It was my birthday recently and my mum, whose options for independently going out gift-buying are rather limited these days, gave me some money and told me to
"treat myself". So I did, and here are a couple of the things that I bought.
This
Vogue Pattern Book dates from June 1941, when it was still a separate magazine attached to attached to an issue of
Vogue (which was by then monthly rather than fortnightly) with string.
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| Vogue Special Design 4295, and a lot of hat |
On the back cover is an advertisement for 'Chessboard' silk threads, which I have never heard of. I could find very little about them online either, the company seems to have vanished into total obscurity.
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| Clearly they could afford expensive advertising in 1941 |
Inside, pasted to the editorial on page one, is this.
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| A last-minute addition |
The circumstances in question were the April 1941 bombing of the Pattern Book offices and the destruction of 350,000 patterns in the resulting fire, as described in
this book. That
"there may be difficulty in supplying Vogue Patterns from our headquarters" seems rather an understatement!
Other than this, and the opening of the editorial being,
"Brides will be having smaller trousseaux; ordinary mortals buying fewer clothes", you would hardly know that there was a war on. As it's the June issue, there is an emphasis on things bridal - although surely it's a bit late to be starting sewing for a summer wedding now?
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| A mere seven outfits to make for a trousseau |
This is the pattern book's idea of
"simplicity itself for a war wedding". Given that clothes rationing was announced on 1 June 1941, wedding dresses were presumably about to get even simpler, and the editorial's suggestion that brides-to-be should ask for a sewing machine,
"a Singer for preference" as a wedding present seems like particularly sound advice.
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| Something to run up a couple of weeks before the wedding |
The only other photographic illustration is on the inside of the back cover.
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| Summer outfits (and more hats) |
Everything else is line drawings, although even this surprised me with the amount of colour printing used. Naturally, the most colourful spreads are for the most expensive patterns.
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| Couturier patterns |
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| Special Design patterns |
Elsewhere, a single colour is used.
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| For dresses, . . . |
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| ensembles, . . . |
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| and suits |
I wasn't aware that the 'little black dress' was a thing in 1941, but obviously it was.
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| Black dresses? For June? Actually yes, that is quite groundbreaking. |
One of the illustrations seemed familiar, and when I looked at it closely, I realised that it was another of my presents from Mum.
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| The same image in positive and negative |
The envelope is very fragile, but the pattern seems to be complete.
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| Vogue 9039, with bonus mad back view of the hat |
Because the pattern was printed before clothes rationing began, there is no reference to 'coupon value' on the back of the envelope. What there is, however, is this.
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| Nooooooo! |
Leaving aside the poor noun verb agreement (yes, I am a grammar nerd, and I expected better of Vogue), I'm very glad that its previous owner ignored this request.
