Capturing Cambridge recently had the privilege to look at the archived treasures of Constance Pyle, a very well regarded dressmaker in Cambridge from about 1925 until the late 1960s. The archives include her order books with sketches of dresses, included wedding dresses for actresses such as Psyche Altham.
Amongst her clients were well known names like Catherine Walston, the mistress of Graham Greene. Constance’s designs were glamorous and beautifully executed. She was an avid reader of fashion magazines, especially the McCall Style News, a pattern publication originally from America that prided itself on being the “short cut to Paris style”.
An August 1936 copy of the magazine found in Constance’s papers shows that the inter war style was very similar to the fashion of summer 2025 with the “strong shoulders look” embodied in the “jacket frock” to be worn over a dress. Just like this year, the peasant blouse, inspired by Eastern European traditional costumes, was also in vogue then. “Now’s the time to make a peasant blouse”, “alive with bright colours in the cross-stitch flowers and deep smocked top,” write the editors of the 1936 magazine. The blouses sketched in the magazine resemble Hungarian traditional blouses and probably reflect the fashion input of the Hungarian Jewish tailors and dressmakers that took refuge in England between the two wars, following the rise of antisemitic policies in Hungary. This summer the bohemian peasant blouse is making a come back, probably under the influence of Ukrainian traditional costume and its beautiful embroideries.
The 1936 McCall magazine also suggests using the same style of embroidery to enliven aprons:
Don’t be afraid to make this apron as gay as you please, for that’s what’s intended. Use vivid dashing colours in the cross-stitch and strong colour in the band. It’s “peasant’ you see. (Mc Call Style News August 1936, p. 23)
Unsurprisingly the peasant apron is not a fashion item for summer 2025. Whilst 1930s wives were expected to serve their husbands’ tea time with style and looking as “gay” (happy) as possible, now things have changed!
Find more about Constance’s dressmaking business on Capturing Cambridge:
https://capturingcambridge.org/hills-road-area/hills-road/6-hills-road/