Blast from the Past
“Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual.”
~ Mark Twain
Happy New Year beautiful people! Just pretend I said that on the appropriate day instead of today. A slight new year’s eve mishap with a high-end wine glass and a couple of verbs combined with a stubborn insistence on not spending this new year’s in the emergency ward with ne’erdowells.. made for an interesting (albeit painful) long weekend.
I made and gifted a couple of aprons, spent an internet-free (and consequence-free fortnight in the country-if it’s not on Facebook, then it never happened) and then I hung out with velosewer (obviously the best part). We were so busy having fun and feeling up fabrics instead of buying them browsing for fabric that we didn’t bother taking any photos so you’ll have to take my word for it (and hers). Velo gave me a stack of omg classic Burdas (the nineties were an exhilarating ode to minimalism- and skorts).
I’ll start with Burda International (Edit: yes this was available in German but this is not the same thing as Burda Mode) 02/95 because it has a playsuit (which I want to morph this pattern into-I’ve already made up the original, in this fabric and worn it heaps). It’s awesome and a total keeper (for re-makes) but I want a playsuit now.
Special thanks to velosewer for providing the past part of this post.
Back in the day (after the dinosaurs but before the ubiquity of pocket devices that could store your whole effing music library) Burda used to be a catalogue of designer styles with a sewing supplement at the end.
Said sewing supplement was (dark) choc full of designer patterns most of which extended down to size 34 (which current Burdas rarely do, presumably to save the three extra micrograms of pigment that it would cost).
Well feast your eye-drums on these because once you know something of this magnitude it’s impossible to un-know it. Ever.
Burda used to cover haute couture. The Dior ball gown and the blue chiffon number by Givenchy are my favourites.
That Lacroix gown-so 30s Hollywood noire.
And swimwear-because why the hell not?
The meat: fashion illustrations and line diagrams for all included patterns. Four designer patterns. Why did they stop doing this?
Hanae Mori dress. Pattern for underskirt/ crinoline also included.
Dana Scully, 90s heart-throb. Not really. But kinda.
Some of the included patterns-they’ve done a repeat of that blue skirt recently..
The magazine also includes lots of little articles on various designers including Ungaro (above, which my scanner has helpfully rendered invisible), DKNY, Madame Gres, Byblos, Daniel Hechter, and others.
In short, Burda used to be the ultimate fashion magazine: haute couture catwalk summaries, articles focusing on designers, seasonal trend coverage and the patterns required to make the look. There were heaps of designer patterns and the size range was larger. So what happened?
In other news Cathe of Amarylislog nominated me for the beautiful blogger award (thank you!), Stefpulls (aka the PurkinjeNinja on twitter) is hosting a La Mia Boutique giveaway aaand I spent the rest of the break playing video games and reading webcomix (in bed, due to the afore-mentioned freak accident).
Disclaimer: All images remain copyright of their respective owners and are used here for purposes of illustration and discussion.
Woohoo for the 90s. I am liking the idea of the playsuit
Wow! What a treasure! I have two Burda’s from the ’90 that I picked up at a flea market, but I have never seen any more of them. Boo Hoo for me! Your 2013 is going to be great
It makes you weep when you look at the current Burda magazine. Couture versus macramé and tinsel earrings with matching place mats! How come the mighty fallen?
oh my Burda magazine has changed a lot! Though the previous version is impressive, I probably wouldn’t have bought it at the time – sorry but I prefer the modern version, it fits better with my wardrobe
(or the other way round)
Oh I hope you have a speedy recovery from your freak accident! Wow those burdas are a great gift, I can’t beleive how amazing they used to be! If only things didn’t change…I am exited I finally got my Burda March ’08 in German, can’t wait to start translating it. Sorry your package is so late, Holidays you know:? Anyhoo happy 2013!
I think the Burda International magazines were a separate magazine to the monthly Burda magazines, and only came out quarterly. They didn’t seem to turn up in the shops in NZ as often anyway. There were quite a few different magazines published by Burda at that time; I have copies of Neue Mode, Carina and Miss B which were from the 80s and 90s.
Yea it does seem to have been quarterly or similar. This Miss B sounds interesting..
I had the 2nd from the left! And bought a special issue in 95-96 whose line drawings look like what you show. I don’t remember if they were designer or not but I still have the scan of the ease chart they gave at the back of the magazine. Possibly the ONLY time I ever saw burda hand out such information to the public.
That is rather depressing, I wonder if it’s a matter of changed management or changed audience, or some combination thereof. Seemingly the type of person that picks up sewing has changed, I could be wrong, I haven’t really been alive long enough to know. People I know seem to think it’s a black art, or think that the cost is too high given the rise of places like H&M and Forever21. I get the impression that sewing went from being a more mainstream hobby to being very niche, and the niche sewing market is seemingly far removed from the runway and more focused on vintage and other things (most likely because runway looks are so cheap now). It’s really hard to say, though, however it probably has more to do with laziness on Burda’s part.
Wow. I have really only had exposure to one Burda magazine myself (Oct/12 that I won in a contest) and based on that I wouldn’t rush to get a subscription. But what you have up there looks like fun to read and sew.
I hope the injury heals well. I broke a wine glass in my hand using it to cut circles in pastry at Easter a few years ago. Stitches in 3 spots on my hand and I felt pretty stupid for not just digging out a cookie cutter. However, it was a lesson that my husband will not be the one driving should our future children ever get hurt. He completely blanched at the sight of my blood and took the most indirect route to the clinic. He looked in worse shape than me by the time we got there, all pale and stressed out.
Off topic – but a compliment, so I hope it is welcome. I enjoyed this post as a 52 year old for whom the 90s was ‘real’. And then I went to the gym this morning and Van Halen’s ludicrous 80s video clip of ‘Jump’ was on and both made me feel really happy and connected. And this Christmas I was given my first playsuit (for indoor use, I stress). I enjoy and appreciate what you post very much. Thank you.
I started sewing in the wrong decade!
Happy New Year!
It used to look like /this/?! The ones on the “Pure Artistry” and “The Big Night” spreads are full of inspiration, and these designs are so classic (classy?) that even the garments in hideously bright only-in-the-90s colours hardly seem dated. …Actually, I kind of like their brightness. =|
(Though I’m not sure what’s going on with the silhouette in the background of almost-Dana-Skully’s photo.)
I do too XD
I like them too XD That’s her spirit totem but she can’t see it. Only Mulder can.
Why do I get the sneaking suspicion this post will aid in a stampede rush to obtain 90′s burda magazine by any means possible.
You’re right – once you know, you can’t un-know. That almost kinda hurts.
Can I simply say, I had a ball meeting you and visiting DCF and The Cloth Shop. There’s always so much to chat about when it comes to sewing and life. Sewing is life for me.
And I knew that you would have lots to get excited about from these issues. I loved them a lot too, when I bought these new.
BTW I ended up a Clearit (Fitzroy), Clegs, Lincrap and the Nicholas Building. There’s a Japanese fabric supplier in that building on the 3rd or 4th floor and it will re-open mid Jan.
I hope your legs heals up fast. Thanks for a fun day fabric shopping!!!
Ya gotta do the playsuit, and all the best with job hunting too.
Thank you so much-I was so excited browsing through them-it feels like they were oriented towards people that knew what they were doing back then whereas the current versions seem bent on trying to capture the ‘beginner’ market. Glad you had a good trip (Lincrap HA!) what is this Nicholas building you speak of? Have looked it up on Google maps-will investigate the next time I’m in the city-the couple of Japanese fabric places I’ve seen around Melbourne stock prohibitively expensive kimono fabric so I just buy it online from Japan-would be good to find a local source.
Boring Burda people ;( Love the black polka dot dress *sigh*
well, your New Year’s Even seems WAY better than mine! I got my hair cut and sushi. That’s about it.
Thanks for sharing the Burda magazine. Looking at it, I’m kind of glad the 90s are OVER!
Oh Burda. What happened? I didn’t renew my subscription this year. But I kinda want to wait until after I’m not preggo anyway. I love the quote you started this post with. Aaaaannndd I’ve been wearing a fabulous new maternity coat for the past week
Taking pictures this weekend. Again– you rock.
Sounds like Burda need to up their game again!
Ugh! Want Burda’s like that now…
Oh call me officially envious, those magazines look fantastic and the patterns all look pretty wearable to me.
The “styles at a glance” page says it all–these looks are still great. While the magazines may be hard to find, it’s not too hard to locate similar sewing patterns in the same 90′s silhouettes, and patterns from that time are really cheap right now (hint: maybe it’s time to start a little collection of them while they are selling for nearly nothing!).
The once mighty Burda (whatever its flavour) can’t get worse so perhaps at some stage in my lifetime (?) there’ll be a change in direction for the better? T’would be interesting at least.
Hope the leg heals fast enough to keep boredom at bay and fast enough to enable a return to the sewing space without grimaces!
I miss the Burda International, it had inspiring designer clothes that stood out from their monthly magazines.
Burda International WERE special, in all senses. I have about 20 or so from the 1980s until they stopped in 1996. A large part of my 90′s wardrobe was made from them. As well as their own designs, they often featured ready-to-wear designers. One from the 1980s has a style by Australian designer Prue Acton. I remember the day i found out they were to be discontinued, it was like other people felt the day Elvis died.
OMG Pru Acton is like Enid Gilchrist-I’ve only ever come across one of her books and it had patterns included (I’ve already gifted it on to someone that would get use out of it)-the Internationals come up on ebay from time to time but they sell at like 36+ Euro.. =P