1934 summer cruise wardrobe - article

The summer is back! After a few very rainy days finally it's sunny outside, here in the Netherlands. I'm already back to work, but some of you might just start to enjoy weeks off, preparing for a trip far from home.
Last week I wrote about my tips for festival outfits, now get back in time for a crispy, fresh holiday wardrobe from the 30's! Back then, going on cruise was very fashionable. Enjoying the fresh air, sunbathing on the ship, fancy dinners with entertainment, trips to the shore to visit foreign towns and cultures.
Although this article is from 1934 there are a lot of tips you could use when packing for your holiday wardrobe, even when not going on a cruise.

This summer cruise wardrobe plan based on the classic and fresh white, red and navy color combination. If those are not your colors (white is certainly not mine) the article advises on other color options as well. How about string-color* combined with bright green, pale blue and some brown or grey with cornflower-blue, pale blue and white? Scroll down to read!
*string-color is beige

"don't wear these on cruises!

• printed crepe-de-chine or crepe day dresses
• any dresses that are 'frilly'
• high-heeled shoes
• black for daytime, unless it is linen
• dresses of elaborate materials, such as satin
• elaborate make-up by day
• jwellery in the daytime
• 'trimmed' hats
• taffeta (it will split) or lame (it will tarnish)"

7-piece mini-wardrobe from 1948

Today I have a 7-piece, late-40's mini wardrobe, designed by fashion editor Mary Hordern (1911-1961) The basic items below combine well for autumn and winter. These looks represent the New Look-style with clinched-in waist, fullness around the hips and rounded shoulders.

"Although clever ideas sponsored by Paris designers are featured, there is nothing too complex for the average home dressmaker to handle." 

the 7 pieces:

• overcoat 
• suit with two different skirts 
• two-piece day frock 
• two-piece evening frock

overcoat:
"Complies with voluminous lines decreed by all overseas designers. It is made with a stiffened detachable collar, worn flat with cape effect, as a hood, or high as a storm collar (as shown above). If you prefer it, make the collar of fur, plaid or tweed, backed with a lighter or darker toned material than the pine-green of the coat.
Other good color for this coat would be mustard yellow, lilac, crimson, tortoiseshell or verdegris-green. Be sure the color chosen goes both with your frock and suit."


suit:
"Select whatever color will tone with your overcoat. Coat of the suit is made with magyar sleeves, nipped waist, simple rolled collar. One skirt has a peg-top made with small tucks and one back pleat.
The second skirt is made with panelled flares overpleated. It can be worn with a sweater and flat shoes for the country or with a tailored coat for town."

did you know...
...that 'pegging' is creating width in the hips and closeness at the hem, fashionable in the beginning of the 20th century. It came into fashion again in the 50's, when a tiny waist was accentuated by wide hips for the New Look.

two-piece day frock:
"Top, with scooped basque, can be worn outside or tucked into the skirt. It is made with a small collar and magyar sleeves. Trim it with either a crisp, white, starched collar or a black velvet bow. The peg-top skirt, made with seamed tucks can also be worn with sweaters for casual occasions."

did you know...
...that a 'magyar' sleeve an early 50's sleeve type is? It is halfway between a dolman and batwing sleeve, tapering towards the wrist. There is often an underarm gusset added.

two-piece evening frock:
"The fitted bodice of back velvet has a halter-neck strap pulled wide under the arms. If you like, trim it with roses of velvet bows. The skirt can be of any color and is made on a drawstring, giving fullness."

did you know...
...that the foundation garment of those years was the guepiere, a  corselette which pulled only at one place, the actual waist?

1965 travel wardrobe

I've always been intrigued by vintage wardrobe plans. How to do it with just a few items or what to buy when you only have limited resources (coupons), when or go on holidays.

The Duchess of Cambridge recently finished her Australian tour. I don't think her travel wardrobe was particularly special or exciting at all. Were you impressed?

Of course, it is hard to assemble a versatile travel wardrobe, especially when you want to use a limited amount of items (which was certainly not the case for Catherine...) How about a wardrobe of 21 garments, weighing only 22 lb? (=less, than 10kg)

Bridget Maginn was a famous American sewing expert in the 1960's. Her 3-months Australian tour in 1965 was sponsored by Butterick and Singer. 

For her light-weight travel wardrobe Butterick selected 8 of their own patterns:

• 1 coat
• 5 suits
• 1 blouse
• 1 overblouse+skirt combination
• 1 dress+jacket combination 
• 1 cocktail dress

1981 mini-warobe goes 40's!

I love mini-wardrobes, who doesn't? Well, the 80's weren't exactly a highlight in fashion history, but some things can still be inspiring. Above a 1980's article which plays around with the combinations of 7 items for the 7 days of the week. Since the early 40's are by far my favorite fashion era, I thought it would be interesting and fun to interchange the items with 40's pieces.
And yes, one day I'm definitely going to make a 40's mini-wardrobe for myself!

the original 7 piece mini-wardrobe:

• corduroy jacket 
• corduroy trousers 
• corduroy skirt 
• woolen leather-trimmed jacket/blazer
• cotton shirt with ruffed collar and pintuck panel
• long sleeved print shirt
• ruffeld georgette blouse

While the 40's were all about dresses and suits, it is easier to combine with separates. Let's take a look at the 40's counterparts of the pieces above! Instead of a suit and a separate jacket I took two very different suits as base items.

suit, jacket and skirt:

The 3 piece suit on the left is a great basic for your wardrobe. You can wear the belted jacket with the trousers or with the flared skirt. The mustard jacket on the right has an A-line skirt and combines well with the grey or blue slacks below:


slacks and casual blouses:
Grey corduroy pants with a burgundy, long-sleeved blouse, or deep-blue slacks with an interesting, hooded shirt in red and white striped crepe:


short sleeved blouses:

With decorative top-stitching and plain in an interesting, striped fabric. Both combine well with the slacks or the suits.


elegant blouses:

Two dressier lace blouses, one lace blouse with 3/4 sleeves and a peplum and one buttoned with dolman sleeves. In white color they combine well with the pieces above:


my 40's combinations:

1934 cruise wardrobe - article

This week back to the 1930's again. Today an article from 1934, which gives a detailed description of a cruise wardrobe when you decide to escape the cold weather. Later this week: in the baby bootie series the cutest 30's booties ever!!! Plus, the finishing touches on my Valerie jumper.
Suddenly, the weather has got warm here, in Western Europe. We are experiencing a quite warm winter this year. No sign of snow at all! When the temperatures are rising it is nice to think about planning the holidays. This week we finally sold our old house (yay!) so there will be more money left to get away for a few days. In the 30's cruises were the ultimate holiday get-aways for the rich. Entertainment, socializing and sunbathing on the ship and sightseeing ashore. With these items you are safe for colder weather on the way and ready for a summer holiday ashore!

"The experienced, well-dressed traveller, you will find, takes a few well-made clothes, the minimum amount of hats and shoes, and looks infinitely smarter than the amateur who is always changing her frocks and is encumbered by many trunks and suitcases."

tweed or flannel suit

• Flannel in beige, grey, dark blue or brown; tweeds in checks and plaids. 
• The  coat should be either hip length (nipped-in-at-the-waist) or full length (either fitted or swagger style) 
• A skirt of the same fabric, with a big pleat back, and in front stitched down to knee-height to complete the suit. 
• Complete with blouses, several wool sweaters a wool cardigan

long coat

• A long coat with a high collar and deep pockets in natural colored tweed (flecked with brown and yellow) lined with yellow jersey to wear over sweater and skirt or frocks. 
• The blouse is of the same jersey and the skirt is the same tweed tweed or flannel with matching long coat (to wear sweater or cardigan underneath) 
• Grey flannel instead of tweed combines well with everything. 
• White flannel and chinchilla cloth coat can be an option, but then you need another coat for colder weather.

lightweight wool frock

• To wear on board. 
• It should be very tailored looking, in a lighter shade fine wool jersey.
• machine knitted or handknitted material, short sleeves, trimmed with buttons and pockets.
• Color suggestion: pastel blue, grey, pink or yellow, beige, grey, white

wool frock 

• To wear ashore. 
• Sleeveless or short sleeved, with an accompanying brief jacket, which is made in the same fabric with short or 3/4 sleeves in plainly tailored crepe-de-chine or linen. 
• Thin frocks should be of crepe-de-chine, pique, tweed, linen or any of the non-transparant cottons, tailored with a severe neckline, short sleeves and pleats in the skirt. 
• Printed crepe with a flower, dotted or striped pattern in red and white, blue and white, yellow or green or brown and white can be an option.

evening dress with a cape or jacket

• The simpler the better. 
• Made out of printed crepe, lace or chiffon.
• Add long coat of velveteen, velvet or sheer wool in a bright color for cooler nights on deck.

sports outfit

• An outfit consisting of shorts, shirt and detachable skirt for deck sports, in linen, pique, jersey, sponge cloth or flannel. 
• The shirt is made like a men's buttoned shirt with two patch pockets. the shorts can be tight fitting if you are slim. 
• For the 'stouter' girls pleats over the stomach and full legs that hang linke knee-length skirts. 
• A skirt with buttons at centre front (the bottom buttons are left undone and there is no need to wear stockings!)

bathing costume or beach dress 

• To wear on deck.

shoes

• Evening shoes which can be paired with several gowns and topcoat.
• Two pair of day shoes: 
• one pair of white or brown, and white low-heeled, rubber soled lace-ups for deck wear 
• and a pair of white or brown and white court shoes with a high Cuban heel for ports. 
• Add a dark pair of shoes if one of the ports is cold.

hats

• Made of the same material as the tweed or flannel ensemble.
• A medium brimmed thin white felt or panama for the thin frocks 
• and a big white straw for the ports.

other:

• a white or colored mackintosh (=trench coat) for rainy ports
• scarves in dark or bright colors to wear with the thin frocks and sweaters.

source newspaper article and images: Australian Women's Weekly through Trove.

Schiaparelli's 1936 wardrobe plan

"If you own a fairly large variety of cheap clothes and change them a dozen times a day, you will never appear chic; cheapness is always apparent."

I hate when this happens but last year I accidentally deleted a complete post with text and a bunch of pictures I've prepared!!! It took hours to find and edit the best pictures and to write the text, but with one mistake it was all gone. Finally I had the time to prepare a new version, hope you like it!

As I wrote here fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli was often asked to contribute to fashion articles in the 30's. In a 1936 magazine interview she advised on building a basic wardrobe from scratch: "how to dress inexpensively and yet look smart as a star" (link to full text: click here) The article only describes the main clothing items, basic things like underwear, stockings and blouses are not listed. Her most important message is that good,  simply made clothes never date. You can better invest in quality than quantity. So true!

did you know...
...that Schiaparelli had her own signature shade: shocking pink? The color is said to be inspired by a pink diamond by Cartier. Schiaparelli used it often in her collections and for the packaging for her 1937 fragrance, named Shocking. She asked Surrealist designer Leonor Fini to create a perfume bottle imitating the curves of movie star Mae West. She once called the shade "life-giving, like all the light and the birds and the fish in the world put together, a color of China and Peru but not of the West – a shocking colour, pure and undiluted."

If you want to start building your own (vintage) wardrobe, these are the key items she suggests to start with:

• a good suit
• a good coat
• two plain dresses for afternoon and dinner
• a smart evening dress and an evening wrap
• sweater
• shoes
• hats, bags, jewelry

So, how to be chic on a small income? To give you an idea how such a mini-wardrobe would look like, first an impression from an 1936 AWW issue:


Sounds easy, right? Now let's see the comments of Ms. Schiaparelli on every item, plus more inspiration from the late 1930's!

suit:
"Buy a good suit and live in it, rather than a lot of cheap clothes.Let it be a good, tailored suit, carefully made, with beautiful material and don't be afraid to be seen in it too often."


coat:
Preferably a black coat with a fur collar. "For winter you should have a 3/4 fur coat, if you can not afford fur, a heavy tweed." Add for a cool summer climate a 3/4 cloth coat.




dresses:
"For the first dress I would suggest a good crepe, with two different scarfs to be worn with."



evening dress:
"Add a little jacket for informal parties and leave it off for the formals."


sweater:
"A good sweater for weekends in the country and general sports."


shoes:

- 1 pair of Oxfords

- 1 pair of pumps with Cuban heels

- 1 pair of evening sandals (in either silver of gold, they last a long time)
"Shoes should never be conspicous. a shoe to be really smart should be as pain as possible, with a heel that suits the girl who wears it."


shoes, hats, bags:
- a minimum of 2 hats, one felt and one dressy hat
"Shoes, hats, bag and gloves ar frightfully important and should be considered together. All should match in color."

newspaper images: AWW through Trove
jewelry:
"Cheap jewelry should never be worn, unless it happens to be something that you positively know suits your type. Pearls, including cheap imitations are always in good taste. Plain gold jewelry in a modern design is always good."

"Buy good clothes only and never be afraid to wear them too often, or of not being in style."

above: Ms. Schiaparelli herself