Above: Photographer Richard Avedon’s image of model Dovima is from the MFAH website. “Icons of Style: A Century of Fashion Photography” is an exhibit running at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; I got to see fashion photography at its best. Along with the photos, there is a little bit of actual fashion. Disclosure: this… Read More Iconic Fashion Photos: and the Stories Behind Them
Oscar de la Renta at the MFAH.… Read More Oscar de la Renta at the Museum of Fine Arts: Visual Candy and Which One I Want to Wear.
These thoughts are dedicated to my friends who are obsessed with costume design in old Hollywood movies that were produced before they (my friends) were born. In 1932 my mother was 7 years old, and lived in a faraway land. For her, Joan Crawford, Adrian and the Letty Lynton dress were not a thing. In… Read More Nothing’s New – Chanel Channels “Letty Lynton”
……of this Madeleine Vionnet design, circa 1922. It is 95 years old, and yet so 2017 in it’s modernity, the ombre vibe emanated by the color blocking, and the simple geometric shapes joined in an innovative fashion. Madeleine Vionnet was known as a master of the bias grain. Yet, this outfit hangs on the straight… Read More Can’t Let Go….
Disclaimer: By trade, I am not a fashion historian or anything like that. I do love history of fashion in the western hemisphere, and love to track where the current trends in fashion originated. Because there is very little in fashion that is so new that there is no precedent. Well, let’s see about the… Read More Nothing’s New. Tracking the The Cold Shoulder Trend
Merry Christmas! Making Christmas cookies and the occasional Christmas craft project is my highlight of the holiday. Technically, I do not celebrate, but that has not stopped me from loving all kinds of holiday themed cooking and crafts, and generally getting into the spirit! I try to bake a new holiday cookie each year. In… Read More Delving Into “The Delineator”, Christmas 1930 Number
“…. It was really about perfection….” The partial quote above refers to the art of haute couture sewing in the book The Pink Suit authored by Nicole Mary Kelby. No one wants to revisit tragic events, but I highly recommend the book if you’re looking for a quick late summer read with tons of sewing and haute couture references; and if you’re fashion… Read More August Reading: “The Pink Suit”
Dear Readers, did you ever read the fascinating history of Coats and Clarks‘ 200 year timeline back in 2012? You must! I love it when centuries old established companies live in the 21st century – so of course, Coats and Clark has a sewing blog called Sewing Secrets with awesome content. No, this is not an… Read More Frills & Fancies: #CoatsandClark Leaflet, 1934. Vintage, Easy, Fun and Impractical
In the finest American business tradition, McCalls Pattern Company recently proved to me that customers matter. Remember my post about Vogue 9005 and how the draft seemed wrong? Since McCalls Patterns is now active in social media (best business decision ever), I sent a direct Twitter message about said draft and, was thrilled to see an… Read More McCalls Pattern Book, circa 1953
If you know me, you also know that I love, love fashion and sewing history. That means that I collect publications like this one. It is Vogue Patterns Magazine dated December 1947/January 1948 with Holiday oriented content. I consider it an important and exciting piece of history. Here are some images from the magazine for… Read More Nothing’s New
Sew Everything Blog 