1960s Dresses from "Young Designer" Jean Muir

Hello, all! I hope you are holding up during this holiday season. For some reason I have more than my normal quantity of dinners and outings, all in addition to my day job. The days are flying by so quickly, it is hard to believe we are just a little over a week away from Christmas!

Today I travel back to the autumn of 1967. These fab little A-line dresses from Jean Muir and Butterick were hot fashion then. I love how the pill box hat (very early to mid 60s) and the head scarf or "babushka" (as a fashion statement, a popular thing from late 60s into the 70s) appear here. One on its way out, the other on its way in.

I love the monochrome quality of the outfit on the right. The dress is marvelous, with its shallow funnel collar, notched wing cuffs, and a row of accent buttons that add focus and a pop of texture. I think Ruth Wyeth Spears from the 1920s would approve both dresses, with their simplicity of style and just a small number of accents of the right type. :)

1960s Winter Fashion from Young Designer Gayle Kirkpatrick

Today let's take a peek at winter fashion from 1966. Gayle Kirkpatrick was a hot "In" designer from the mid-60s to the late 1970s. During that time, he won a Coty Award, and designed for Butterick, among many other things. Here are a couple of his designs for Butterick from 1966.

Coatdress Butterick 4204

The coatdress could be sewn to be a coat or a dress (or both!). In this interpretation, sewn in wide wale corduroy, it definitely looks like a coat, with military details.

The double image below pairs Butterick 4204 with Gayle Kirkpatrick's Blouse and Suit Butterick 4205 (looking darn cute and perfectly Mod in paisley). Note the "power stance" of the models. No demure crossing of legs in the youthful revolution of the Mod years!