Just look at the geometric precision used in constructing this 1940s suit by Gilbert Adrian! A simple stripe fabric is cut and resewn at various angles. Each of the stripes is precisely matched in an intricate marvel of design. I am in love.
I recently sold this vintage 1940s tweed suit to the Pearl Theatre Company in New York. I contacted the costume shop manager, Niki Hernandez-Adams, to find out if my suit would be appearing on stage. The answer is yes!
The Pearl Theatre Company is the premier Off-Broadway classical repertory theatre group in New York. They have a resident company that performs classic plays of all periods. This 1940s suit will be appearing in "The Subject Was Roses" by Frank D. Gilroy from April 9 - May 9, 2010 at the New York City Center. To purchase tickets, go to the City Center's website.
If you do go, take a picture of the suit for me, would you? It will now be more famous than I am!
Bill Blass for Maurice Rentner paisley cotton dress and jacket sold for $185.00 (about $1350.00 in today's dollar). Worn with a Lilly Daché hat, Kislav gloves, and an Eisenberg pin. The lap dog - priceless.
I really, really like this idea. Shown here is a basic suit from 1960. Probably in navy or black, it has a waist-length jacket with 3/4 sleeves and a straight skirt. Rather ho-hum if worn on its own. Look what happens, though, when you add a bit of femininity with a printed blouse! Take a blouse that has a bow tie at the neck and fuller long sleeves. Pull the bow out on top of the jacket and puff the blouse sleeves below the jacket cuff. Su-weet!
We can't have a week of suits without showing a design by the incomparable Lilli Ann. This one is from 1955.
It's all in the details - details you won't find in suits off the rack today. But in the 1940's, a woman could walk into any fine department store or boutique and find styles like this. And she could have the suit altered to fit by the in-store staff!
Click on the picture above to get a larger view and take a look at the details of this red suit made of Miron red wool gabardine. It's got a double collar rather than a simple lapel. The hip pockets have extra room built in, not only for your hands, but to accentuate the waist appear tiny. Not only is the waist shaped by the side seam, but 4 darts disappear into the huge pocket. That's 8 darts total on the front and there are probably at least 4 on the back. Now, go take a look at your favorite suit jacket. How many darts did you find? Probably 4 at the most.
You'll find two-tone effects in many suits from the 40's. This one takes the darker color of the skirt and uses it for contrasting trim at the collar, sleeve cuffs, pockets, and buttons on the jacket. Have you ever seen a fabric covered button that uses not one, but two fabrics?
1940's suits often have unusual pocket treatments. This one has a pretty curved flap accented with a button. Does your modern suit jacket even have pockets?
Why don't modern suits have great details like these? Money. It takes skilled seamstresses much more time to sew this intricately. It also takes more fabric to make a suit fit well with darts, to add contrasting trims, and to add interesting details. A suit like this would be cost prohibitive to the average woman today. But these wonderful suits from the 1940's were made so well, many still survive today. So, yes, you can still get high quality at a great price. Wear vintage!
Today's deal is this gorgeous Vintage 40's Herringbone Skirt Suit. Original price - $145.00. 50% off today only - $72.50.
One of my favorite vintage pieces in my closet is my classic Pendleton 49'er jacket from the 1950's. It looks just like this one, but in a different plaid. This ad, from the September 1955 issue of Seventeen magazine, shows all the various pieces Pendleton made to co-ordinate with their 49'er jackets.
"College cheers for Pendleton's beautiful Dress Black Watch tartan...in the loveliest woolens ever to leave the loom! Here it joins two famous Pairables, 49'er jacket with Pleatmaster skirt...and so you can keep your whole wardrobe in the clan...see how it spans Pendleton's trews, walkers, and wonderful new Sweater-Jacket, too!"
Trews: Close-fitting trousers, usually of tartan. Variant of trouser. - That's a new one on me!
So, pair your 49'er with the skirt, the trews, or the walking shorts. Or pair the sweater-jacket with the skirt, the trews, or the walking shorts. For me, that's a bit too much plaid at one time. I always pair my 49'er with solids, and would do the same with all of these separates. I do love how the 49'er is belted here, though, and may try that one of these days.
The 49'er was $19.95 in 1955 ($160 today). The Pleatmaster skirt was $14.95 in 1955 ($120 today).
Yesterday, a reader asked on what occasions a women in the 50's would wear such finely tailored suits. You can see my answer in the comments from yesterday's post, but here is another use - travel.
This is an ad for BOAC, British Overseas Airways Corporation. They show a stylish woman in a "Weathervane suit...designed for sophisticated travelers. Setting...the handsomely appointed Sky Lounge of BOAC's luxury flight, The Monarch. Double-Decker Stratocruisers exclusively, daily service. So many extras-yet no extra fare!"
The first time I flew, I was 5 years old. My parents were moving the family to a new location. They both wore suits, and my sisters and I were all in dresses. My how times have changed.
What's not to love about a Lilli Ann suit? And this one from 1951 is one of the best I've seen. The designer has taken a wool gabardine with a woven stripe at one edge and cut the various pieces of the jacket to showcase the stripes. One sleeve has the stripes across the cap, exactly matching the stripe going across the yoke of the body. The stripe is found on one side of the collar, but not the other. And just so the whole thing looks balanced, a long vertical stripe is appliqued down the opposite side. Genius! This suit sold for $90 in 1951, which equals about $750 today.
Lilli Ann suits are a perennial favorite with vintage fashion afficianados, and this one is available at our website. Here the brown velveteen of the collar is echoed in the sleeve cuffs and velveteen piping edges the slits at the jacket hem. This one is in a larger size, too! Click the picture to see the listing.
This ad, found in the July 1951 issue of Vogue magazine is not for the suit, but for the wool it was made from. This suit was made by Roxspun from "Miroque...Worsted with a vertical rib. One of Miron's unique new texturals, 100% Virgin Wool."
I often find labels sewn into garments from the 40's and 50's that identify the manufacturer of the fabric, as well as the manufacturer of the garment itself. Miron is one of these.
Here is an early 1950's suit by Fashionbilt, also made of Miron wool. It's available at our website. Click the picture to see more!
The Miron label is sewn right next to the Fashionbilt label on the inside of the right front of the jacket. A well-known fine fabric was just as important as the maker of the garment to a woman back in the 50's, when suits were expected to last many years.
The Miron Woolen Mills were located in Clinton, MA, a tiny town north of Worcester in the central part of the state. Sadly, the building was demolished in July 2008 to make way for a CVS. Another piece of fashion history makes way for modern retail.
For the past couple of weeks, we've been looking at Paris and Italian couture garments that were purchased by departments stores and manufacturers in North America specifically to copy for their customers. Just listed on our website is this early 1960's dinner suit which is a Balenciaga Adaptation by Dan Millstein. Click the picture above to see the listing with many more photos.
Dan Millstein, Inc. was a high end suit and coat manufacturer in New York which first became successful during WWII when the company made civil service and civilian uniforms for the US government. After the war, Mr. Millstein was one of the first manufacturers to visit Paris, where he began to work with Christian Dior and Pierre Cardin. He would purchase items from these designers, bring them back to New York, and make copies for the American market with the designer's approval. Later, he would attend the shows with the buyers from Lord & Taylor, who would advise him as to which garments to buy to make copies for their stores.
During the 50's and early 60's, Millstein (and others) would pay a cover charge of several thousand dollars to attend the couture showings in Paris with the understanding that he would purchase several of the samples. His designers would sit in the front row making sketches of the garments as they came down the runway. Calvin Klein got his start in the business by sketching for Dan Millstein.
The dinner suit shown above is made from black wool and is adorned with black braid and passementerie trimmings. Balenciaga used these elaborate adornments many times over the years. With the suit's wider collar opening, shorter jacket, and straight skirt, I estimate this to date right around 1961-62. We can assume from the label that Millstein purchased the original of this suit in Paris and copied it in New York, then sold it to high end department stores and boutiques. This particular suit was sold by Raphael's, a family owned department store in New Britain, CT.
Valentino Garavani was born in Italy in 1932. He grew up wanting to study art and design, and moved to Paris at age 17, where he studied at the Ecole des Beaux Arts and the school of the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne. He then apprenticed at Jean Desses and Guy Laroche. With a solid background in French couture, he returned to Rome in 1959 and opened his own atelier.
Rome in the early 60's was a playground for the jet-set. Elizabeth Taylor, Sophia Loren, and Gina Lollobridgida were all there working on films. Elizabeth Taylor visited Valentino's atelier in 1960 while filming Spartacus, and began a friendship and fashion collaboration that has spanned the decades.
In addition to Hollywood actresses, Valentino's first fashion shows were also attended by Parisian society women whom Valentino had met during his years there. His designs were met with favorable fashion press, and a couture dynasty began.
The beaded suit shown above was featured in the October 1964 issue of Vogue magazine. "Valentino's night ideas - dazzling, provocative, with some of the impish dash of his day clothes. Valentino's spectacular black suit, covered entirely in beads. All around the jacket, including cuffs - loopy bead fringe. The blouse, sleeveless black velvet."
Gorgeous, isn't it?
More Italian couture, this time from Valentino, as pictured in the October 1964 issue of Vogue magazine. Valentino was a great favorite of Diana Vreeland, editor-in-chief of Vogue, and this issue features several pages of his fashions.
"The guaglione ideas of Valentino, suggesting a tough little Italian boy - sassy and adorable. A suit with a pullover in swaggering checks of grey and khaki wool; high pockets, a loose buttoned belt; short swinging grey skirt with panels front and back. With it, a khaki turtleneck blouse, deep round boy-cap of checks."
I had to look it up in the dictionary. Guaglione: Boy, young boy, frivolous and unreliable person (adj) funny, playful, irresponsible. This suit does show the young look just starting to emerge in fashion, which will become ubiquitous by 1968.
This is not a traditional jacket that buttons up the front, but rather a pullover top with a polo style neckline in heavy tweed. The turtleneck, up to now considered a casual look, is paired here with a suit - another young boyish touch. The belt is worn loose and slouchy. And that newsboy style brimmed hat!
This suit was available in America at Lord & Taylor, probably as copies made from the original purchased by the store.
More about Valentino over the next two days.
My, how things have changed in 3 years! Vogue magazine is showing Italian fashion - here a suit by Galitzine. We clearly see a movement towards a more youthful look. The model's pose is more casual, she wears boots, and look at that hair!
"Italian clothes are alive with ideas, with exuberance, and a beautiful sense of adventure. Imagination fires all. Living skirts with gores, godets. Broader shoulders, batwing tops. Important belts. Marvelous young dash." Clothes are becoming looser and more relaxed. Skirts are not as tight as a few seasons previous, and hem are becoming gradually shorter. Armholes and shoulders are not fit so tightly to the body.
There are changes evident in the magazine credits, too. No longer do we see the words "copied" or "adapted". While Italian garments were copied for the American market, no mention of the company who made the copies is given. Credit is given for the accessories, and the hair and make-up stylists.
"The suit, white-beige and all roundness - the collar, slightly broader shoulder, cuffs. The gaiters - a Galitzine idea for most of her suits - of Corfam, piped in white. Suit, in America at Lord & Taylor. Hat by Canessa. From the Elizabeth Arden Rome Salon: the coiffures by Imo; make-up by Pablo."
Galitzine, who is acknowledged as the designer who gave us the palazzo pant, shows a youthful boot, an idea which will become a fashion basic within a few years. And she does it in Corfam imitation leather, a brand new product which had just been invented by DuPont.
Get the look with this vintage 1960's glen plaid wool suit available in our EBay store. Click the picture to see the listing.
Now, back to that sable trimmed suit I posted on Saturday. Looks 50's or 60's, doesn't it? It's actually a current suit by Italian design house Brioni, from their Fall 2008 collection, but is clearly influenced by a Givenchy coat from 1963. For a better view of the Givenchy coat, take a look at the cover of L'Officiel October 1963 magazine, available from Paper Pursuits.
Until the mid-to-late 1960's, it was common practice in the US for major department stores and manufacturers to purchase French couture garments and copy them for the American market, with the approval of the couturier. We'll look at several of these garments over the next couple of weeks. The department store's line-for-line copies were less expensive than the Paris originals, but were also produced in very limited numbers, to maintain the cache of exclusiveness. Bergdorf's custom order department refused to produce more than 30 copies of any particular Paris original, but considered 12 orders of that garment a success.
Shown above: A Dior black and white tweed suit with matching scarf and hat, copied by Saks Fifth Avenue, pictured in the September 15, 1961 issue of Vogue magazine. The magazine states that the picture is of the original Dior couture garment, not the Saks copy.
The short jacket is double breasted and has large black buttons at the front. The 3/4 sleeves are set off by long black kidskin gloves. The skirt has slit pockets set into the front Princess seams, and is slightly flared. The scarf has short black fringe.
The Fall-Winter 1950 Simplicity Pattern magazine has a feature on the 4 most important fashion silhouettes for the season. We'll take a look at them this week.
Looking feminine with clothes that glorified the female shape was all important during the post WWII years, when most women had the goal of getting married and making a home. Fashions of the time emphasized a woman's curves and allure.
Take this suit, for example. The jacket is belted and the hip pockets have large flaps. Both tend to exaggerate a tiny waist, which was made even tinier with the firm control of a girdle. The jacket also flares out below the belt, and the skirt is pencil thin, giving the impression of more curves at the hips.
This suit was fashioned from Simplicity patterns 3327 and 3027. The sketch for the back view of the jacket shows that all the shape comes from the belt. Very interesting. I never would have guessed that from a quick look at the photo above.
My attempts to find information about the Branell label have turned up nothing except items for sale on the web. But isn't this suit from 1961 simply stunning? This ad appeared in the September 1961 issue of Vogue magazine.
The ad copy reads, "American Chic: circa 1961. Branell expresses it in a blend of Dacron polyester. Opulence! and purely American opulence - lean, limber, understated. Hilda Altmark of Branell, one of America's designing greats, finds new imagery for this look in Raefords' Dacron polyester, worsted wool and nylon, trimmed with dyed mink. Shapes it, here, in a blouson dress and eased jacket. Today, tomorrow, and tomorrow, this costume will have the same sure opulence, Because it blends wool and nylon with the enlightened chic of Dacron. About $350. At Best, & Co., New York; Joseph Magnin, Juklius Garfinckel, Gus Mayer, Montaldo's."
There are a few things we can talk about here. First of all, the list of stores that sold this suit includes some of the elite department stores across the country in 1961. At $350, this suit was quite an investment. The same suit would cost you about $2500 today. Certainly, Branell was an upscale brand worn by women with money to spend.
This ad shows the DuPont logo prominently in the lower right corner, and the headline states that the suit is made from a blend of Dacron polyester. "Dacron" was DuPont's registered trademark for its polyester fiber, which was introduced in the US in 1951. The polyester fibers would give added shape retention to the fabric, to help avoid the sagging and bagging that can happen over time with a natural fiber such as wool. The polyester would also help with resistance to moths.
The model is wearing a high crown pillbox hat by Mr. John, and white DuPont nylon gloves. The jacket is trimmed with black mink at the hem and has a mink wedding ring collar.
Get the look with this black wool suit trimmed in sheared beaver fur from another famous suit maker, Jack Feit. Available at our website. Click the picture to see the listing.
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