1952 Wool Fashions

Another of the British Pathe films mentioned in my last post is Wool Fashions, from 1952:

It features a series of knitting patterns issued by Sirdar that were inspired by historic items  (though the company is not mentioned in the film). 

One of the patterns in the same series that is not featured in the film is a man's pullover modelled by Roger Moore (shame he's not in the film).  And I wrote about another of the patterns here - a Lady's Lacy Jumper inspired by a knitted doily.   Here's its back view from the film, showing the interesting construction.  

Sirdar 1401 - back

Another (no. 1403) has a lacy (and very see-through) top using a lace pattern from a Shetland shawl.

Sirdar 1403

The connection between the original item and the 1950s design is a bit tenuous sometimes. There are two beaded evening tops (one with a matching cap) - allegedly the inspiration was a beaded pincushion, though the only link is that they all have beads.   I'm not even sure that the pincushion is knitted - it's hard to tell from the photo.

Beaded pincushion - source for Sirdar 1410

The 1952 designs are sometimes based on just a small detail of the original piece.  The jumper in Sirdar 1405 has horizontal bands of a stitch pattern from a bedspread - only a minor element of the bedspread design and hardly visible in the photo. 

Sirdar 1405

So these designs are unlike modern vintage knits, which aim at something close to the original, but updated.  Instead, they take a stitch detail or a technique from the original, and incorporate it into a completely new design.  I kind of like them, although the models have such tiny waists they don't seem  like real women, but if you can persuade yourself to look at them with a 1950s eye they look elegant.  And the doily-jumper is such an off-the-wall idea - I like designs that abandon the usual back, front, sleeves construction.  I'm not sure I would actually want to knit any of them, though.