Correction - Pinterest

Before I forget to mention it again... I've changed my Pinterest name, therefore there's a new link too: http://www.pinterest.com/willynillies/

Hope ya like it, it's just some random things like to "collect"...

Meyer's Modeblatt 1946 - No. 11, 16th March

 

So, back to Meyer's Modeblatt! This and the next issue are actually pretty good when it comes to the "fashion" content! And if you love the 40s, may I suggest you visit me on Pinterest, where I have started a board that pays tribute to forever modern 1940s fashions!
The ensemble on this cover was again some kind of exclusive creation, at least nothing that a sewing pattern was available for. "Elegant deux-pièces for the afternoon" by Léon Fischer, Geneva, hat by Berthe Peney, Geneva.

The fashion

First of all, an article about the renaissance of Viennese fashion. It talks about the fashion that had before the war and the "Anschluss" conquered the world with it's ladylike and amiable style, and which had after the annexation in 1938 become just an extra to Berlin and Munich, and turned all its values on its head. And now, even in the heavily bombed city, seamstresses, fashion boutiques etc. were taking business up again and trying to establish themselves again. The photos show one such workshop and one boutiques and it's new spring offerings. Note the Montblanc sign on the house!

 

Next up - new fashion trends from Paris. The journalist calls it "the new fashion" and talks about it's constant changes, which happen not just twice a year (sound familiar?). Then she goes on about changing beauty ideals, remembering the time when women "had to be as slim, and yes, flat, as possible" and clearly likes the new feminine ideal. "Today, women are allowed to have hips and breasts again, but your waist should be very slim. Your shoulders can be round and feminine. The nonchalant posture of the "girls" is not fashionable anymore, the Parisian woman with her perfect posture is the ideal again". Furthermore, "flowing, childlike locks are out, at least for women over 25. The new hairstyle is more feminine and lets the face and especially the profile show to advantage." And of course, with an elegant up-do or chignon, your face would really show, so "good facial care is essential, as are earrings or earclips. With clips you have a lot of choice - ceramics, metal, flowers etc., whatever goes with your dress. Fabrics feature broad, very broad stripes, and great contrasts like orange and white or royal blue and white are favoured. Of course, airy imprimés are still in favour too, with small patterns, and in soft pastel colors. Shoulders are round, the sleeves need a lot of fabric if they reach at least to the elbow. They are set in low, like kimono or batwing styles. In summer, we will see next to the normal short chemise sleeve also the barely shoulder-covering komino, or an artfully draped fichu-sleeve. New is a trapeze-shaped neckline, which again adheres to the chapter of the emphasis on the bust. The dresses are so long that the knees are not visible, the shoes come away from the plump, heavy sole, and go back to the slim, high heel (as long as they're not work or sport's shoes). Paris has won..."

Well, need I say more? I'd love to have any of the dresses, shoes or earrings shown on this page!

And then, on to the patterns! Lots of elegant, pretty day dresses for spring, and a whole collection of new suits too!

For the men, there was only the Veillon ad on the last page though - dapper suits for sure!

 

This'n that

Just some random stuff, as usual. The royal family of Luxemburg holidaying in Wengen, the Colombian consul who was a woman, American women making swimsuits from parachute silk, the head of the American military government in Germany making a short holiday in St. Moritz, English women asking for bigger rations, the Lauberhorn ski race in Wengen... and a pope.

Plus the usual thrifty recipes, short stories, agony aunt letters and small ads... 

Ad-tastic

This issue wasn't short of great ads though!

Lux soap, making you beautiful and glamourous ("and its popular with men too"!).

All those "wonder cures" to make you beautiful, strong, slim, cure your nerves, whatever... 

Slimming ad

Orbal, why yes, of course it had to be there!

 

But here's a new one - Diva! A cream that is supposed to make you thinner where you wish. And of course, it's from Paris. Oh dear...

Breast enhancement ad

Yep, Rondoform were at it again, with yet another new ad. Week after week, they found a new slogan, a new angle, whatever. You have to give it to them, they were pretty creative. I wonder who it was who wrote all these ads!

Just a quick one for the weekend...

If you're interested, I'm now also to be found at Pinterest... still putting my boards together, but I'm getting there: http://www.pinterest.com/karinmarty/

In case you're looking for a good book on 60s fashion, there's a new one coming out from Jonathan Walford - highly recommendable: http://astore.amazon.com/thevinfasgui-20/detail/0500516936

Speaking of 60s... here's a neat new way of doing a fashion show - and it's very, very 60s inspired too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OY3qQ8QQUjw

I've been to Vienna again last week and managed to find a really neat and versatile little ca. early 60s dress:

Just a year before the 60s... in 1959 is the TV series "Magic City" set. SRF 2 TV has started to show it, as usual with the possibility to watch in English. Okay, it looks good at first glance, and Olga Kurylenko is beautiful, but I have spotted so many cringe-inducing costuming errors already... so don't watch it for that. The plot is about a hotel owner in Miami Beach and his tie-ups with the mafia etc. I don't know if I'll keep watching just because of that to be honest... as said, the costuming is shaky. Some of it is quite good, others... all bras, bikini tops etc. are the wrong shape. And there are push-ups involved (grrr), too-skimpy, modern-looking bikinis, wrong shoes... Yes, yes, details, but distracting details! Mad Men isn't error-free either, I give you that, but it's still a lot better than this.

Also in Vienna we came across an excellent gallery, Printa, that lots of interesting things on sale: https://www.facebook.com/PrintaWien What we liked most were these wonderful big silk screen art prints, like for example by finnish artist Lotta Nieminen. Check out her illustration work!

Meyer's Modeblatt 1946 - No. 10, 9th March

 

So, here we are again! This week, no designer outfit on the cover, but one by a "Ch. Kohler S.A." from Geneva. Hair piled up high, dress as short as it gets, chunky shoes with big plateau - a typical look of the time just after the war.

The fashion

 

A pretty bat wing-blouse and sporty short skirt, plenty of practical jackets and skirts for girls, the appropriate wear for communion and something practical to make form wool remains (did they have to hitch the boy's shorts quite so high up?)

At the movies

A Hansel and Gretel film, but with no mention who the actors are. Not even IMdB can tell me which one this could be. Most of the ones found are 1950s or later, there's 2 or 3 entries for 20s or 30s productions, but no further infos or images...

Make it yourself

How to crochet lace for hankies! My grandma loved hankies like these.

Around the world...

 

One more of those totally random little articles - this time on chameleons. Well, I guess then they would have been something very exotic indeed!

Something we couldn't imagine these days... a story about diabetic children in the UK learning how to give themselves insulin shots - this was a novelty then!

 Random news snippets... Mrs. Roosevelt in Germany, the first post-war carnival in Küsnacht am Rigi (motto: "Echo of the times" and featuring "a certain someone searching his 1000 years-empire with a stable lantern"!), Field Marshal Montgomery in Berne (being celebrated by people), a lady who had been working for 50 years in the same job (can you imagine?), an new portrait of Princess Elizabeth for her 20th anniversary (wearing a "tulle-decorated pink-golden spring dress"... I want to see this in color!), the "typical American housewife", a Mrs. George Lucas from Lafayette, Indiana, who won a competition of the "Home Makers Guild". The prize? Three days in New York! And finally... a sculptress.

Somewhere in America?

 

This is what this article asks. But no, of course not! All these images were taken in Zurich. Counter-clockwise: the Jelmoli department store (still stands, though there have been a lot of changes, and this is a view of the back side, that I can't find any good photos of), the church community house in Wipkingen (still stands - check it out here http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Zuerich_Wipkingen_Turm_KGH.jpg), the old stock exchange (still stands - see http://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Zuerich_alte_Boerse.jpg), the Walche tower (still stands, but I can't find any good actual photos) and the silo in Wipkingen (not sure if this one still stands).

Ad-tastic

Creme Tokalon - a face cream promising wonders within a week. But be careful, there's a white day-cream and a pink night-cream... whatever!

Something new... hair removal for ladies! One product for the face, one for the body. I'm guessing it's a cream, though they don't say what exactly it is - they just promise it works, and that's the most important thing...

 

This one is fun... it's telling people instead of making up for all the chocolate they couldn't eat when it was rationed by eating a lot of it now, but rather to buy good quality Tobler chocolate, as this would make up in quality what one had missed in quantity. Duh.

Tobler is the company who invented the Toblerone, of course :-).

Slimming ad

Here's a new one! Redux slimming tablets. Sounds more like a laxative than a slimming aid... oh dear!

Orbal of course had an ad in this issue as well... as always!

Breast enhancement ad
... guess what! Of course, it's Rondoform! Once more extolling all their scientifically proven blah-blah... this time even with a picture of some scientist. They never give up, do they?

Do you buy vintage sewing patterns?

Since I have decided to specialise my Etsy shop more into one thing - vintage sewing patterns - I would also like to know more about what my customers are interested in! I come across so many unusual or interesting things but don't know if they would sell at all, so I have decided to create a little survey to find out more. This shouldn't take you longer than 5 minutes to fill out, so I would really like all of you to participate! Please also forward it to other people if you know that they're interested in vintage patterns!

Please click here for the survey

Thanks!

Vintage inspirations - August 2013

There's so much inspiration to be found in vintage, that I thought I would share this'n that on this blog every now and then.

If the 60s and 70s are your "thing", you might like the film "Cloclo" (or "My Way"). It's a biopic on French pop superstar Claude François. Though there are some mistakes here and there, but all in all I liked the costumes (yes, there are sequinned suits in there!), and the lead actor, Jéremie Regnier, is certainly worth watching - the likeness is uncanny, and his performance is just great. A word of warning though, it's a long one at two and a half hours, and it's not a a cinematographic master piece but a pretty conventional biopic.

If you struggle with cleaning vintage clothing, here's some great advice: 9 Must Have Products For Cleaning Vintage Clothing by Debutante Clothing.

Jewelry is your thing? I visited the Victoria & Albert Museum in London last winter and was blown away by their jewelry exhibit, which is nothing short of amazing. Even better, you can look at it online in detail! Speaking of the V&A, during my recent trip to Australia, I managed to see the wonderful exhibition about quilts from 1700 to 1945 at the Art Gallery of Queensland in Brisbane. Most of the exhibits are from the V&A. The work that went into these is just mind-blowing!

Of course I also looked at one or the other vintage or thrift shop in OZ, as far as time allowed. In Noosa I unexpectedly found vintage at Noosa Longboards, the premier surf shop in town. They have a nice selection of vintage Hawaiian shirts. The shop is run by hard-core surfers, and one of the guys told me all about vintage shirt sizing, obviously from personal experience. They also sell nice retro shirts and other surf related retro stuff. In the end, I bought this cute shirt which, although a man's, was a nice small size:

It's by Hukilau Fashions, cotton, and has nice metal buttons. It features typical polynesian themes like an outrigger boat, a drummer, a warrior figure - reminds me of French Polynesia!

If you ever head to the tropical city of Darwin, may I suggest that you have a look into the Vintage Twist clothing shop. This lovely little shop has both vintage and retro clothing, and is a little hidden away, but very appropriately in the Star Village Mall, the location that was once home to Darwin's Star Theatre. The courtyard is decorated with plaques and artifacts tracing the cinema's history. On the outer side of the courtyard, on Smith Street Mall, there's also a wonderful used book shop that's perfectly inviting to nose around. And if all that shopping has totally exhausted you, head for the Four Birds Café inside the courtyard, it's a beautiful tranquil spot for a cold drink and bite to eat:

If looking for vintage beyond clothing, may I also suggest some ideas from my shop? I have some great decorative items in my shop too like cute kitschy souvenir plates, some books - and this wonderful pierrot doll:

And if you the still hot summer weather is getting to you and you're looking for the solution to what to wear underneath that light suit, may I suggest the old-fashioned solution of a half blouse? There are some NOS available in my shop:

Vintage sewing patterns - looking for the more "exotic"?

I'm still trying to catch up after holidays and lots of other things have either kept me away or busy! As you may have noticed though, I have stocked up my Etsy shop on the sewing pattern side a great deal.

I have also created some new pattern categories to make your search a little easier. If you prefer the modern reissue patterns like Vintage Vogue, you'll now find them in a separate category as Retro sewing patterns. They're all uncut, but hurry, there's not a lot of those left, and the category will probably disappear from my shop.

For the vintage sewing patterns, there's not only a separate category, but also lots of "new" stock to check out! There's not only a lot of American patterns like Simplicity or McCall's, but you'll also find some rather "exotic" rare European ones like Burda, Brigitte/Ullstein, Herbillon, Jolymode or Switzerland's own Ringier. Some of them do come with more language option instructions than just German or the pattern pieces themselves have printed-on instructions in further languages. A personal fave of mine are the Jolymode patterns which have a great concept and show an early multi-size option for patterns, like this one:

Jolymode pattern 5185

As far as I know, these patterns were available through the Jolymode magazines - you bought the mag and then could order the patterns. This is, directions, measurement table and all, printed on pattern paper:

 It offers three different sizes, and basically you could cut the pattern out right in your size. Very nice! Even Burda at this time still sold their patterns in single sizes only, so I was quite surprised by this one.

What I also learned was that a log of European pattern companies provided with their patterns a sheet of generic sewing tips etc. that would be the same with every pattern, and a separate one specific to the actual pattern, which sometimes even appears to have been originally written by typewriter! The emphasis was clearly on production being inexpensive. An interesting example of this are the Brigitte/Ullstein sewing patterns of the 60s and 70s. Brigitte is an iconic German women's magazine. What I did not know whas that they also sold sewing patterns - I am guessing they must have been advertised in their magazines in some way. It isn't a sewing magazine per se though, but a classic women's magazine that of course also includes fashion. Ullstein is a publishing company, and they must have been responsible for producing the patterns.

Brigitte/Ullstein sewing pattern

This is a really cute little secretary dress that could be worn in so many ways! Looking at the back of the pattern, you can see how it was produced. This pink leaflet it seems was based on something like a template that was filled out with the necessary details of the pattern and then copied.

The actual pattern pieces were pre-cut, unprinted, and the numbers and basic instructions were actually stamped on!

If you're looking for inspiration for a wedding or evening gown, or any other kind of formal dress, I have also come upon this fabulous Burda bridal magazine from 1994:

And in a reverse of things, I have actually also stumbled on the sewing pattern in the Burda magazine of November 1966 that one of the dresses in my Etsy shop must have been made from - now how unusual is that! Of course, there's no nicer way of actually dating a home-made vintage dress.