Born to be Mild


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.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Taking the New Look from the Catwalk to the High Street

Image
This knitting pattern for a buttoned top by Lee Target has managed to attract a lot of comment from the moment I bought it from a charity shop in Horsforth, near Leeds. The lady on the till gasped at the model’s tiny waist. I then showed it on a couple of vintage fashion Facebook groups, partly because I had to do quite a lot of digital retouching of the original patters, which was quite badly damaged. An absurd argument broke out in the comments when I mentioned that the poor woman could probably hardly breathe due to the undergarments needed to squeeze her into such an unnatural shape. Dior foundation garments to fit into the New Look Self appointed experts came out of the digital woodwork to tell me that women were just thinner in the 1950s and 60s, thankfully countered by others sharing memories from relatives who were around at the time, and actually wore these type of clothes. One comment was especially insightful: “Looks like the Dior New Look inspiration that came after the Sec...
Read more

The Mighty Maxi

Image
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.   
Read more

March of the Mods

Image
  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...
Read more