A reader has requested more posts about garments from the 1930s and 40s. Today, a look at daytime dresses and suits from Parisian designers in the spring of 1930. You can see in these examples that the dropped waist of the 20s is moving back to the natural waistline of the 30s. Are you as much in love as I am with these?
I was doing some research about a couture garment recently and was struck by the popularity of stripes for the spring of 1953. Mme. Grés seemed especially fond of striped silk for that season. Which is your favorite?
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| Mme. Grés |
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| Mme. Grés |
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| Manquin |
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| Schiaparelli |
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| Mme. Grés |
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| Maggy Rouff |
Leopard skin booties designed by Elsa Schiaparelli for her Fall 1939-40 season. The pair shown here were part of the designer's personal wardrobe and one of her favorite pairs of shoes. They were shown in the exhibit "Shocking! The Art and Fashion of Elsa Schiaparelli" at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 2003.
Photo from the book that accompanied the exhibit.
For his Fall/Winter "Collection Shakespeare" of 1980, Yves St. Laurent paid tribute to literature by using references to various poets in a surrealistic manner.
The jacket shown above is embroidered with a line from Jean Cocteau's 1920's poem "Battierie". Translated, the line reads, "Sun, I am black inside and rose outside, which is the metamorphosis." The pink satin jacket is lined in black velvet and a crystal and sequined sun forms the collar.
This black coat is embroidered with the title of a poem by Apollinaire, "Tout Terriblement".
As part of the same collection, St. Laurent showed this blue velvet jacket embroidered with a pair of eyes and the words, "Les Yeux d'Elsa". Translated as "The Eyes of Elsa", the words are the title of a poem by Louis Aragon. However, St. Laurent also cleverly pays tribute to Elsa Schiaparelli with this jacket by taking inspiration from her Zodiac Collection of 1938-39. 
This Schiaparelli jacket in blue velvet is embroidered with the signs of the zodiac, planets, and constellations.
Metropolitan Museum Costume Collection
Tina Chow wears a 1938 Schiaparelli gown from her personal collection. The dress is entirely covered in blue bugle beads.
1938 - Madame Helena Rubinstein wears Elsa Schiaparelli's Circus collection evening jacket. The jacket is completely covered with embroidery of elephants and acrobats set against a swirled background.
File this under "What's Old is New Again". You may think that this white blouse with the big bow by Yves St. Laurent for Fall 2009 is different and new. But the moment I saw the ad for this blouse, I knew I had seen it before. And this just goes to show you, today's designers are heavily influenced by what has come before.
Blouse by Yves St. Laurent - Fall 2009
Blouse by Elsa Schiaparelli - Spring 1950
Blouse by Callot Soeurs - Spring 1934
For the summer of 1937, Elsa Schiaparelli designed her collection around the theme of metamorphosis and used butterflies as its symbol. Shown here, the ultimate Easter bonnet with matching jacket, both trimmed with plastic butterflies. The jacket was worked in sky blue wool, a perfect backdrop for the 4 three-dimensional butterflies that decorate the front opening. The smallest at the waist, worked as a real button, while the graduated non-working bound buttonholes above that provide balance and an additional decorative accent. As always, click the photo to see a larger view.
From Elsa Schiaparelli's Fall/Winter 1937-38 line, this evening gown, in rose pink satin, hugs the figure and offers a new innovation - the built-in uplift bra. The dress is slit to the knee to expose the open-toed satin pump with ribbons that criss-cross up the leg.
1938 - An evening cape by Elsa Schiaparelli. The Greek God Apollo rides in his chariot pulled by 5 horses in a magnificent celestial design. The embroidery was worked by the House of Lesage in gold sequins, beads, and thread on black velvet. Click on the image to see the details.
Before her marriage to the Duke of Windsor, Wallis Simpson purchased 18 garments from Elsa Schiaparelli's summer 1937 collection. One of them was this black evening ensemble consisiting of a full length dress and matching jacket. The jacket is trimmed in white leather applique.
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