All posts tagged: menswear

Rate the Dress: 1840s summer whites for a gentlemen

For last week’s Elizabeth Amalie Rate the Dress I had one request: Please don’t look at the baby. You looked at the baby. How could you not! That was some baby… Luckily looking at the baby resulted in a very entertaining set of comments. If the baby itself didn’t make you fall off your chair laughing, then Rachel’s imagined conversation with EA, and Mrs C’s all-too-apt Harry Potter reference were sure to! Beyond the most-unfortunate baby, Elizabeth Amalie’s dress was deemed very attractive, but not the most delicious creation of its time, coming in at 8.2 out of 10. I’ve just been to see the Reigning Men exhibition at LACMA* (11 word review: fabulous garments, slightly less fabulous curatorial choices, slightly overwhelming, totally worth it), so have menswear on the mind. There aren’t that many museums that have a lot of images of fully assembled menswear outfits, so I’ve picked one that is from LACMA, though it isn’t in Reigning Men. This mid-1840s ensemble was made with hot summer temperatures in mind: light colours give …

Rate the Dress: Dudes dress-off

Published by The Dreamstress

WOW! Such consistent ratings for the red-velvet-and-chains 1880s dress last week! 8-10 across the board! I don’t think we’ve EVER had a Rate the Dress before (exempting, of course, the one and only 10/10) where everyone concurred so wholeheartedly on a frock. The final tally was 9.3/10, for being unusual, striking, and restrained in the face of overwhelming temptation to just be…overwhelming. It’s feeling very spring-y here in Wellington. The kowhai are in full flame of glowing golden yellow, my freesias and irises are blooming, and the promise of summer is in the air. It’s also been a few Rate-the-Dresses since I’ve posted a Dress-Off, where you compare two garments on a similar theme, and rate each of them. So this week’s Rate the Dress will be a spring-themed Dress-OFF. For your sartorial judgement, I present a spring-green gentleman’s suit from the end of the 18th century. The Los Angeles County Museum of Art gives us two views of this ensemble. First, an elegantly sober variant, with matching pale green coat, waistcoat and breeches: Version …

My vintage menswear patterns

Published by The Dreamstress

Mr Dreamy can rarely be convinced to wear vintage styles, but I still like collecting vintage mens patterns, partly because they are useful for clients, partly because I want to teach classes on vintage menswear, and partly out of a hope that someday he will convert and become as enamored of vintage fashions as I am. A lot of my vintage men’s patterns are from the 1970s, because the 70s was a great period for men’s patterns – incredibly well written and drafted, and easy to alter to other periods. I do have some earlier patterns though, so I’ll focus on those today. Like Butterick 3999, the only menwear pattern that I inherited from my Grandma. I can just imagine Grandpa wearing this shirt. I don’t think he played golf though. Academy 2174 is the (slightly earlier, or well behind the times) New Zealand version of the sports shirt. I love how dapper the men are, in a sort of really ugly Clark Gable way. Keeping things casual is Weigel’s 1590, with beach shorts, summer …