is balanced by using simple design lines and seams.

Other times, designers will use asymmetry to make a design look balanced, when its really not. Such is the case with the vintage 1940's dress shown above. Take a closer look at that neckline. The V shaped neck opening is slanted off to the right, but the two curving pieces of fabric on top swirl to the left and make the design pleasing to the eye. Balanced asymmetry.

But wait! This design is also balanced in another way! The soutache and rhinestone trim at the neckline is balanced by also adding it to the pocket flaps at the hips. Genius. Another reason to love vintage clothing!

See this dress and more at Couture Allure Vintage Fashion .

It's All in the Details

This past Sunday's Boston Globe Magazine featured a small article called "Seams Just Right". The writer pointed out that modern designers are using interesting seaming techniques this season to emphasize a garment's construction rather than hiding it.

Those of us who love vintage fashion, have known about this designer secret for years. It's one of the reasons I find vintage fashion so fascinating.

Take this deceptively simple 1950's dress as an example. The designer has given us a basic navy crepe sheath and made it special by adding a series of angled darts that radiate up into the bodice and down into the skirt from the center front waistline. Not only does this add visual interest to a simple design, it cleverly draws the eye in to the center waist, giving the illusion of a tiny waistline.

Also notice the quality of the workmanship here. Each of those darts is perfectly matched along the waist seam. Even the center front seam is exactly aligned with not a stitch out of place. We just don't see such attention to detail in today's garments.

If you like this dress, you'll find it and many others in our online store at Couture Allure Vintage Fashion.