Diane Von Furstenberg is one of my favourite designers. I just love her jersey wrap dress from 1974 – the original Vogue 1679 American Designer Original is usually available on eBay for up to about £30. However there is a very acceptable alternative available – Vogue 8379, which apart from a more contemporary collar (ie smaller) and slightly shorter ties, is virtually identical to the original.
Obviously the dress is enjoying its 40th anniversary this year, and there is alot of historical information available on the DVF website. And do check-out my favourite Pattern-Vault blog too.
I have a small collection of original DVFs – most of these are much cheaper – going for between £2 and £10 on eBay. Many of them are apparently only suitable for knits, but I have found you can use wovens, and I will blog about this in future.
For me it is the ultimately flattering shape for curvy or pear-shaped women. It is modest but sexy, smart but comfortable and it works well for day to evening events. It can be made without a collar (I made a maternity version for my daughter without the collar), with no, short, three quarter and full length sleeves. But the one I made for SWAP involved adding two inches in the torso length, some tinkering with the collar and then sadly made from a piece of stretch jersey I got out of the bucket at Simply Fabrics, rather than a silk jersey. But the fabric worked out well I think. The blues and greys are lovely, with a little touch of brown. The scale of the pattern is just right for me (ie petit, and therefore not overwhelming). The dress is nice with a t shirt under it for warmth and several shades work well – light blue, grey, brown, white, navy. For winter I can wear it with thick tights and boots. It looks good with a jacket, or a cardigan, and in summer its fine all by itself.
An easy to make, easy to wear number. What’s not to like? I must make another one – but I might wait until I get an overlocker.
Manuela Fridrich
Hmm, this type of dress is something I never embraced, being an hourglass shape, I basically live in fitted sheath dresses. I might just give it a try… It’s the same with A-line skirts – I love pencil skirts and just can’t get my head around wearing an A-line one. I shall try the wrap dress and see what bothers me so much about this shape. My favourite kind of outfit (as evident in my – still unfinished SWAP) is a Chanel style jacket with a fitted sheath dress, or top plus pencil skirt or slim trousers.
fabrickated
I would love to be able to wear a pencil skirt/sheath dress but neither is a flattering look on me. Stick with what works! With well proportioned hips you can wear slim skirts and trousers and probably buy a fitted one piece dress off the peg.
Manuela Fridrich
You’re probably right, embrace what you’ve got, and once you found your style, make it work for you. I preach that to my students, but I always want to investigate the reason why I just don’t like some things. I might end up with a straight wrap dress (instead of an A-line one) – who knows 😉
I am way too picky even to try RTW, I like beautiful fabrics, silk or cotton linings, a perfect fit, etc… combine that with the facts that I love sewing (it relaxes me), and that I hate shopping (I even get my shoes custom made, not really expensive in Hong Kong)…. The only things I buy are underwear, swimwear, socks, etc
ab
Aha! Another dvf collector. We shall have to swap notes on which ones we have between us. I love the fabric you have used for this dress, it’s very dvf evocative. As for the style, you can hardly go wrong wit a classic wrap and the dress being tailored just adds to the allure. As Diane said, ‘ Feel like a woman, wear a dress’.