Postwar American Fashion Women’s Design Portfolio Archive Showing Cocktail Wear and Pattern Instructions 1950s 1960s

Women's fashion

Archive

Fashion design archive. 1950s–1960s. This group documents mid-century women’s fashion design practice through a sustained body of original sketches and working notes, showing how garments were conceived, annotated, and prepared for construction during a period of stylistic transition in American dress. The material provides direct evidence of design thinking at the level of silhouette, fabric selection, and pattern planning, including repeated attention to cocktail wear, outer garments, and formal dress. It captures the movement from structured postwar styles toward more experimental and decorative approaches associated with later mid-century fashion, with particular emphasis on the technical and aesthetic decisions made by a designer or dressmaker.

Archive of over 100 original hand-drawn fashion sketches on individual sheets measuring approximately 6.5 x 9 inches, executed in ink with extensive handwritten annotations on rectos, versos, and margins. The drawings depict a range of women’s garments including dresses, blouses, coats, and evening wear, with recurring titles such as “cocktail dress,” “cocktail cape,” and “dress.” The figures are rendered with attention to line, proportion, and textile texture, often emphasizing drape, fitted bodices, and surface embellishment. Annotations provide detailed construction guidance, including measurements, fabric types, and pattern instructions. One design for a strappy dress specifies “Pattern: leopard or zebra, fur attached…fabric velveteen…color red -- orange -- black…,” indicating experimentation with bold materials and color combinations. The consistent pairing of image and instruction suggests use as a working portfolio, either for client presentation, dressmaking production, or formal training.

Mid-century fashion in the United States expanded through department stores, home sewing, and professional dressmaking, with designers and students producing working sketches that translated style into reproducible garments. The presence of detailed technical notes alongside finished illustrations places this archive within that production process, linking aesthetic design to practical construction. Light wear from handling; overall very good. A concentrated record of mid-century women’s fashion design practice, preserving both the visual language and technical methods used to create garments during a period of evolving style.

Item #21826

Price: $885.00