Vintage Cashmere Sweaters

I mentioned last week that my first vintage clothing obsession was cashmere sweaters.  One of the very first things I wrote for the Vintage Fashion Guild website was an article on cashmere.  I’ve updated and adapted the information for the Vintage Traveler™.  Today, a short history of the fashionable cashmere sweater:

Knitting machines were developed during the Industrial Revolution, but until the 1920s knits were utilitarian or athletic items, not fashion statements.  Men and women wore sweaters during winter sporting activities and on casual outings.  In the 1920s, this all changed with Patou making high fashion knit sportswear and Chanel with her jersey knits.  In 1928 Schiaparelli made her famous trompe l’oeil bow sweaters .  By 1933, Pringle in Scotland was making fashionable sweaters of cashmere, introducing the twin set shortly thereafter.

When in 1937 actress Lana Turner appeared in They Won’t Forget wearing a tight sweater, the craze for sweaters was born.

Early 1960s beaded sweater

In 1940, American designer Clare Potter included decorated evening sweaters in her collection.  A year later, Mainbocher took British-made cashmere cardigans and decorated them for evening wear.  Sometimes they were made as part of a dress ensemble, with the lining of the sweater matching the dress.  He  decorated sweaters with beads, sequins, metal studs and fabric trim.  This started a trend for decorated sweaters that continued into the 1960s.

I am showing further developments of the sweater cardigan because good ideas, like good friends, I don’t think should be cast aside.  Mainbocher, 1943 in Harper’s Bazaar

Helen Bond Carruthers appliqued sweater

The evening sweater was an important part of the 1950 woman’s wardrobe.  These sweaters were decorated in various ways: sequins, embroidery, appliqué, lace, beads, rhinestones and huge fur collars.  A sweater would often exhibit a combination of these decorations.  Many were lined in sheer, light-weight silk, sometimes with a layer of lace between the sweater and the silk.

Cashmere also became very popular for day.  Many women had a twin set or two.  A twin set was a pullover, often sleeveless or with short sleeves, and a matching cardigan.  Sometimes the two pieces contrasted with coordinating trim. The sweaters often had jewel necklines to complement the string of pearls that many women wore with them.

From the 1940s and into the 1950s, teenage girls would wear their (or their mothers’) cardigans backward, buttoned up the back.  College girls of the period bought twin sets as an important part of their college wardrobes.

Pringle ad aimed at the ‘College Girl’, , 1951

Cashmere sweaters were knit not only in fashionable solid colors, they were also knit in intarsia designs.  Intarsia is a knitting process that results in a sort of inlay of design.  Argyles were popular, as were flowers, butterflies and other designs from nature.  There were often pretty details such as collars, matching mother-of-pearl buttons and contrasting satin trim.

Most 1950s sweaters had three-quarter, or bracelet length sleeves. This sleeve length remained popular into the early 60s.  Later in the decade sleeves lengthened to cover the wrist.

1950s sweater with intarsia knit bows.

In the 1960s, cashmere and other natural fibers faced fierce competition from synthetics such as polyester and acrylic.  Many people loved the “easy care” aspect of synthetics and so natural fibers suffered.  Some cashmere companies, such as Dalton, actually switched much of their production to synthetics.   And while cashmere was still being used by high-end designers such as Halston, for the average consumer cashmere was becoming a thing of the past.

As a plus, the sweater styles of the early 1970s tended to be bulky, and so the cashmere from that era is very thick and lush.  Hadley began making a knit that was made from as many as 8 plies of yarn, as opposed to the average 2 or 3.  It was not enough to save them, and the company closed in the mid 1970s.

Tomorrow:  Hints for buying vintage cashmere.