A Frilling Story

This fashion story is all about customising the clothes in your wardrobe – by adding bows and frills. Dolly even gives us Simplicity pattern numbers. Bedazzler, begone! The illustations, made in the 1980s, nostalgically look back on the 1940s, not only in style, but in the ‘make do and mend’ ethos of the war era. They didn’t throw out unfashionable clothes then – they refurbished.

Before Jayson Brunsdon was a fashion designer, he was a fashion illustrator – I wonder if he came up with the concept of this editorial, or if he was briefed. I rediscovered these pages, torn from Dolly magazine’s special supplement Making It.* 

Click images for larger versions

I love these illustrations. They strongly remind me of the work of Carl Erickson and René Gruau, who undoubtedly must equally have inspired Brunsdon. I also remember my mum had a Croatian sewing book with coloured plates of 40s fashion illustrations so similar to these. I loved them and often would flip through the book – I’m so sad that this relic of my childhood has vanished. 

Brunsdon’s illustrations are so evocative of a bygone decade that our present obsession with all things quaint, and retro, has infused with glamour. His black lines are bold and decisive; the colours so playful that it is very easy to ignore the fact that the clothes depicted are of the brash 80s – except perhaps for the fact that the colours are so bright they could have come unmixed from a child’s paint palette. Yet if one came across these in a modern fashion magazine, they would not look out of place at all. Delightful!

*There is no publishing date printed in the magazine, but going by the reproduction of an INXS concert ticket printed along with a picture of the band, it is late 1986 or early 1987.

Choosing the Right Hat

I’ve had many women tell me that while they like hats, and would really like to wear them, they ‘just don’t suit them’. I’ve never considered that possibility myself – probably because I love them so much it never entered my head (pardon the pun) that they might not suit me. I say: you’ve just not tried on the right one. And, since spring is the season of the hat, it might be time to reconsider!

Need convincing?

This great story is from one of the supplements of a Melbourne paper, (apologies, I have misplaced the details of the source). Click for a larger image to read. As Melbourne milliner Peter Jago says, “The art of millinery is based on creating headwear that flatters every female form and face. There’s no such thing as a face hats don’t suit.” Spring Racing season is certainly the time to invest, as lots of millinery pop-up shops open up around town. And though it may be ‘the year of the hat’ (thanks mostly to the Royal Wedding), you need not stop at new hats – particularly if your tastes run to more unique, and therefore expensive – fare than the offerings from Myer or David Jones. Consider vintage, in boutiques or online (eBay is a fantastic source).

Vintage Shopping

But how do you find the right size shopping online for vintage? Most online sellers will stipulate a size – don’t buy without knowing the measurement. There’s nothing worse than trying to fit one’s ‘fat head’ into a too-small hat – believe me, I know. Ouch! (My friend Sapphire was the lucky recipient of a vintage cloche that fit her far better than me.)

53–57cm, or 21–22.5”, measured around the crown, is the average size range for women today. Nearly every vintage hat I have seen on eBay has been sized at 22” – luckily for me that’s my size – but that doesn’t mean a 40s style hat won’t work on you since it sits on the top of the head, or a 50s bandeau that will fit most. Look at the vintage diagram below to learn just how to measure your head for the right hat. (Apologies, I have lost the url links for these images.)

The Right Shape For You

So you’re still certain hats don’t look good on you? Finding the right shape to suit your face is a simple matter of proportion; a similar process to how you choose clothing to flatter your figure. Elongate round faces with wide brims or tall crowns, soften angular features with floppy or asymmetrical shapes, shorten long faces with a cloche that has a deep crown, etc. If you need more particular detail I couldn’t do better than direct you to Already Pretty for a thorough look at what types of hats suit which face shapes.

It certainly helps to try on different hats in shops on the high street until you are confident with what suits you before you take the plunge in shopping online. Good luck, and enjoy yourself, because hats should be as fun to shop for as frivolous shoes!

All Those Lovely, Lovely Beads

Wooden beads as green as giant peas

A month ago I took my smashed DSLR to the clinic (which is still there, being repaired), and on my way home passed an unprepossessing charity shop. I wandered in, because you never know what you’ll come across, especially when you’re not looking for anything in particular. (That is a cardinal op-shopping rule.)

I didn’t find anything in the shop … except a vintage set of bright green wooden beads on a petrified elastic string that was one swing away from choking curious and unsupervised infants. They wanted $1 for them. They could have it.

Nice wooden beads are so hard to find, at least here in Melbourne. I cannot sufficiently kick myself for not purchasing some in Porto when I had the chance – but there was so much choice I couldn’t choose between all those lovely, lovely beads. Vintage wood beads especially are nice, because the colours are subtler than the garish modern versions found in some craft shops, and also for their attractive patina of age.

I have already remade the beads into a new necklace, teaming them with some black onyx round beads and two vintage silver (although not sterling silver) beads I bought in a souq in Marrakesh. Stay tuned…

The Breathtaking Jeanne Lanvin

Pochoir illustration for a Lanvin invitation to the private fashion show held within the boutique; 1910–1912.

Lanvin, by Dean L. Merceron, Rizzoli 2007Out of all my fashion books, this large-format book Lanvin has to be one of the most beautiful, both in subject matter and presentation.

The book traces the history of the House of Lanvin, mostly covering the work of its founder, Jeanne Lanvin. The House was opened in 1909 and has survived in near-continuous existence to the present day (with Alber Elbaz currently at the helm). Like Chanel, Lanvin began with millinery. Then came the exquisitely detailed, sophisticated and successful range of children’s wear; her muse was her own daughter, Marguerite Marie-Blanche.

1920s hats

In the book, Merceron writes:

The designs of Madame Lanvin had various readily identifiable characteristics including beading and embroidery, ethnographic inspiration, sublime combinations of texture and textiles, and, most of all, original use of colour.

And throughout the book, this is made evident by hundreds of images: archival sketches and photographs, and contemporary photography. It’s absolutely wonderful to see spread upon spread of original sketches side by side with pictures of models of the day, as well as full colour images of the garment in whole and in detail. The attention to fine detail in these couture garments is utterly breathtaking.

(Left) Georges Lepape illustration, 1924; early 1920s dress and hat; (right) late 1930s hats

Actress Jane Renouardt in a robe de style featuring a pearl and crystal bow; 1925Fashion lover or fashion student, there is so much to be learned from this book; even merely reading the captions accompanying the images on the 300+ pages provides a wealth of information. There is a short epilogue on Alber Elbaz, but this mainly covers catwalk images and advertising campaigns, and provides little information of interest. Normally $85, and currently on sale for just over US$50 on Amazon, Lanvin is an expensive investment, but well worth it.

Scroll down for more images. (Click for larger versions.)

Metallic lamé robe de style; 1922Appliqué detail and rendering of ‘Marche Nuptiale’; 1923

Illustration created for the Brazilian market of mother and child in gowns; around 1925

‘Brimborion’, a modernised version of a kimono with sliced sleeves, 1923; appliqué detail and rendering of ‘Veronique’, 1925

Front and back views of a black silk chiffon evening gown, created for the collection of winter 1948–49

Evening dress, 1936; detail of gilt kidskin strips appliquéd onto white silk chiffon. An identical linear pattern is present on some of the angel robes painted by Fra Angelico.

‘Fausta’, winter 1928, a navy blue silk chiffon dress over a navy blue silk crepe underpinning; the original gouache design; Princess de Faucigny-Lucinge wearing ‘Fausta’.

Sketch and detail of ‘Fête Galante’, a cream silk taffeta robe de style

Cutwork dresses, 1931, and detail of cutwork embroidery

Embroidery and beading details of ‘Veilleur de Nuit’; 1924.

Amazingly intricate details on late 1930s gowns

A Posse of Umbrellas

The Pink Posse :: Tejas // Blanko Noir // No flashThis little posse of umbrellas belongs a couple of work colleagues and myself. After a rainy commute to work, we all put our umbrellas up to dry. I was amused to see they were all pink shades. Mine is the flamboyant frilly one (if it’s going to be frilly then it may as well be hot pink), and one of the other girls bought the pale pink umbrella in Japan, in homage to the cherry blossom festival. Pretty!