Recycled Fashion

Designs of scrolling embroidery have been perennially popular for centuries. The all-over design on this blouson jacket from 1988 (and also on the more recent man's shirt from 2003 below) is very reminiscent of early seventeenth century embroidery styles, as seen in the bodice of about 1630, also pictured below. In this instance, finely worked metal thread machine-embroidery on denim provides an interesting contrast: shiny, delicate silver thread on a foundation of hard-wearing practical cotton denim. The denim has been machine embroidered first as a length, and then cut into the pieces needed to make the jacket, since it is far easier for a machine to be programmed to embroider a large area than small individual pieces.

In spite of being denim, this smart outdoor jacket was not cheap, costing around £100 in 1988. It came with the choice of a pair of matching denim trousers or skirt, and its loose fitted shape and wide batwing sleeves are typical of the 1980s, providing a large area on which to show off the decorative silver embroidery. The photograph below shows the donor (far right) wearing her jacket for a "social" summer walk with her friends.

Full item descriptions:

"suit" [1999.6]
"shirt" [2004.101], Top Man
"bodice" [1956.64]

Related Themes:

Embroidery
Quilting