Trying to put my thoughts & ideas down somewhere and give another outlet to my creativity. It's all connected, so I can't say it's a blog about just this or just that. Dolls. Fashion. Art. A little bit on travel, whatever... let's take it wherever it goes...

2014-02-19

Adam - 1950s men's fashion magazine

Here's a rare magazine I acquired lately:

Adam - La revue de l'home - summer 1954

Basically, this is a French fashion magazine for the man of the world. Wow. It's chock full with ads, fashion pages (drawings and photos) that show the newest by the best brands, and then there are further topics that are almost cliché for guys... hunting! BBQs!

Ok, let's start at the beginning...
This cover is a scream, I think! It's title is "Chapeau de plage (se transformant en sac de shopping)" - beach hat that transforms into shopping bag. And doesn't the girl look just like Barbie doll in her first swimsuit? Only, that was five years later! Well, and the guy could certainly be Ken...


Just some of the amazing ads!
I wonder what shop this was... it sold Lambretta scooters and "the best fishing equipment". What a mix!
On the left - the Deauville summer program for 1954.
 But now, for the look of summer 1954!
 Ok , this is for the hot days, but a tiger striped shirt?!
 Summer evening.
 Hunting in Scotland.
 How to build your own BBQ - and what to put on it!
 Important stuff - how to wear your decorations right...
 All you need for your summer holiday.
The latest from the finest tailors. Love the girl's outfit - the jacket looks like my vintage "power jacket" - which was made by a tailor.
And finally - an ad for the girls too! I guess they thought that women would look at this too ;-).

2014-02-02

Burda and Vogue Paris Original patterns

I just got a heap of mid- to late-60s Burda sewing magazines. I originally found and bought them at a short-lived thrift shop back home - 10 years ago or so. These really started me and my mom on the road to vintage sewing patterns. Anyway, my mom kept and used them, and I've used them too. Now that she's bought other sewing magazines, she decided to let these go again, so I took them back. They have lots patterns for lovely mini dresses and little jackets I like.
Upon looking through them, I have found interesting advertisements in two of them:
 June 1966, no 1612 by Balmain

August 1966, no 1607 by Grès

According to these, Vogue Paris Original designer patterns were at this time in Germany available exclusively from dealers who sold Burda patterns. So it looks like Burda an Vogue had a special deal there. It's also mentioned that these dealers would have had a special "Burda-Chic de Paris"-catalog showing these patterns. They would obviously not have had an interest in their selling "normal" Vogue patterns too, as these would have competed with their own. I haven't seen this advertisement in any of the other Burda issues I own, like October 1965 or March 1967, so I'm wondering if this maybe was a fairly short-lived deal. The June issue mentions though that two more patterns were advertised in the May 1966 issue. Maybe they were also too expensive. According to the price list at the back of these magazines, normal Burda patterns that you could order or buy at the counter separately (for example, a different size than what was included in the magazine) cost from 1.50 to 3.50 DM (German Marks) and the magazine itself cost 2.30 DM. The Vogue Paris Original patterns however cost a whopping 11 DM - even for a little summer dress like the one shown in the June issue!
Burda never did "designer" patterns on a big scale like Vogue as far as I know, at least not in those they sold separately. I remember a time ca. in the late 90s when each magazine featured a pattern by a designer. There's an image of a bell-bottom pantsuit designed by Karl Lagerfeld for Chloé in my head that I liked greatly at a time. And my 1993 issue of Burda International features some designer patterns. But Burda International was different from regular Burda and appeared less frequently.