Galanos exhibition, photo courtesy couturepatternmuseum.com
The Couture Pattern Museum, founded by Cara Austine-Rademaker, was launched in 2022. Its mission is to preserve, digitize, and share an exquisite collection of over 2000 haute couture patterns from the golden age of couture. The museum’s vast collection is the largest in the world and includes patterns from almost every important designer beginning in the 1920s.
We are different from other museums; we highlight the construction, the know-how, and the how-to. What makes this outfit significant? We approach it from the angle of craftsmanship. And that’s what’s missing. A lot of fashion today is about stunts and attention and less on craftsmanship.”
Cara Austine-Rademaker, Founder of the Couture Pattern Museum
A Vogue pattern for Chado Ralph Rucci wrap dress, photo courtesy couturepatternmuseum.com
While mostly European, they have some from New York: Bill Blass, Adele Simpson, Geoffrey Beene, Pauline Trigere, Maurice Rentner, Oscar de la Renta, Ralph Rucci, and West Coast-based James Galanos. While Galanos and Beene never made couture, their ready-to-wear is on par.
Coronation Ball Frock For You to Make, photo courtesy Couture Pattern Museum
They use their space to launch exhibitions, offer talks, classes, events, and gatherings, and use their patterns to tell stories other museums won’t touch or perhaps don’t even know about. Case in point: The Couture Pattern Museum has the patterns for the Coronation Robe and Ball Gown worn by Queen Elizabeth ll for her coronation.
Coronation Couture Exhibition, photo courtesy Couture Pattern Museum
In 2022, they mounted a Coronation Couture Exhibition, which told how Queen Elizabeth ll released patterns for both the Coronation Robe and Ball Frock to her dressmaker Norman Hartnell for people to make themselves. So many of her subjects after the war were impoverished and she wanted to make sure everyone would show up in luxurious attire. Miraculously, they did.
Visitors to the Galanos exhibition, photo courtesy couturepatternmuseum.com
The nature of museums is changing, says Cara. They become mainly for the 1% with fundraisers and have difficulty with participation. “They are like graveyards where objects go to die, and they are becoming less and less relevant to society. We are a participatory museum.” If you are a founding member of the Couture Pattern Museum, you can take a class and learn how to create a garment using patterns made by one of these great designers.
Cara wearing her recreation of 1958 Mme. Gres, photo Instagram
Cara makes her clothes using the patterns she has procured. She regularly posts images of the process on her Instagram account, as it validates the preservation of information, the conservation of these patterns, and why it’s essential. “You can turn $140 worth of pre-embroidered fabric into a $4,000 worthy dress opines Cara, referring to an Oscar de la Renta-inspired gown that was a recent project.
YSL pattern from 1997 that started it all, photo courtesy couturepatternmuseum.com
It all started with a pattern for a YSL jacket. Cara was in college, majoring in Finance, unable to afford designer or haute couture, when she came across a pattern for a YSL red peplum jacket from 1997 that spoke to her. This new interest led Cara down a “rabbit hole,” collecting haute couture and design patterns.
Cara wearing her Chado Ralph Rucci recreation, photo courtesy couturepatternmuseum.com
Then she thought if I could get YSL, what about Charles James or Christian Dior? One of the first patterns Cara purchased was a wrap dress by Chado Ralph Rucci. Cara immediately saw “hints of Charles James meets Japanese Zen.”
Cara and her husband RJ (a lawyer by profession) started contacting museums and design houses, and they soon realized that nobody had archives of these patterns. They wanted to intervene. The patterns are line-to-line reproductions of the exact replicas photographed in Paris, and in many cases, they represent the last legacy of some of the world’s most significant designers.
Jacques Heim Couture Vogue Pattern, photo courtesy couturepatternmuseum.com
The Condé Nast Company developed and sold Vogue Patterns priced between 40 cents and $2. These prices were high for the Depression, considering that $2 could buy several pounds of meat, poultry, or fish. The business was suffering, and founder Condé Nast needed a way to make money. When Anna Wintour came to Vogue, she had no interest in keeping Vogue Patterns going.
Patterns were once part of the haute couture story that is no longer being told. There was an upscale culture wrapped around these patterns. The actual couture garments were first photographed in Paris. Then, they would make line-by-line reproductions and send the patterns, along with the photographs and the toiles, to the US. They were sold at high-end department stores like Marshall Fields in Chicago.
Side by side comparison of a Dior tulle and the completed dress on the right, photo courtesy couturepatternmuseum.com
Christian Dior, for example, typically had one pattern for the department store and another one for home seamstresses, and those were better. Seamstresses really held the key to design through the patterns they had, and now they are dead or dying off, and their patterns are being thrown away because society does not value them.
Christian Dior Haute Couture Coat Pattern, photo courtesy couturepatternmuseum.com
Most of the patterns are on tissue paper, and they are fragile. That’s why they need to be meticulously stored and digitized, which takes about one hour for each one. Cara points to the Costume Institute exhibition Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion, which addresses the problems of preserving old clothes.
“It’s impossible to stop the decaying process of these dresses over time. Why is that the only conservation angle? What we are doing is preserving information, says Cara. “The more we digitize, conserve, and save these patterns, they will outlast these dresses in the vaults,” says Cara.
“My friends Cara and RJ, who have created “The Couture Pattern Museum” in Santa Barbara, are very dedicated to not only the education and exposure for pattern construction but also to the exposure of extraordinary designs from the great legends of fashion.”
Ralph Rucci
When I asked Cara who her favorite designers are, she named three: Charles James, Balenciaga, and Ralph Rucci. About a year ago, Cara contacted Ralph about a proposed exhibition, “Silhouettes and Shadows: The Transcendence of Charles James and Ralph Rucci,” and he answered right back. RJ and Cara share similar values with Ralph, and they have become friends. It was Rucci who told me about the museum and introduced me to the couple.
Cara wearing vintage Galanos with Pam Tanase on the right, photo courtesy couturepatternmuseum.com
With their exhibitions, they want to tell the designer’s story in a relatable way. In May and June of this year, they mounted their third exhibition, which highlighted James Galanos on the occasion of his 100th birthday.
Givenchy Couture Pattern, photo courtesy couturepatternmuseum.com
Cara and RJ are currently working on an upcoming Audrey Hepburn exhibition focusing on never-before-seen photos of Audrey and possibly an exhibition on Givenchy — they have the largest Givenchy pattern collection in the world.
“More than ever, we seek beauty to make sense of our profoundly absurd era. For me, I excavate the past for answers, but for others, they create what they’ve seen in the future. There’s room for archivists and visionaries because beauty in its essence is unchanging”.
Cara Austine-Rademaker
Latest Comments:
Wonderfully written article Marilyn
Thank you for all your research into this fascinating history.
Wow! Patternmaking brings designs to life and can inspire changes for better design!
Exciting event celebrating jewelry creativity!
Great and informative article. There is nothing that compares to a beautifully made garment that lasts forever.
All one has to do is look at her to know that all you say so eloquently is true. Like…
It’s Exhilarating to see so many varieties of BEAUTIFUL!!!
Great article. Review my blog … yupoo api
Thank you for that RF….yes..it’s an ongoing complaint..and it is NOT about looking young..it’s about looking and feeling great and…
So refreshing to see you aging gracefully and looking fabulous! Too many people fixated on looking young instead of appreciating…
Hi Marilyn..”ABOUT TURNING 75″….You can add me to your almost 75 llist…Oct 29th of this year. I am so glad…
Wonderfully written article Marilyn
Thank you for all your research into this fascinating history.
Wow! Patternmaking brings designs to life and can inspire changes for better design!