An Eye-Opening Trip to India.
by Dustin
Everyone’s already seen the spread of Jerry Hall in India from the May/June 1975 issue of Vogue Patterns magazine, right? Maybe not, but even if you have I’ve got an interesting piece of info here that you may not have seen before.
So before I show you the pages from the magazine I thought I would share this amusing excerpt from Jerry Hall’s book ‘My Life In Pictures’, published in 2010, where Jerry shares her memory of that trip to India during the early years of her modelling career. It’s amusing because the photo-shoot portrays a romantic view of India, whereas Jerry recounts some of the realities. Here it is:
“During this time I went on a three-week trip to India with Vogue Patterns and photographer Steve Horn. We did some enchanting photos but the dresses were pretty awful! I was happy to do it, because my mother used to make us dresses from Vogue patterns, before she discovered the Frederick’s of Hollywood catalogue. The dresses we took to India were very simple, which is why they put them in exotic locations, to make them look glamorous.
For one shot, Steve made me climb up onto the edge of a building and hang on. I really could have killed myself – we sometimes had to do crazy things while modelling.
We travelled around India by train and I remember breakfast was made by a guy wearing what looked like a rag diaper, squatting down scrambling eggs over a little fire. Those Indian trains were pretty primitive. We took about 30 trunks of clothes and had porters to carry them around. Everywhere we went we saw examples of extreme poverty. I’d never seen anything like it and it was a shock.
It was in India that I took up yoga for the first time. I’ve done it ever since; I made a yogacise video back in the eighties. I also tried vegetarianism in India, but after three days spent meditating and having a strange out of body experience I knew it just wasn’t for me – I’m Texan and I need my steak.”
I guess that after a few years of modelling in Paris, naturally, Jerry couldn’t help but notice the difference between the dresses made from ‘Very easy, Very Vogue’ patterns and the Haute Couture and designer prêt-a-porter outfits she’d become familiar with.
Below is the “Magic India” content from the magazine:
Below: ‘Caftan Magic’–
Such beautiful backgrounds. The turbans and accessories also help to create the ‘magic’ of the caftans.
Below: ‘White Magic’–
A romanticized and nostalgic take on train travel. No rag-diapers in frame, of course.
Below: ‘Moolight Magic’-
Evening ensembles with even more stunning background locations.
I wonder what Jerry thought about the one and only women’s designer pattern in the shoot, Vogue 1228 by Jerry Silverman (above, left). Probably just another dress, right? Anyhow, I’ve always liked that pattern, and the design is quite similar to a dress designed by Halston in 1972 (pictured below), except for a different front bodice, which came several years before the Jerry Silverman version. Vogue 1228 looks so good on the pattern envelope, and it’s likely to be the designer original that was photographed, which was usually, if not always, the case with designer patterns. The orange version photographed in India was made up from Qiana, a synthetic nylon jersey, and I suspect that the designer original was also made from Qiana because of an advertisement I found in an issue of L’Officiel from 1978 for Qiana featuring a dress by Jerry Silverman (see below). Also shown here is an ad from the same issue of Vogue Patterns magazine for Qiana with Vogue 1228 made-up from a soft pink color of the fabric.

An advertisement for Qiana, featuring a dress made from Vogue 1228 by Jerry Silverman with the nylon knit fabric. This ad was taken from the first few pages in the May/June 1975 issue of Vogue Patterns magazine.

An ad for Qiana with a dress by Jerry Silverman made from the nylon knit fabric, taken from L’Officiel USA, Holiday 1978, Volume III, No 7.

Halston’s design in silk jersey from 1972 preceeded the similar Jerry Silverman design by several years. That’s Karen Bjornson modelling on the right (Images taken from the book ‘Halston’ by Steven Bluttal, first edition from 2001 by Phaidon Press Ltd).
Below is the introduction of American designer Giorgio di Sant’Angelo to Vogue Patterns in Vogue Patterns magazine. The Sant’Angelo spread didn’t feature Jerry Hall but the other model from the India shoot (does anyone know her name?). The robes and two of the dresses were evidently photofraphed on the India shoot, but the other two dresses were photographed elsewhere with a different model. I love how the prints on the robes tie so beautifully with the colourful tiling in the background! I have the pattern for the robe in my collection and I hope to make it up some day as a gift for a friend or relative. I’ve been on the lookout for suitable fabrics when out fabric shopping (which isn’t often) and I’ve been meaning to check-out the clearance bins at the local manchester shops for colourful and attractive flat-sheets to use, but I haven’t got round to it yet.
Here is another introduction of a designer in this issue of Vogue Patterns magazine, in this instance it is Polo Ralph Lauren for men! I get especially excited over designer patterns for men, as there weren’t that many ever produced compared to women’s. The seventies was the period when the most were produced, with designs by Bill Blass, Pierre Cardin, Givenchy, Dior, Saint Laurent, Valentino, Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren.
I like the oversized belt carriers on the pants of pattern 1237. You can see another good view of the outfit for this pattern in the ‘Caftan Magic’ spread.
Anyhow, the India photo shoots make for a very special issue of Vogue Patterns magazine. There are some stunning photos here, and I’m not sure that any other location shoots by Vogue Patterns ever topped it.
Below is the front dust jacket of the book ‘Jerry Hall – My Life In Pictures’ by Quadrille Publishing Ltd, 2010 (ISBN: 978 184400 880 3). I obtained my second-hand copy very cheap on abebooks.com. It’s a very entertaining read with MANY fabulous images and is a more up-to-date and slightly more detailed version of Jerry’s ‘Tall Tales’ from 1985, which is also in my library (I love Jerry!).
Beautiful photo shoot! I’m not a huge fan of caftans, but those are quite pretty – especially in the settings of the photos.
Yeah, I don’t think I would ever wear a caftan, too cumbersome for me, but an oversized linen shirt and loose pants, yes.
OMG – I made up 9186 in white and it was one of my all-time favorite dresses – I think I still have the pattern (although the size would be off a bit!) It was a totally comfortable dress. Vogue Patterns used to do a traveling style show, and we used to remark at how poorly the dresses were made up. At the time I was learning couture techniques, and the things from our class would turn out so much prettier! What a great layout – brings back tons of mem
Hi Claire, that’s so cool! I bet it looked great, such a cute summer dress, especially in white.
It’s interesting to hear that about the travelling style shows. I would have assumed that for promotional purposes it would have been in Vogue Patterns’ interest to sew them well with the best fabrics available.
It proves that a pattern can turn out very differently depending on the materials, technique and skill employed.
Did you ever go to a show where Edith Head was present? I’d love to hear from someone what it was like.
Anyhow, thanks so much for stopping by the blog and for leaving a comment!
-Dustin.
It is so interesting, hearing her take on the shoot and then having the images.
The train photos are enchanting, but so the dresses so impractical for dusty travel.
I never thought of the impracticality of wearing white on dusty travels! That just shows how very little travelling I’ve done. But I’m usually so practical with things like that! When buying homewares, I think to myself “Will that show fingerprints?” or “Will that collect dust or show dust 5 minutes after dusting?”.
And I’m constantly thinking about fabrics and durability or fading with laundering… I guess I was too caught up in all the ‘magic’ to think of such practical things! 😉
Another great post, Dustin. Those white dresses might be simple, but they look divine. I have always loved that Jerry Silverman dress – it really has a timeless quality to it. And those robes! The settings in which they are shown certainly help, but they would be totally eye-catching on their own, too.
I made a number of those caftan patterns. There is nothing more comfortable to wear in hot weather and now that I am older, they make even more sense!. I was also fond of the apron wrap dress pattern and made that in a variety of fabrics as well as a favorite Kenzo (Butterick) wrap dress pattern; back when I could wear a backless garment!
The Giorgio di Saint Angelo patterns were designed to be made with sheets. I have the long dress pattern, pattern 1230, but have never made it. I loved the way it was photographed made up in expensive (to me at the time) lace trimmed sheets. I wish Vogue had come out with more of his designs, because his work was a lot better than these 2 patterns show.
I think the other model is Shelly Smith, who was a regular VPB model and appeared on the cover several times.
I’ve really enjoyed looking through your blog. I have all issues of VPB inclusive, 1964 to the present day. I also have many issues from the 40s and 50s, as well as some prized issues from the 20s and 30s. My Vogue counter catalog collection includes, 1938 to the present day, including nearly all years from 1950 on. If you need any resource info, I may have it and would be happy to help.
Wow, Pamela! You must need a lot of room for all of those issues of VPB and counter catalogs! One could spend days on end looking through them. Thanks for the offer to help with information about Vogue Patterns.
I’m not aware of any of Giorgio di Sant Angelo’s other designs and now I’m curious to find out more. The licensing agreements between Vogue Patterns and designers constantly fascinates me. For example, why were some so short-lived? In some cases it was because the designer went out of business, but not always. And I’d love to know the reasons why some long-running licenses weren’t renewed, and what motivates designers today to license to Vogue Patterns, is it purely for the extra cash or do some designers have a fondness to the home-sewing community, also?
I really enjoy hearing what people have made from their Vogue patterns (and other brands of patterns, too) and their opinions on different styles, so thanks so much for your comment, Pamela! My apologies for the delayed reply 🙂