Clik here to view.
Summer 2020 Designer Pattern Highlights
Detail, Cynthia Rowley Resort 2019. Model: Sasha Belyaeva. Photo: William Eadon. Editor: Kit Keenan. Image: Vogue Runway. Have you seen the new summer patterns? For Summer, 2020, Rachel Comey covers...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Vogue Paris 100
Inaugural issue of Vogue Paris, June 15, 1920. Illustration: Helen Dryden. Image: Gallica / BnF. Today is the 100th anniversary of Vogue Paris. To celebrate, here’s a decade-by-decade look at Paris and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
How Do You Spell Pride?
McCall’s 5567 (1977) Set of full colour iron-on transfers. This Sunday marked the 50th anniversary of the first Pride march, in New York City, on the one-year anniversary of Stonewall. Despite being...
View ArticleClik here to view.
About Time: Fashion and Duration
Dresses by Iris van Herpen and Charles James, 2012 and 1951. Photos © Nicholas Alan Cope. Image: Costume Institute. The PatternVault blog turns nine today! It’s been a pleasure writing about vintage...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Isaac Mizrahi: Vogue Patterns
Isaac Mizrahi and Shalom Harlow in Isaac Mizrahi’s Spring 1998 ad campaign. Photo: Dewey Nicks. Image: Instagram. Unzipped, the groundbreaking fashion film, is 25 this month. The 1995 documentary made...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Fall 2020 Designer Pattern Highlights
Detail, Badgley Mischka Fall 2019 runway presentation. Model: Ajak Deng. Image: Vogue.com. The new Vogue patterns for fall 2020 play with drape and texture for dropping temperatures. Plus, for those...
View ArticleClik here to view.
In memoriam: Kenzo Takada
Kenzo ensemble photographed in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, Vogue, August 1975. Model: Vibeke Knudsen. Photo: Helmut Newton. Image: Vogue Archive. Farewell to the singular Kenzo Takada, pioneer of the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Wings Not Included: Faerie Costuming
Detail, Simplicity 8629 by Firefly Path. Image: Simplicity. This Halloween, a look at faerie costumes. Jareth’s fairy ball in Labyrinth (1986) Costume design: Ellis Flyte and Brian Froud. Image: The...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Patterns in Vogue: Huston in Ireland
Detail, “Looking Great,” Vogue, October 15, 1969. Photos: Richard Avedon. Editor: Polly Mellen. Image: Vogue Archive. For her first appearance in American Vogue, Anjelica Huston flew to rural Ireland...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Galliano at 60
Angela Lindvall in John Galliano for Givenchy: Vogue 1978 in Liberty silk. “Another Country,” British Vogue, January 1998. Photo: Paolo Roversi. Editor: Lucinda Chambers. Image: Bellazon. Today is John...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Jennifer Connelly at 50
Jennifer Connelly as Princess Leia, McCall’s 7772 (1981) Jennifer Connelly turned 50 this weekend. Before she starred in films like Labyrinth (1986) and A Beautiful Mind (2001), Connelly was a child...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Patterns in Vogue: Stella Tennant by Steven Meisel
Stella Tennant in “Spare Change,” Vogue, May 1996. Photo: Steven Meisel. Editor: Camilla Nickerson. Image: Vogue Archive. Stella Tennant turns 50 today. In a Bauhaus-inspired, mid-’90s editorial, the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
In memoriam: Stella Tennant
Stella Tennant in Oscar de la Renta FW 2001, Vogue, June 2001. Photo: Arthur Elgort. Editor: Grace Coddington. Image: Bellazon. In memory of Stella Tennant, 1970–2020. Stella Tennant in Spring 1997...
View ArticleClik here to view.
In memoriam: Pierre Cardin
Pierre Cardin Spring 1969 couture, Vogue, March 15, 1969. Photo: Bert Stern. Image: Vogue Archive. Farewell to Pierre Cardin, the great futurist, couture iconoclast, and lifestyle brand pioneer. Read...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Vogue Pattern Book Centenary
Vogue Pattern Book, December–January 1924–25. Illustration: Harriet Meserole. Image: Pinterest. Did you know? The first issue of Vogue Pattern Book was published in 1920, making 2020 the hundredth...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Inauguration Sewing
President Kennedy with First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy at his inauguration in January, 1961. Image: Leonard McCombe / The LIFE Picture Collection / Getty. President Joe Biden will reportedly be wearing...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Libération at 50
Yves Saint Laurent smoking and shorts, Libération (Spring 1971 haute couture). “Les nouvelles vamps,” L’Officiel no. 583 (March 1971). Photo: Dominique Laporte. Image: jalougallery.com. Yves Saint...
View ArticleClik here to view.
In memoriam: Alber Elbaz
Alber Elbaz with model in Lanvin, 2009. Photo: Tim Walker. Image: The New Yorker. Farewell to Alber Elbaz, the beloved designer for Guy Laroche, Saint Laurent, and Lanvin. Read his New York Times...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Spring/Summer 2021 Designer Pattern Highlights
Detail, Rachel Comey Resort 2020. Image: Vogue Runway. As Vogue Patterns was settling in under its new, British ownership, two seasons have gone by without my usual pattern report. I’ve been busy with...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Grace Coddington at 80
Detail, “Brief Encounter,” Vogue, December 1991. Photo: Helmut Newton. Editor: Grace Coddinton. Image: Vogue Archive. Last month, the inimitable Grace Coddington turned 80. (Read her reminiscence in...
View Article