Photo: Nick Knight. Image via SHOWstudio.

Alexander McQueen would have been 44 today. On the occasion of his birthday, here’s a look back at the free pattern McQueen shared with SHOWstudio: the Scanners kimono jacket.

The original kimono jacket was made of black silk, and was shown on the runway with a matching pencil skirt and long gloves:

Model: Caitriona Balfe. Image via style.com.

The kimono jacket is drawn from Scanners, Alexander McQueen’s Fall/Winter 2003 collection. (The invitation to the show was printed with brain scans—CAT scans of the designer’s brain.) This was the year McQueen received his CBE from Queen Elizabeth II, as well as the CFDA’s International Award and his fourth British Fashion Designer of the Year. The models walked across a snowy tundra and along a raised wind tunnel; the design references represented a journey eastward through Siberia, Tibet, and Japan, mixed with geometric prints and McQueen’s signature tailoring. (See Suzy Menkes, “The Collections / Paris: A stellar McQueen; elegance at Viktor & Rolf.”)

Here are the collection images from L’Officiel 1000 modèles (click to enlarge):

Watch the runway video (kimono jacket at about 6:10):

Kimono-inspired designs are a thread running through McQueen’s work. Here are a few more kimono looks by Alexander McQueen, from Eclect Dissect—Givenchy couture, Fall 1997 (as on the McQueen / Nick Knight album cover for Björk’s Homogenic); La Dame Bleue, in memory of Isabella Blow; and the posthumous Fall 2010 collection:

Left to right, kimono-inspired looks from Eclect Dissect, Givenchy Haute Couture Fall 1997; La Dame Bleue, Alexander McQueen Spring 2008, and Alexander McQueen Fall 2010. Images via L’Officiel 1000 modèles and style.com.

Download the kimono jacket pattern

Size: US size 6 / UK size 8 approx. (bust 32″ – waist 24″) *

Fabric requirements: approx. 1.75 metres (about 2 yards) of 60″ fabric / over 3 metres (about 3.25 yards) of 39″ fabric *

See the SHOWstudio submissions gallery here. Toronto’s Mel of inside out inside has made an adapted version in Lida Baday fabric. Blithe of blithe stitches has a post on her metallic Hablon version and also a detailed tutorial.

Update: useful for comparison: the photos of this gold brocade version of the McQueen kimono jacket on 1stdibs:

Alexander McQueen silk blend kimono jacket, 2003. Image via 1stdibs.

* Sizes and yardages are approximate and are drawn from Mel and Blithe’s notes on their versions of the kimono jacket.

Model: Gemma Ward. Photo: Nick Knight. Image via SHOWstudio.

To celebrate this week’s opening of PUNK: Chaos to Couture at the Costume Institute in New York, I’ll be posting about two free patterns for punk-inspired designs. (Kristen McMenamy called last night’s Met gala “a costume party for punk”; see style.com’s red carpet coverage here.) First up is an example of Junya Watanabe’s “heavy-duty couture”: the dress pattern he shared with SHOWstudio.

The Watanabe Design Download was part of SHOWstudio’s Dress Me Up, Dress Me Down project, which saw model Liberty Ross being dressed for a live photo shoot by an online audience. The project—whose name refers to the English title of Pedro Almodóvar’s Átame, Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (1990)—was inspired by pornographic video chats and had the goal of “exploring the idea of control in fashion image-making.” As well as images and video, the project also had a discussion component, with interviews and short essays on fashion and pornography, including an Andrea Dworkin excerpt. In its appropriation of pornographic conventions, the SHOWstudio project can be linked to punk fashion and art like that of Throbbing Gristle’s Cosey Fanni Tutti (recently seen in Pop Life: Art in a Material World).

The Watanabe design was chosen by Liberty Ross from stylist Jonathan Kaye’s draft selection for the June 2005 SHOWstudio event. The dress is from Junya Watanabe’s Fall/Winter 2005 women’s collection—the coming season at the time of the project. The original dress was made in red mohair plaid with a PVC bodice:

Model: Cristina Carey. Image via style.com.

Watanabe also showed a black version of the dress:

Model: Ira. Image via Vogue UK.

These dresses’ play with textural contrasts carried through the Fall/Winter 2005 Junya Watanabe women’s collection, which paired cotton and textured woolens with synthetics like nylon and PVC. The models wore full-skirted dresses, the skirts sometimes bunched up with ripcords, white shirts with exaggerated collars and ruffles, and coats and jackets made with tweed fused with synthetics. Watanabe referred to the clothes as “hard-core couture.” (See Cathy Horyn, “In Paris, Tweed Tangles With Tulle.”) Here’s the collection image from L’Officiel 1000 modèles (click to enlarge):

Junya Watanabe Fall 2005 ready-to-wear. Image via jalougallery.com.

Download the dress pattern

Fabric requirements: for skirt, approx. 2 yards of 50″ fabric*

Notions: #10 Vislon zipper, 3mm and 5mm sealing tape

* source: Craftster sewalong post

Model: Louise Pedersen. Photo: Craig McDean. Image via SHOWstudio.

This week’s second punk-inspired pattern puts the ‘couture’ in Chaos to Couture. (The first punk-inspired pattern was by Junya Watanabe—see my post here.) John Galliano’s ‘Pirate’ jacket is the most challenging of SHOWstudio’s Design Downloads, with 63 pattern pieces, all hand-labelled in French. But not to worry: 11 are guide pieces, and most of the French is translated.

Here are side and back views of the jacket:

The ‘Pirate’ jacket is from John Galliano’s Fall/Winter 2001 collection, entitled Techno Romance. Here it is on the runway:

Model: Angela Lindvall. Image via style.com.

The collection mixed glossy synthetics (techno) with delicate sheers and florals (romance): jaunty double-breasted jackets and long coats worn with sailor trousers, and long skirts and dresses, many with the same romantically skewed, off-the-shoulder, one-sleeved bodices as the SHOWstudio jacket. (See Suzy Menkes, “Techno Romance.”) In her short essay to accompany the Design Download, Jane Audas conjures an imaginary history for the SHOWstudio version of the jacket—a story of rebellion in which it was fashioned from the Union Jack, “the flag torn off a captured ship and hijacked as clothing, held together with sail rivets and ties.”

Here are the collection images from L’Officiel 1000 modèles (click to enlarge):

John Galliano Fall/Winter 2001 ready-to-wear. Image via jalougallery.

John Galliano Fall/Winter 2001 ready-to-wear. Image via jalougallery.

Fashion Channel has posted runway video of the collection on YouTube in three parts (jacket at 3:50 of part 2):

Download the ‘Pirate’ jacket pattern

Fabrics requirements: approx. 3 yards of 60″ fabric and 3 yards of lining; interfacing.

Notions: grosgrain ribbon, D-rings, large metal stud, press studs, 2 buckles, eyelets, snaps, cord, elastic, 53 cm (21″) separating zipper.

See the SHOWstudio submissions gallery here. Carolyn E. Moore made the jacket twice. Weatherpixie has posted process photos of her red, white, and blue version on Flickr.

Model: Erin O’Connor. Photo: Nick Knight. Image via SHOWstudio.

Royal Ascot begins tomorrow. What better way to celebrate than with a free designer millinery pattern, for a Stephen Jones hat called ‘Nice Package’?

The hat pattern Stephen Jones recently shared with SHOWstudio was released in early 2012, on the last day of the Paris couture calendar. An exaggerated beret inspired by his lilac hatboxes, the original hat is lilac moiré with a sparkle-embellished, pink satin bow. Here’s a colour photo:

Photo: Peter Ashworth. Image via Stephen Jones.

The design was drawn from Stephen Jones’ Fall/Winter 2011 collection, Topsy Turvy, which also included a stiletto take on Schiaparelli’s shoe hat. Here is a collection image from the milliner’s website:

Stephen Jones Fall/Winter 2011. Image via Stephen Jones.

Download the hat pattern

Recommended fabrics: For hat: crisp fabrics with body and a slight stiffness such as faille, taffeta, gazar, or firm velvet. For lining: softer fabrics.

Notions: 0.4 m ( about 16″) of 5 cm (2″) satin ribbon; #5 (2.5cm) petersham ribbon; elastic (optional).

Trimming: 0.65 m (about 26″) of 5 cm (2″) ribbon; small sequins, sugar beads, and diamantés for bow embellishment.

U.K. milliner Sharon Bainbridge has made a version of the SHOWstudio hat; read her process post here.

Photo: Jason Hetherington. Image via the Guardian.

Now that summer is truly here, this instalment in my Free Designer Patterns series is devoted to a hot weather essential: a caftan, one that Matthew Williamson shared with the Guardian as part of the Observer’s 2009 Designer DIY series.

The caftan is from what was then the current season collection, the Spring/Summer 2009 ready-to-wear. Here is the caftan on the runway:

Model: Alana Zimmer. Image via style.com.

The spring collection played to Williamson’s strengths, with plenty of neon brights and flowing, bohemian prints. Here’s the collection image from L’Officiel 1000 modèles (click to enlarge):

Matthew Williamson Spring/Summer 2009. Image via jalougallery.com.

Download the caftan pattern

Fabric requirements: About 2.5 metres (2.75 yards) of very lightweight fabric such as chiffon or printed georgette (width unspecified)

Caveats: Seam allowances must be added. The pattern has 5 pieces, but consists of 44 separate PDFs.

Read a Pattern Review discussion here, or check out Geneviever’s construction notes on BurdaStyle here.

Blitz magazine, 1985. Model: Scarlett Cannon. Photo: Monica Curtin. Image via the V&A.

As part of the current V&A exhibition, Club to Catwalk: London Fashion in the 1980s, Juliana Sissons is sharing a pattern for a hobble dress designed in 1984 for London club kid Scarlett Cannon.

In the early 1980s, Sissons had an in-club boutique, Call Me Madam, at London’s Heaven nightclub, where Cannon hosted the Cha Cha’s club night. As Sissons later recalled, her early designs had “a high fashion punk influence,” with Call Me Madam catering to “the alternative types, such as Leigh Bowery, Boy George, dancers, entertainers, fire-eaters, pop stars…” For i-D’s 2012 profile of the designer, with recent and archival photos and video, click the photo below (update: profile no longer online):

Juliana Sissons and Scarlett Cannon, 1982. Photo: Daniel Faoro. Image via i-D online.

(The exhibition catalogue by Sonnet Stanfill is entitled 80s Fashion: From Club to Catwalk; on London club style see also Graham Smith’s photographic history, We Can Be Heroes: London Clubland, 1976-1984.)

The Scarlett Dress is a low-backed hobble dress with pleated hip drape and three-quarter sleeves. Inspired by Old Hollywood, the original was made in red stretch ciré jersey and worn to Cannon’s birthday celebrations at the Camden Palace and Bolts in North London.

Cannon lent the dress to the exhibition, where it’s styled to fall off the shoulder, accessorized with a Judy Blame bead necklace (Blame’s first piece: photo at Gilded Birds). You can see Cannon’s photos of the exhibition setup on her blog.

Download the Scarlett Dress pattern. (Pattern here; instructions here.) The pattern has 10 pieces, arranged over 30 pages of A4 sheets.

Size: UK size 12 with added ease (bust 93cm, waist 72cm, hip 96cm = bust 36 5/8″, waist 28 3/8″, hip 37 3/4″ approx.)

Recommended fabrics: stretch fabrics

Seam allowance: 1cm (3/8″)

Notions: 1.5cm (1/2″) shoulder pads

N.B.: It seems the download will be available only for the duration of the Club to Catwalk exhibition, which closes February 16th, 2014.

Update: The download is still available as of spring 2014.

Click here for the other instalments in my Free Designer Patterns series.

Antony Price’s Macaw dress. Image via SHOWstudio.

Just in time for the recent Eighties revival, SHOWstudio’s 2009 instalment in its Design Download series was an evening dress by Antony Price. Short, boned, and ruched, with asymmetrical ‘feathers’ in two shades of taffeta, the Macaw dress exemplifies the glamour and dazzling construction of Price’s evening wear. The free pattern was part of the SHOWstudio project, Antony Price: For Your Pleasure. (For more on the designer see Chrissy Iley, “Return of the Dandy,” and the Antony Price press archive.)

The designer is best known for his work for performers like the Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Duran Duran, and especially Roxy Music. This sketch shows Price’s costume design for the cover of “Siren,” Roxy Music’s 1975 album:

Antony Price sketch for Jerry Hall’s “Siren” costume, 1975. Image via SHOWstudio.

An earlier ornithologically-inspired Antony Price dress, “Bird’s Wing,” is part of the collection of the V&A, and was included in their exhibition, The Cutting Edge: Fifty Years of British Fashion, 1947–1997:

Bird’s Wing, evening dress in silk taffeta by Antony Price, FW 1986. Image via the V&A.

And Tilda Swinton recently wore Antony Price on the cover of Candy magazine (click the image for back view):

Tilda Swinton in Antony Price, Candy magazine, Summer 2012. Photo: Xevi Muntané. Image via Luis Venegas.

Antony Price’s Spring/Summer 1989 collection was shown at the Fashion Theatre, Kensington Olympia, to a soundtrack that included Phillip Glass, Duran Duran, and Peter and the Wolf. The Macaw dress opened a bird-themed segment of the show: after the Macaw there was the ‘Pheasant,’ the ‘Chicken,’ and finally the stunning ‘Bird of Paradise.’

Runway photos from the Spring 1989 collection may be seen in Maria Lexton’s 1991 profile of the designer. The final image (bottom right) shows the ‘Bird of Paradise’ dress:

Image via Antony Price.

Image via Antony Price.

Image via Antony Price.

You can watch a video of the collection here (dress at 22:00). SHOWstudio has more ’80s Antony Price runway videos here; more on Antony Price’s YouTube channel.

Download the Macaw dress pattern

Fabric requirements: taffeta (with additional shade for contrast); lining; stayflex fusible cotton interfacing

Notions: plastic boning, zipper

Notes/caveats: The pattern has 20 pieces, in 15 PDFs. Because the sheet dimensions are irregular, copy shop printing is recommended.

‘Feathers’ and main ruched piece are cut on the bias. The designer recommends binding boning into ‘quills’ for best results.

See the SHOWstudio submissions gallery here.

Model: Alexandra O’Connor. Photo: Jon Emmony. Image via SHOWstudio on Twitter.

SHOWstudio’s latest Design Download is a free pattern for a top and balloon skirt by J.W.Anderson. Anderson, who is creative director at Loewe as well as for his own label, was just named the BFA’s New Establishment Designer for 2013. (For more on Anderson see Susannah Frankel’s recent profile for W magazine, “The New Guard: J.W. Anderson.”)

As with last year’s Design Download, there’s an interactive component and also a contest. Those making up the ensemble are invited to submit photos for inclusion in a gallery on the SHOWstudio website, and J.W.Anderson and Nick Knight will choose one version to star in a special fashion film.

The asymmetrical top and skirt are from the current, Fall/Winter 2013 collection, which drew acclaim for its sculptural, experimental pieces in subdued neutrals enlivened by the odd splash of colour and comic-book prints. (See Suzy Menkes, “Maximalist Versus Minimalist“; full collection on style.com.) Here is SHOWstudio’s slate leather version on the runway:

Model: Marine Deleeuw. Image via style.com.

The ensemble was also shown in midnight blue and white:

Models: Daiane Conterato and Vik Kukandina. Images via style.com.

The look also made the fall advertising campaign—twice:

J.W.Anderson Fall 2013 advertising campaign. Model: Lucan Gillespie. Image via J.W.Anderson.

The pattern download comes in a choice of A4 or A1 sheets with a test line for checking the scale.

Image via SHOWstudio.

Download the top and skirt pattern (9 pieces: 4 for top, 5 for skirt)

Size: UK size 6

Recommended fabrics: leather, thick duffle wool, and other fray-resistant fabrics

Tools and notions: 20cm (8″) invisible zipper, hook and eye, seam binding or bondaweb. A rotary cutter is recommended for cutting the unfinished edges.

The deadline for contest submissions is Friday, March 31st, 2014 at midnight GMT. (See the SHOWstudio site for submission details.) Or if you’d rather snag the original, the midnight blue version of the top is on sale at net-a-porter.

One-seam coat by Patrick Kelly, 1985. Image via the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

As part of its current exhibition, Patrick Kelly: Runway of Love, the Philadelphia Museum of Art is sharing a pattern for a one-seam coat designed by Patrick Kelly in 1984. (See my post on Patrick Kelly’s Vogue patterns here.)

After Kelly moved to Paris in 1979, he worked as a costume designer for Le Palace nightclub while also selling his coats on the sidewalk of the Boulevard Saint-Germain. When he secured a stall at Les Puces de Saint-Ouen, the famous Porte de Clignancourt flea market, his raw-edged jersey tube dresses caught the attention of his first backer, Françoise Chassagnac of Victoire. Thanks to Chassagnac’s connections, Kelly’s entire collection was featured in Elle magazine:

“Les tubes de Patrick Kelly,” Elle France, February 18, 1985. Image via Shrimpton Couture.

Although the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s coat dates to 1985, the design is the same as those Kelly sold on the Boulevard Saint-Germain.

Kelly’s one-seam coat would become a recurring feature in the designer’s work. A rethinking of Cristóbal Balenciaga’s iconic 1961 one-seam coat, it may have been inspired by Issey Miyake’s cocoon coat—Kelly was once the house guest of Miyake’s publicist, Victoria Rivière, in Paris.

The original coat is a quilted cotton knit. It has a simple revers opening in front, box pleats in the back, and batwing sleeves formed by the shoulder seam:

These technical drawings show the coat front and back:

Download the one-seam coat pattern

Size: One size fits all

Fabric requirements: About 3.5 yards (3.2 m) of 60″ (~150 cm) fabric

Recommended fabrics: Fabrics with a good hand and drape, e.g. double knits and double-faced fabrics. The original is a quilted single knit.

Finished length: 52″ (132 cm)

Pattern length from top to bottom: 57.5″ (146 cm)

Tips, caveats: No separate instructions; scale and seam allowances are not marked. The coat must be cut on the cross grain. The original coat has a simple turn and stitch finish, with a sleeve binding piece for the sleeve openings.

A Parisian friend of Kelly’s has posted instructions to make a doll-scale version based on her Patrick Kelly original.

Thanks to Monica Brown, Senior Collections Assistant, Costume and Textiles, for answering questions about the project, and Paula M. Sim, Costume and Textiles intern, for drafting the pattern.

Photo: Nick Knight, 2006. Image via SHOWstudio.

This month Gareth Pugh celebrates the 10-year anniversary of his label. SHOWstudio is marking the anniversary—and Pugh’s return to London Fashion Week—with an editorial project, Gareth Pugh: 10 Years, and Melissa’s London flagship is hosting a retrospective exhibition of the designer’s work. (See Samantha Conti, “Gareth Pugh Sets London Retrospective.”)

SHOWstudio’s Gareth Pugh Design Download is a pattern for the striped balloon from the designer’s 2003 Central Saint Martins graduation collection. According to the site’s original notes, “Rather than submitting a traditional garment pattern to the design_download series, Gareth Pugh chose to contribute a pattern for a balloon which he had previously created. The bold, red and white striped beach-ball fabric balloons are, like much of Pugh’s designs, inspired by shape, proportion and process.”

As Sarah Mower remarked in her review of the designer’s London Fashion Week debut (Fall 2006 RTW), “Pugh has a thing about balloons.” The red and white version was a recurring motif in his graduation collection and typifies his playful, experimental approach to fashion design.

From Gareth Pugh’s BA graduation collection, 2003. Image: Catwalking via the Telegraph.

Two looks from Gareth Pugh’s graduation collection, 2003. Images via 1 Granary.

(Click the above image for more runway looks from this collection.)

Nicola Formichetti, then senior fashion editor at Dazed & Confused, put one of Pugh’s balloon looks on the cover of the magazine:

A design from Gareth Pugh’s graduation collection, Dazed & Confused, April 2004. Photo: Laurie Bartley. Stylist: Nicola Formichetti. Image via Dazed Digital.

Editorial photo featuring Gareth Pugh’s graduation collection, Dazed & Confused, April 2004. Photo: Laurie Bartley. Stylist: Nicola Formichetti. Image via Dazed Digital.

Diagrams by Robin Howie. Image via SHOWstudio.

Download the balloon pattern (7 pieces)

Fabric requirements: approx. 1 meter (1 yd 4″) each of fabric and contrast fabric.

Recommended fabrics: Non-stretch fabrics with a sheen. The originals were made in a thick, non-stretch acetate satin.

Notions: 18” (45 cm) invisible zipper to match contrast fabric, 1 large latex balloon.

Notes: includes 1 cm (approx. 3/8″) seam allowance. The pattern is laid out on A3 sheets, so copy shop printing is recommended.

See the SHOWstudio submissions gallery here.

Zandra Rhodes and Rembrandt’s portrait of Catrina Hooghsaet, 2014. Image via the National Gallery.

Last week, Zandra Rhodes returned to London Fashion Week for her Spring 2016 collection. Famous for her colourful, hand-drawn prints, the bohemian cult favourite is also new to Vogue Patterns for Winter/Holiday 2015: Vogue 1472 is the first new Zandra Rhodes sewing pattern in thirty years. For knitters, the current issue of Rowan Knitting & Crochet has a Zandra Rhodes jacket pattern available as a free download.

Zandra Rhodes sketch with yarn charts and sample garment in Katy Bevan, “Dame Zandra’s Knitting Circle” in Rowan Knitting & Crochet 58 (Winter 2015). Image via Rowan.

Born in Chatham, Kent, Zandra Rhodes (b. 1940) trained as a textile designer at Medway College of Art, where her mother was a lecturer, and London’s Royal College of Art. Rhodes founded her own label in order to build garments around her prints. Her first, 1969 collection, Knitted Circle, was famously worn by Natalie Wood in Vogue magazine; the evening coat is now in the collection of the V&A:

Natalie Wood wears a screen-printed felt evening coat and silk chiffon dress, both by Zandra Rhodes. Vogue, January 1970. Photo: Gianni Penati. Image via Youthquakers.

Rhodes became known as the Princess of Punk following her Spring 1977 torn and safety-pinned Conceptual Chic collection, which was partly inspired by Schiaparelli’s Tears dress.

A wedding dress and dress from Zandra Rhodes’ Spring 1977 collection at the PUNK: Chaos to Couture exhibit, 2014. Image via the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

By the 1980s Rhodes was designing for Princess Diana. The princess wore this pink chiffon dress, embellished with crystal beads and pearl droplets, during her 1986 state visit to Japan (now in the collection of Historic Royal Palaces):

Zandra Rhodes sketch for Princes Diana. Image via SDNews.

In 1985, Style Patterns released a handful of Zandra Rhodes sewing patterns. Rhodes was among the first designers to be included in the company’s short-lived designer line. (See my earlier posts on Bruce Oldfield and Frederick Fox.)

Style 4399 is a pattern for a wedding or evening dress in two lengths with characteristic serated frill:

Style 4399 by Zandra Rhodes (1985) Image via Etsy.

Back view for Style 4399 (1985)

Here’s the envelope description: Misses’ Lined Wedding Dress or Evening Dress in Two Lengths — Dress has shoulder yoke with serrated frill and pointed cape effect on bodice. Skirt has elasticated waistline. Model 1 bead trim is used on yoke and neck tie. Suggested fabrics: Lightweight silk types, crepe de chine, chiffon, shantung, lace, voile, batiste, organza. Lining: Jap silk, crepe de chine. Trim: wide ribbon and pearl beading or narrow ribbon.

Style 4400 is an off-the-shoulder wedding or bridesmaid’s dress with separate petticoat:

Style 4400 by Zandra Rhodes (1985)

Technical drawing for Style 4400 (1985)

The envelope description reads: Misses’ Half-Lined Wedding Dress or Bridesmaid’s Dress and Petticoat — Dress has flounced bodice with elasticated waist. Skirt has layered net frills, with gathered net and ribbon trim. Bride and bridesmaid’s dress has petticoat in fabric and net. Suggested fabrics: Dress, Models 1 and 2: Organza, voile, silk or synthetic sheers, lightweight lace. Lining: silk types, taffeta, satin (nap irrelevant). Net or tulle: silk, nylon. Trim: wide ribbon, sequin trim, narrow ribbon.

The third dress design, Style 4400, has a low back décolletage and multi-tiered skirt:

Style 4495 by Zandra Rhodes (1985)

Technical drawing for Style 4495 (1985)

You can see the same pattern with updated envelope here.

Here’s the envelope description: Misses’ Dress in Two Lengths — Dress has fitted bodice with elasticated waistline. Models 1 and 3 have bodice frill to waistline. Model 2 has shorter bodice frill. Models 1 and 2 have four-tiered skirt flounce. Model 3 has three-tiered skirt flounce. Suggested fabrics: Chiffon, georgette, voile, silk or synthetic sheers, organza. Also: lightweight lining fabric. Trim: wide ribbon; pearl trim (views 1 and 2).

The designs seem to be from Rhodes’ Spring 1985 collection, Images of Woman:

Zandra Rhodes Spring/Summer 1985 collection. Image via UCA Library.

Zandra Rhodes Spring/Summer 1985 collection. Image via UCA Library.

The trim and fabric specifications are catalogues of girliness: lightweight, floaty fabrics to be trimmed with the ribbon, sequins, and pearls. I love how Style 4495 suggests lining fabric as an alternative—perhaps with a budget-conscious youth market in mind.

For more on Zandra Rhodes, see the V&A’s article.

Photo: Nick Knight. Image via SHOWstudio.

SHOWstudio’s first Design Download, in May 2002, was a top by Yohji Yamamoto.

I couldn’t find a runway photo of the top, but it’s consistent with those seen in Yohji Yamamoto’s athletic wear-inspired Fall-Winter 2001 collection (full collection at Vogue Runway):

Model: Colette Pechekhonova. Image via firstVIEW.

Here’s the collection image from L’Officiel 1000 modèles (click to enlarge):

L’Officiel 1000 modèles no. 17 (2001). Image via jalougallery.com.

This collection was Yamamoto’s first collaboration with Adidas. The year 2001 also marked the 20th anniversary of Yamamoto’s first Paris collection, in the fall of 1981. (See Suzy Menkes, “Fashion’s Poet of Black: Yamamoto.”)

Download the top pattern (2 pieces)

Recommended fabric: wool

Yardage requirements: approx. 1.25 yards (1.2 m) of 60″ fabric *

Notions: 21 mm button snap closure

See the submissions gallery here; Alabama Chanin post here. For more on Yamamoto, see Yohji Yamamoto at the V&A and the related article on processes and techniques.

* Source: Craftster discussion

Model: Ana Buljevic. Photo: Rob Rusling. Image: SHOWstudio.

After a three-year hiatus, SHOWstudio has released a new Design Download: a skirt by Simone Rocha. The Dublin-born Central St Martins graduate won the British Womenswear Designer award for 2016, and now has stores in London and New York. (For more, see Matthew Schneier, “Simone Rocha, Born to Fashion, Makes Her Own Mark.”)

The three-bite pearl-embellished skirt is from Rocha’s Spring 2014 collection, which drew critical acclaim for its deconstructed femininity. (See Suzy Menkes’ review, “Simone Rocha, Family and Fashion.”) You can see the full collection at vogue.com, or check out the detail images at the designer’s website.

Simone Rocha’s Spring 2014 collection. Image: vogue.com.

Pearl-edged slashes were a signature element of the collection, as were the pearl-trimmed knee-high stockings. (Rocha has said she is inspired by her grandmothers.)

Two looks from Simone Rocha’s Spring 2014 collection. Images: vogue.com.

Watch a 3D rendering video of the skirt in motion:

For their competition prize, SHOWstudio commissioned Fiona Gourlay to produce an original illustration of Rocha’s Spring 2014 ensemble:

Illustration by Fiona Gourlay, 2016.

The pattern download comes in a choice of A4 or A1 sheets, each with a test line to check the scale.

Image: SHOWstudio.

Download the skirt pattern (7 pieces)

Notes: The original was neoprene. The yoke calls for fused lining (fusible interfacing). Slashed edges are finished with binding.

Notions: 20 cm (8″) zipper.

View the submissions gallery.

The new Design Download from SHOWstudio is an Alyx shirtdress. Alyx was founded in 2015 by Matthew M. Williams, a well-connected American designer now based in Ferrara, Italy. (For more, see Emilia Petrarca, “Kanye West and LVMH-Approved: Meet Designer Matthew Williams” and Matthew Schneier, “Matthew Williams, Renaissance Man.”)

For the Alyx Fall 2017 collection, Williams was inspired by Berlin fetish clubs. The pleat dress was shown in two versions—black leopard print:

And silver lamé:

For more views see the Alyx retail site (silver | black).

Watch a video of Williams discussing a piece from the Alyx Spring ’18 menswear collection:

This year’s competition prize is an Alyx catalogue shot by Nick Knight. (Season unspecified.)

As before, the pattern download comes in a choice of A4 or A1 sheets, each with a test line to check the scale.

Download the dress pattern (22 pieces)

Size: M

Notes: The original was silk. Skirt has bagged lining. Calls for fusible interfacing for the collar, cuffs, etc.

Notions: 3 small buttons, 7 smaller buttons + additional for concealed skirt closure; contrasting thread for edge stitching, bar tacks, piping, and belt loops.

Stay tuned for the submissions gallery: the contest closes March 30th, 2018. (Deadline updated.)

Update: View the submissions gallery here.

This week, a free couture pattern from Callot Soeurs.

Callot Soeurs was one of the old couture houses of Belle Époque Paris, founded in 1895 by the four Callot sisters. Not many Callot Soeurs garments survive, and the house is best remembered for its role in the early career of Madeleine Vionnet. But in 2015, the New Yorker published an article on a collection of Callot Soeurs dresses found stored in Villa La Pietra, a Florentine villa that was once home to American heiress Hortense Mitchell Acton. (See Jessamyn Hatcher, “Twenty-One Dresses.”) Click the image below to see the gallery of Acton’s Callot Soeurs gowns.

LACMA’s Callot Soeurs pyjama ensemble includes a delicate top and harem pants—a radical element of the new women’s silhouette. (See my sarouel post here.)

Here are the museum notes:

This thoughtfully crafted hand-sewn and machine-stitched lounging pajama was made bifurcated by the attachment of the skirt length from the center front of the waist to the center back through the legs. Vertical side-front seams of the skirt were sewn with openings for the feet to create a stylized harem pant. The silk charmeuse skirt draped and outlined each leg while silk tassels at the foot openings would have drawn attention to the wearer’s ankles as she walked. A bifurcated garment of any style during the early 1900s was a provocative fashion that challenged ideas about established gender-appropriate dress.

Download the pattern here.

Note: Gridded pattern. Does not include seam allowance.

Back waist length: 52 3/8″ (133 cm)

Notions: 10 spherical buttons, 4 5″ (12.7 cm) tassels, cord, 1/2″ (1.3 cm) bias tape, 3/4″ (1.9 cm) trim, ribbon for plackets, hooks and eyes.

For more historical patterns, see the LACMA Costume and Textile Pattern Project.

SHOWstudio’s latest Design Download is a dress by Dutch wunderkind Iris van Herpen.

The sheath dress is from Hacking Infinity, Iris van Herpen’s Fall 2015 ready-to-wear collection, which explored the idea of terraforming. (Read more at the designer’s site, or see Suzy Menkes on her 2015 studio visit.) The collection’s leather and 3D-printed shoes are by Noritaka Tatehana.

Science, technology, and science fiction are strong influences for Van Herpen, and Vogue’s reviewer cited Paul Verhoeven’s Total Recall as an intro to the terraforming concept. Several looks referenced the stillsuits from David Lynch’s Dune.

The plissé material, seen in the SHOWstudio piece, appeared both as one element in a mix, and for entire garments in black and bronze.

For Fall 2015, Van Herpen developed a fine, metallic fabric woven from silk and stainless steel. The translucent silver material was coaxed into “a sheen of nebula-like colors” with heat and hand-burnishing. Plisséed and pleated into circular forms, it evoked planetary bodies and infinity.

The pattern download comes in A4 sheets, with a test line to check the scale.

Download the dress pattern (34 pieces)

Size: 38

Notes: Prints on 100 A4 sheets. Plissé panels are hand-sewn to base dress.

Fabric recommendations: Plissé panels: plissé or printed fabric on a cotton base fabric. Stretch fabric is recommended for the skirt. Straps & facings: silk, non-stretch fusible interfacing. Lining: silk or cupro.

Notions: Back zipper.

The competition is still open. Will you be entering?

In memory of Paco Peralta.

SHOWstudio’s latest Design Download is an Alexander McQueen dress.

A current-season design, it was the opening look in Sarah Burton’s Spring 2020 collection for McQueen.

This romantic collection drew comparisons with the couture, featuring reworked old patterns and past-season fabrics, as well as Irish linens, damask or beetled, fine wool suiting from the north of England, and hand embroidery worked by the entire McQueen studio.

“I love the idea of people having the time to make things together, the time to meet and talk together, the time to reconnect to the world.” – Sarah Burton

The dress re-envisions its show-opening counterpart in Alexander McQueen’s Eshu, named for the Yoruba trickster god and presented 20 years ago in a disused Hitchcock studio. (See Suzy Menkes, “London Crowns Its Fashion Kings,” and Savage Beauty.) As SHOWstudio notes, Burton’s “articulated puff-sleeve dress [is] a reimagining of the Autumn/Winter 2000 Eshu dress, originally crafted in calico with a focus on the silhouette.”

Steven Klein photographed Björk in a denim variation for Vogue’s September issue:

In the same issue, the designer portfolio opens with a group portrait of McQueen and his team for Eshu, including model Liberty Ross, Isabella Blow, jeweller Shaun Leane, and the young Sarah Burton.

Burton’s dress makes repeated appearances in the Spring 2020 campaign:

Also worn by Imaan Hammam in Masha Vasyukova’s campaign video (music by Isobel Waller-Bridge):

The pattern download comes in A4 sheets, with a test line to check the scale.

Download the dress pattern (18 pieces)

Size: Sample size. Update: Model Akuac Thiep is wearing the sample size. She is 5’10” and wears a size 8/36. (34″ bust | 25″ waist | 35″ hip) Source: Nevs Models.

Notes: Prints on 220 A4 sheets.

Notions: Back zipper.

With thanks to Emily Knight.

As part of its recent Mary Quant exhibit, the V&A shared a pattern for an early Quant design. The Georgie dress dates to the Bazaar days, before Quant’s deal with Butterick.

The V&A’s Georgie dress— purchased new in Truro, Cornwall — is striped cotton lined with cotton batiste.

As Quant’s archive shows, the dress was also available in taffeta-lined chiffon as the Rosie, in black, pink, or jade.

The Georgie pattern was developed from Quant’s original by London’s Alice & Co Patterns, a mother and daughter team with a connection to the museum: the younger generation, Lilia Prier Tisdall, works there as a costume display specialist.

The dress has a surplice bodice, three-quarter sleeves, pleated skirt, and sash belt. For the original’s lively, reverse stripe effect, cut the skirt on a different grain than the sleeves and bodice.

The pattern gives detailed instructions, including for the pleated trim.

Download the Georgie dress pattern. (Instructions here.) The pattern has 7 pieces, arranged in 3 formats: A0, A4, and US Letter. Test square included to check scale.

Size: Two size ranges, UK 6–16 and 18–22

Yardage: 4m (4.5 yds) of 45″ fabric, 1m (1 1/8 yds) lining

Recommended fabrics: Soft cotton, cotton blends, or glazed cotton.

Seam allowance: 1cm (3/8″)

Notions: 56 cm (22″) flat zipper, interfacing for belt.

Notes: Skirt, frill, and belt pieces are to be drafted.

Click here for more instalments in my Free Designer Patterns series.