Knitters of Yore

  Sometimes you see an image which looks quite ordinary, but with a little background knowledge a fascinating story emerges. Take the chap on the cover of the knitting pattern below. He's clearly very pleased with his new knitted waistcoat, but check the other details: the small collar, the thin tie with bang up to date pattern and the neat, but stylish haircut. Our hero aspires to Mod style. Similarly, check out the young man on the right. Banished are the chunky cable-knits, pipe and the general impatience for the arrival of middle age which were so often the hallmarks of the knitting pattern aimed at young men. Instead we see a close fit, a stylish  houndstooth check pattern and an air of youthful confidence and style.  If you grew up in the seventies, as I did, there was always the feeling that the sixties was a huge party to which you weren’t invited. The music was better (sixties Soul and Jazz versus seventies Disco – no contest!), typography and graphics were crisp...

Fashion Knits 72, published by Patons, demonstrates how far the Art Deco revival had pervaded the general fashion consciousness in the early 1970s. Not only are several of the outfits featured specifically 1920s and 30s themed, but the influence even extended to the choice of typefaces. There was a major trend in this period for Art Nouveau fonts, an offshoot of the British vogue for Victoriana which emerged in the sixties.     The revival of interest in the fashions of the twenties and thirties can be traced back to Arthur Penn's 1967 film, and more specifically the costume design of Theadora Van Runkle, who made Faye Dunaway look sensationally good. Key to the look was Dunaway's beret, as Van Runkle, who won an Oscar for her first frilm as Costume Designer, explained: "The beter was the culmination of the silhoette. In it, she combined all the elements of elegance and chic. Without the beret, it would have been charming, but not the same."  The beret brought an air ...

The mini skirt seemed so cutting-edge and rebellious when they first started to emerge in the early 1960s - it is often credited by British designer Mary Quant, but it seems she was reacting to a trend that was in the ether at the time. By the end of the decade, as often happens in these matters, the trend began to swing in the opposite direction. The use of decimal coinage on this example indicates that it is from 1971 or later. The same hippyish fashion imperative that introduced Oxford Bags into the male wardrobe (as seen above worn by David Bowie on the rear cover to his 1971 album  Hunky Dory ) also brought the Maxi Skirt into existence. Skinny ties and the Italian-inspired lean silhouette which informed the Mod look for both men and women was supplanted by a more flowing, bohemian style. Yves Saint Laurent brought the look to the Paris catwalks in 1969 as part of a peasant look and pretty soon the knitting pattern manufacturers were on the case.   

Blogs such as this one could easily give the reader an impression that the world of knitting is and was always terminally unfashionable. This is actually quite unfair and ignores a history now becoming forgotten of how people outside the wealthy few in metropolitan centres managed to follow fashionable trends. If you lived in a mining town in North Yorkshire, say, you didn't have a branch of Biba or Mary Quant nearby, even if you had enough money to shop there.  A lot of people either worked, or had families who worked, in the textile industries. One lady I was discussing this blog with says that she could show a picture of a dress to her mum, who could then make it. Her uncle was a pattern cutter who could see an item of clothing worn in a film and recreate it from memory. For those without that level of professional skill, there was the knitting magazine. There were three main fashionable knitting magazines in the UK in the 1960s and 70s. Knitting Pattern company Paton and B...

Apparently bed capes were once a thing. This young lady is either about to go to bed with her Horlicks or head out to fight crime in a knitted superhero costume.

While sharp suits might have been suitable wear in Rome for scooting about on a Vespa, over in England a sensible woollen outergarment is just the ticket for these two Easy Riders.

Here's Tania Mallet, model and occasional actress, modelling The Shetland Look for Patons Publications. Related to Russian nobility and a cousin of Helen Mirren, she only appeared in two productions: the major role of Tilly Masterson in Goldfinger (1964), and a small, uncredited part in the 1976 The New Avengers episode The Midas Touch.

Why knitting patterns? Although I can't knit a stitch, I've always found them fascinating. While magazines were always regarded as ephemeral, knitting patterns are handed down from generation to generation via 'knit and natter' groups in local libraries, charity shops or jumble sales. Still cheap to buy, they offer a unique insight into fashions in clothes, hair, make-up and even graphic design from previous decades. Some even feature acting stars of the future and models who would become internationally famous. Everything on this blog for the foreseeable future will be from my own collection, rather than pinched from Google Images or Pinterest. You won't learn to knit by following this blog, but it'll be fun.