Feathers for Fancy, Feathers Forever

I really had no intention of writing a new post today.  I have been away from home quite a bit, and the few days I have had at home, I have been working on “perfecting” (hopefully) a muslin for my wrap dress.  But – I was inspired yesterday when I read the fashion section of the Weekend Wall Street Journal.  Meenal Mistry devoted her front-page article to Fall’s “feathered looks” which range from casual to office to evening attire.  This was the only excuse I needed to join the feather frenzy.

But, first, here is an example of what is being offered this Fall “for the office:

The dress on the left features feathers at the hem. I’m not sure I’d wear feathers to an office (if I went to an office!), but I love the dress.

Included with the article is “A brief guide to the season’s most popular plumage”:

This is a handy little chart to the season’s most popular fashion feathers.

Quoted and featured in the article is Nadine Dufat, who is the managing director of Lemarie, the Parisian feather atelier which does haute couture work for the houses of Louis Vuitton, Chanel and Dior:  “I think designers like feathers because there are so many different possibilities with them.”   Commenting on Lemarie, the author muses, “Certainly the 133-year-old plumassier can make magic happen when it comes to all things avian, but no matter who’s doing your feather work, there’s something about plumes that’s fascinating and otherworldly and therein lies the allure – eternal for some, fleeting for others.”

“Eternal” is certainly more than 40 years, but a Vogue pattern from about 1973 proves the point about the elegance and staying power of feathered fashions.  I immediately thought of this pattern while reading the article, and went directly to my pattern file to retrieve it.  This pattern, a Paris Original by none other than Hubert de Givenchy, is one of my all-time favorite Vogue Designer patterns:

This evening coat makes my heart skip a beat!

Princess seaming and the use of few darts insure that the long fluid lines of the low-backed dress and the evening coat are unencumbered with excess fabric.  The ostrich feather trim is attached to the coat in three evenly spaced rows at both the neck and hem.

For those wanting more of a “cocktail” version of dress and coat, shorter views offer variety and versatility:

The knee-length coat could certainly sport feathers at least at the hem line, don’t you think?

I did a lot of “pattern dreaming” during the decade of the 1970s.  I apparently never had an occasion to make this dress and coat, as I never purchased it when it was available in the pattern catalogs.  But I did, indeed, dream about it – many times.  When I found it again – in my size, in factory folds, with label intact – in an Etsy store a while ago, I indulged that dream – and I bought it.  Will I ever make it?  The dress, probably “no” unless I alter it to show a little less skin!  But the coat – if the occasion is special and worthy of this level of simple elegance  – then “yes”.  And – I’ll definitely be using feathers.