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From Runway to Real Life

My research for this post took me to Cassini, Dior, Balenciaga, Chanel, and back to Cassini.  Images for the fashions we wore as young women in the 1950s just don’t resonate accurately with the  pictures I see in historical references to the designers.

Long before we saw the fashions, we were attuned to them as part of magazine and newspaper publicity featuring runway models and designs. By the time the clothing arrived on the racks at Hudson’s Bay, Renfrews, Simpsons or in the pages of Eaton’s and Simpson-Sears catalogues, they were no doubt at least one or two seasons old.

This shouldn’t come as a surprise. Fashion shows then, as now, existed to publicise, not to provide an immediate practical application. The runway got the attention, and it was through publicity surrounding the shows in Paris, or New York, that we got our first glimpse of what was to be. Naturally, we couldn’t fathom wearing any of it, but the spectacle was fun to contemplate.

As Michelle Persad (Huffington Post) says,

“Sometimes fashion is beautiful, sometimes it’s crazy and sometimes it just makes us LOL. And such was the case with a few looks we saw come down the runway during New York Fashion Week. Between the oil-soaked, stringy hair that covered the models’ faces at Alexander Wang, the flesh-toned body stockings at Kanye West x Adidas Originals and the 3D gold chain nails at Libertine, there was no shortage of outrageous looks this season.”

But, in retrospect, fashion shows were not as outrageous as they are today. Models were beautiful, with believable bodies, and women could imagine wearing the designs they showed. Never were the designs on the runway so off the wall that one couldn’t see the resemblance to the designs that ultimately came out on the racks. As the influences from the big designers sifted down to us, and translated into actual clothing and patterns people could sew, we could see traces of the high fashion that began seasons ago in Paris and New York. I guess this is what the fashion industry would consider designs for the “masses”. Well, we didn’t complain. We anxiously waited every spring and fall for what was notably “new”. And, as we used to say, “They’re all wearing this now.”

The truly innovative and classic lines endured, and as the seasons unfolded, became dresses and coats that made us feel stylish and in vogue.

These are two of the fashions I wore and loved:

  • A mauve sheath in a shark skin/linen blend, with pencil slim skirt. The bodice was covered with mauve sheer lace, and tightly fitted. It had no collar and sleeves were 3/4 length suitable for wearing gloves. I remember that a fine zipper ran the length of the back. I have a picture which shows a glimpse of me at a wedding, wearing this dress, complete with white hat and gloves in 1959.
  • A salmon-pink fitted sheath dress, with matching-colour lace covering the entire dress. The main feature was a train in the lace fabric, that was attached at the back of the dress, and trailed to the hem. Regrettably, I have no pictures of this dress, but recall how well it fit, and how stylish it made me feel. I believe I owned this dress in 1957.

Although I sewed most of the clothing I wore, the two dresses I note above were purchased in Coeur d’Alene, a small city across the border from Calgary, where I lived.

As I do this research, it suddenly dawned on me that the influence I unknowingly adopted throughout my youth was Oleg Cassini—his clean, classic styles enhanced my small frame, and I was starry-eyed about two women who wore his designs, Jackie Kennedy and Grace Kelly.

This is what Richard Severo and Ruth LaFerla say about Cassini in a 2006 article in the New York Times:

“He achieved perhaps his greatest fame as the official wardrobe designer for Jacqueline Kennedy when she was first lady; he also designed clothes for Joan Fontaine, Joan Crawford and other Hollywood stars and women of great wealth. But throughout his career he also saw to it that his name appeared on ready-to-wear fashions that were affordable to average women.”

His designs may never have made it into Canadian stores, but my avenue to fashion in those days, patterns by Vogue, Butterick and others, were readily available. Although unaware of it at the time, I think the dress I wear in the illustration was influenced by Cassini, and I probably sewed it from a Vogue pattern.

2 thoughts on “From Runway to Real Life”

  1. thanks for the memories Diane…I well remember a shark-skin blouse that I just loved! I also remember that it was a pain to iron!! Looking forward to your next post….

    1. Thanks, Marilyne. The fashion posts are fun to do, but I wish I had more pictures of my sewing efforts in my 20s. I certainly had less time than I do now, but it seems I managed to do so much more!

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