We were treated to another fantastic "Sewing Through the Cinema" blog post by Amy from ViennasGrace a few weeks ago; she featured the 1968 film Petulia, starring gorgeous Julie Christie wearing fab mod clothes by the designer Arlette Nastat, also known as Arlette of Réal. In her post, Amy showed us four patterns by Arlette, which are part of McCall's New York Designers' Plus series. We'll get to Arlette in a moment.
McCall's launched its designer series in 1965 as a way to draw in young sewists and those seeking the newest fashions. Butterick had already begun to produce their line of Young Designer patterns in 1964 with Mary Quant as the first designer featured. (Please see this Focus On blog post for more info on Mary Quant.)
Interestingly, the series was first called "New York Designers' [note the plural possessive here] Collection Plus 1": this was because the first designers were all American with the addition ("Plus 1") of Digby Morton, a London couturier. The first designers were Larry Aldrich, Geoffrey Beene, Bill Blass, Laird-Knox, Digby Morton, Originala, Mollie Parnis, and Pauline Trigère.
It's interesting that they are all relatively simple A-line garments. Additional info on these designers (and more!) in future blog posts.
Now, back to Arlette Nastat: born in France in 1937, she was a force in the fashion world from the late 1950s to the 1980s; as late as 1989, an L.A. Times article recommended visiting her Paris shop on Rue de Passy in the Sixth Arrondissement. Arlette was the favorite designer of Brigitte Bardot (and in fact dressed Bardot throughout the late 1960s). Her father was in the ready-to-wear business, and at the age of 19, along with her friend Hélène Varger (also her sister-in-law), she opened a boutique called Real on Rue St. Honoré.
In a 1964 article about fashion trends in the Schnectady (N.Y.) Gazette, the writer describes Nastat as the "high priestess" of a new wave of style:
"Simultaneously the new feeling of fun, novelty and
creativity is erupting in cities and towns of Europe, the United States and
even Japan. Jet airplane travel is setting the pace for a smaller, faster
world. Pop art, new dances like the Frug and the LeKiss, fast cars, and the
Ye-Ye look in clothes are spontaneous examples of a love for living that is
becoming universal everywhere. High priestess of this new wave is Arlette
Nastat, the young Parisienne who designs for a shop called "Real,"
on the Rue St. Honore, and for the Arkins in New York under the name of
Mademoiselle Arlette. Such famous fashioned trendsetters as Brigitte Bardot and
Jane Fonda sometime ago found in Arlette Nastat the empathy for creating
clothes that projected their image of innocent seductiveness. Today, Catherine
Deneuve, the rising young movie star, and Sylvie Vartan, the Ye-Ye singing rage
of Paris, head the list of fashionable young women everywhere whose
wardrobes consist solely of clothes designed by Arlette Nastat. The Mademoiselle
Arlette spring collection is young, bubbly, and infinitely wearable. There is
a well balanced wardrobe story, of coats, coat ensembles, suits, dresses and jackets and dresses for day and evening. ...The basic shape is a modified A with a neat spare shape. Pleating,
narrow braid trim, military flap pockets, and Venice lace collars are some of
the details contributing to the well bred school girl look so popular now.... Many coats have figure skimming dresses in
contrasting or matching colors, underneath.... Skirts
are gored, box pleated, kick pleated, bias or A line, but never, never
straight.... Dresses—the basic
shape is the Princess skimmer. Most dresses are sleeveless, the look that
Arlette believes to be the most contemporary and flattering to young figures.... Easter egg colors plus a
wonderful new shade called gentle magenta are used throughout."
What was "yé-yé"? Derived from the words "yeah-yeah," this European pop music style was made most famous by singer-songwriter Serge Gainsbourg. Most yé-yé singers were beautiful young women such as Françoise Hardy, France Gall, and the glamorous, ultra-cool, gorgeous Sylvie Vartan (if you're not familiar with her, do yourself a favor and Google her!) Arlette designed Sylvie's wedding gown (below--wow!) worn at her wedding to French heartthrob Johnny Hallyday.
In addition to being the costumer on Petulia, Nastat was also credited with costumes in the 1967 films À Coeur Joie, starring Bardot, and La Route de Corinth (dir. Claude Chabrol), which featured cool girl Jean Seberg.
Bottom row: Still from À Coeur Joie.
Seberg images courtesy thelucidnightmare.blogspot.com; Bardot images courtesy luxhedera.wordpress.com
As Amy noted in her Petulia post, here are the four McCall's Arlette patterns--based on costumes from the movie and modelled by Julie Christie--that we can track down. The two on the top row are from Pattern Patter team shops and are currently available to buy--these are rarities, so snap them up while you can!
Top row, left to right: McCall’s NYDCP 1039(Arlette of Real for Joan Arkin): ViennasGrace
Bottom row: McCall’s NYDCP 1041 (Arlette
of Real for Joan Arkin) (courtesy VintagePatternsWikia.com)
McCall’s NYDCP 1042 (Arlette
of Real for Joan Arkin) (courtesy VintagePatternsWikia.com)
The "for Joan Arkin" notation under "Arlette of Real" refers to the designer Joan Arkin, whose husband Andrew Arkin marketed Arlette's clothing under the Mlle. Arlette (and the Real line for juniors) label in the United States. Despite a LOT of research, I've been unable to unearth why "for Joan Arkin" is on these patterns--she was a designer herself, but it was her husband whose company marketed adaptations of Arlette's clothes for the American audience. (If anyone knows anything about this relationship, please let us know!). Andrew Arkin was the son of Leonard Arkin whose New York fashion house produced clothing under various labels, including Leonard Arkin and Andrew Arkin. The Advance pattern company produced several patterns by Leonard Arkin. Whew! The fashion connections are intermingled and far reaching!
Arlette designed for the cool French girl (and she was one herself): Brigitte Bardot, Catherine Deneuve, Silvie Vartan...whose style do you like the best? Tell us in the comments!
P.S. There is an accent on the "e" in "Real" but Blogger wouldn't let me put it in after the first few times. Argh!
