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Free Designer Pattern: Alexander McQueen Kimono Jacket
Photo: Nick Knight. Image via SHOWstudio. Alexander McQueen would have been 44 today. On the occasion of his birthday, here’s a look back at the free pattern McQueen shared with SHOWstudio: the...
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Just Married: Badgley Mischka
After 28 years together, Mark Badgley and James Mischka of Badgley Mischka were married in New York last weekend. To celebrate, here’s a look back at two decades of Badgley Mischka sewing patterns....
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Marc Jacobs for Perry Ellis: Vogue Patterns, Part 1
Michaela Bercu wears Perry Ellis by Marc Jacobs, Vogue, November 1989. Image via the Fashion Model Directory. Can you believe the early-nineties revival in fashion right now? We remember Marc Jacobs’...
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Marc Jacobs for Perry Ellis: Vogue Patterns, Part 2
Marc Jacobs’ Spring/Summer 1993 ‘grunge’ collection for Perry Ellis was a succès de scandale, a landmark collection that got him fired and continues to provoke debate. (See my earlier Marc Jacobs for...
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Punk: Chaos to Couture
Sid Vicious, 1977. Photo: Dennis Morris. Daria Werbowy in Chanel, Vogue, March 2011. Photo: David Sims. Image via the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This year’s Costume Institute exhibition, PUNK: Chaos...
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Free Designer Pattern: Junya Watanabe Dress
Model: Gemma Ward. Photo: Nick Knight. Image via SHOWstudio. To celebrate this week’s opening of PUNK: Chaos to Couture at the Costume Institute in New York, I’ll be posting about two free patterns for...
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Free Designer Pattern: John Galliano Jacket
Model: Louise Pedersen. Photo: Craig McDean. Image via SHOWstudio. This week’s second punk-inspired pattern puts the ‘couture’ in Chaos to Couture. (The first punk-inspired pattern was by Junya...
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Mamma Mia: Designer Maternity Patterns
Detail of Vogue 1689 (1995) Image via Etsy. Last year, Peter of Male Pattern Boldness posted a general survey of vintage maternity patterns. Sewing patterns for designer maternity wear have a different...
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Vera Wang: Vogue Patterns
Vera Wang with Ralph Lauren at the CFDA Awards, June 3, 2013. Last night Vera Wang was honoured with the CFDA’s Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award. (Read style.com’s article here; Voguepedia bio...
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Free Designer Pattern: Stephen Jones Hat
Model: Erin O’Connor. Photo: Nick Knight. Image via SHOWstudio. Royal Ascot begins tomorrow. What better way to celebrate than with a free designer millinery pattern, for a Stephen Jones hat called...
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Second Blogiversary + Giveaway
Detail of an illustration from a Paris Patterns promotional booklet, 1929. Today marks two years since my first post on this blog. The past year was a busy one: a pattern from my collection was...
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Free Designer Pattern: Matthew Williamson Caftan
Photo: Jason Hetherington. Image via the Guardian. Now that summer is truly here, this instalment in my Free Designer Patterns series is devoted to a hot weather essential: a caftan, one that Matthew...
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Make the Clothes that Make the Woman
The slogan for McCall’s Patterns in the mid-1950s was “Make the clothes that make the woman.” The advertising campaign with this slogan shows two identical women, one dressed in McCall’s pattern...
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Rosie the Riveter, 1942
McCall’s magazine, September 1942. Image via Envisioning the American Dream. During World War 2, women engaged in wartime work could choose from a variety of sewing patterns for work wear. The array of...
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Pedro Rodríguez: Catalogue of Maria Brillas’s Dresses
Thanks to Paco Peralta,* I received a review copy of the new book from Museu Tèxtil i d’Indumentària de Barcelona, Pedro Rodríguez: Catalogue of Maria Brillas’s Dresses. The museum’s collection of...
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Bruce Oldfield: Style Patterns
Princess Diana on the cover of People weekly, July 1985. Image via bruceoldfield.com. With Oliver Hirschbiegel’s “Diana” opening in North American theatres this weekend, this post is devoted to a...
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Free Designer Pattern: Juliana Sissons Hobble Dress
Blitz magazine, 1985. Model: Scarlett Cannon. Photo: Monica Curtin. Image via the V&A. As part of the current V&A exhibition, Club to Catwalk: London Fashion in the 1980s, Juliana Sissons is...
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Twenties Swimsuit – Simplicity 7041 (VFL 145)
Simplicity 7041 (ca. 1929) Image via the Vintage Patterns Wiki. I love vintage swimwear. (See my post on vintage beachwear patterns here.) It’s also been years since I had a bathing suit; somehow I can...
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Bellville Sassoon: Vogue Patterns
Image via the Fashion and Textile Museum. The current exhibition at London’s Fashion and Textile Museum, The Glamour of Bellville Sassoon, celebrates the museum’s 10th anniversary with a retrospective...
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Alberta Tiburzi
Alberta Tiburzi in Balenciaga. Harper’s Bazaar, 1967. Photo: Hiro (Yasuhiro Wakabayashi). Image via modeSPIRIT. Born in Rome, Alberta Tiburzi began her modelling career in Italy in the 1960s. She later...
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