April 4, 2013

April!

According to the calender, it is well and truly spring. However, here in the Netherlands, it doesn't feel like spring yet... I have to say it is slightly holding me back in my sewing plans: it feels a bit odd to sew wool trousers in April but with the cold wind (and even some snowflakes earlier today!) nice light cotton dresses are not yet on my menu either. 

While I ponder the issue, I thought I'd share some nice pictures from one of my vintage magazines with you. These come from La Femme Elegante from April 1934 (a magazine from my big haul back in February. This one is unfortunately without its pattern sheet). I'm showing you all the colour pictures and some of the black and white ones.












I love all these elegant drawings but I have to confess that the 1930's silhouette is a bit alien to me. It's just so different from what we see in stores today and from the 1950's stuff which I have been studying so much this past year. I really think I should try it out though...

6 comments:

  1. Wow! I just love these! The colour combinations are striking!

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  2. Some very strong shoulders there which for some reason I hadn't associated with the 30s. I really like the grey coat.

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  3. Gorgeous! I have a hard time visualizing 30s dresses as clothes, too... but when I look at the actual style lines a lot of them (though not necessarily these particular ones) remind me of a lot of the 70s dresses I love---puff shoulders and narrow skirts. ;) I think we're not used to looking past the broad-shoulder, narrow hip stylization of the artwork. I know it took me a while to figure out how to translate 50s wasp-waist artwork into knowing what the real thing would look like---I think it's probably similar. But then some of those details are really out there. Are they weirder than any given Vogue, though? Hmm....

    Spring teased us for a few days, but we're having snow again here today. Blerg. :P

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  4. The La Femme Élégante art style is suspiciously similar to an issue of "Die Schöne Wienerin" that I have on long-time loan...
    http://marmota-b.blogspot.cz/2012/03/austrian-1932-magazine-and-pattern.html

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  5. These are beautiful drawings! I love the lines of the dresses from that period and they have very interesting seams. Just like you I find these lines so different from now - I wonder what I would look like in them

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