Vera Borea

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Vera Borea (Countess di Regoli) was a French fashion designer who came to prominence in 1932. Her Paris, France salon was patronized by customers from France and the United States. From the beginning her clothes featured unusual sleeves and small details which made her designs unique. Her sports clothes were coveted for their cool, vigorous, and fashionable appearance. She was managed by Princess de Rohan.[1] Both designer and manager came to the United States on a business trip in 1932, on the Ile de France.[2]

1932

Borea was a sportswoman and especially enjoyed designing sportswear because she had usually found it difficult to buy sportswear which was both comfortable and inexpensive. Borea's 1932 sports clothes designs included a skirt and waist-length jacket made of thick woolly tricot. These were worn in combination with an open work inside sweater of the same color. A tweed top coat with a black belt and a loose wrap around front gave the attire a harmonizing effect.[3] Paris fashion releases in the late spring were replete with frocks made of heavy black wool. Borea's black wool crepon frock had an incrusted collar and top sleeves of white shaved lamb.[4] Her summer 1932 fashions emphasized a high-waist effect, even when no belt was worn. The wearer's figure was closely fit from just below her bust to the waist. Borea's day skirts had hemlines from eight to ten inches from the ground. The designer favored materials which were quite rough and open-surfaced, primarily cotton or woolen ones. These were tailored into small modern suits which were worn with blouses made of dimity or crocheted Irish linen thread. These featured turn down collars and muslin ties. For town wear Borea stressed rough linen fabrics and she often employed negligee materials in formal fashions. She rarely used silks, but sometimes created heavy basket or chevron (insignia) patterns, which she obtained hand woven from Italy. The youthful designs were without pretense and definitely were not flapperish.[5]

1933

Summer designs revealed in February 1933 marked a milestone in Borea's designing career. From this point she no longer showed pants, with the exception of plus fours, which she styled for boating. Her very feminine sports frocks and evening gowns were quite similar, except for their lengths. The frocks were shorter, sixteen inches off the floor, while the evening gowns were ankle-length. Both possessed accentuated sunburn decolletes, suspended from very small ribbon-threaded metal chains. Borea lowered the waistlines of her creations to the hipbone. Her fashions began to exaggerate fullness in overblouses and the wide, flared, gored skirts she designed. Borea's bathing suits were short and flaring, made from plain wool or checked cotton. She created taffeta blouses with linen suits.[6] For spring and summer Borea used knitted shoulder yokes. A white suede golf jacket she designed had a knitted white cotton yoke. Her mixed wool motor and travel coats featured knitted wool yokes in very dark tones. Borea's cotton or linen dresses and jackets had yokes with bright contrasts and belts of knitted wool.[7]

1934

A novelty introduced in January 1934 was the skirted bathing suit. A skirt was worn over maillot or flaring one-piece shorts. The separate skirt began to outmode the fuller covering previously given by a beach apron. Borea's runner consisted of two flared panels which opened up on both sides. She used a large printed cotton handkerchief, which was popular in St. Tropez. Her creativity showed in the stylishness which she exhibited, working the scarves into new forms to cover backless frocks. Often the skirt was one color, the maillot another, and the wraplet a third. Some favored combinations were dark blue, venetian pink, and pale yellow, or Chinese blue, old rose, and beige.[8]

1935

In May 1935 a copy of a Borea sundress sold for $5.95 in a Los Angeles store. Made of cotton Indianhead, the dress left the entire back open to soak in the sun's warmth. It featured a block print with a natural background and a design of green or purple lines. The block print was also adorned with turquoise, gold, and coral (color). The sundress was fashionable to wear over a bathing suit for a luncheon indoors at a beach club.[9]

Borea's collection for fall 1935 included suits, jackets, and long redingotes, which were semi-fitted with leg-o'-mutton sleeves. Her fashions had a widening shoulder line. Her sports suits were uniquely cut in soft colored tweeds and were worn with dark crape shirts. The short sleeves on these shirts were also widened. Borea's day clothes featured a number of shades of gray-green. These were accentuated with buttons and scarves of yellow or guardsman's red. Bishop violet was a prominent color of Borea's evening wear designs. A nubby woolen, woven with bear's hair, was featured in the designer's sports wear. Her wool daytime frocks had velvet belts and trimmings. Highlights included pine-cone rosettes, which replaced sports buttons. Pheasant feathers were exhibited as trimming.[10]

1936

In July Borea released a white flannel suit especially for the sea-cum-casino. Worn with a chali blouse, it had subtle differences with suits introduced by Lucien Lelong and other designers.[11]

1938

Borea' silhouette was characterized by moulded bodices, normal shoulders, small waists, and short skirts, with some of them pleated and others slightly flared. She often made use of linens for beach, town, and evening wear. She frequently employed an apronline, which was either draped or tied in the back. Other prominent features of note were striped and embroidered materials (often oriental types), and colored piping (sewing). Her colorful printed frocks were worn beneath slim, dark coats.[12]

1939

For fall 1939 Borea styled striped necktie wool dresses. Her daytime frocks were worn with necktie wool blouses and heavy leather belts. Wool jackets were shown with plain skirts. Full skirted dresses with shirtwaist bodices were a part of her evening wear. One design was made in red and green vertical stripes. It tucked in at the waist. Her evening gowns were inspired from portraits by Velasquez. The features included long sleeves and gold buttons, with modern shirtwaist effects.[13]

1940

Flared basques were created by Borea for wear in the evenings. Her styles displayed screw-head buttons with a contrasting color on a square cut jacket. The look was very individual.[14]

1946

Borea's 1946 fall collection was presented on 12 September at her Paris salon, which had been redecorated with white and red and massed with red flowers. The lines of her clothing designs were simple, with natural shoulders. Fullness was eschewed except for drapery featured on a slim silhouette for evening. Among her fashions at the showing included a gray flannel ski suit with white leather suspenders and gold buckles. Borea introduced amber, mouse gray, and moss green corduroy box jackets over tweed suits or simple turtleneck wool dresses. Her town dresses and suits employed black wool bands or were inset with black velvet. Perhaps her most attractive ensemble in the collection was a mouse gray jacket with a plum frock.[15]

1959

Borea designed a raincoat made from golden brown proofed corduroy. Its buttons were of embossed silver.[16]

References

  1. ↑ Kaufmann's Ad, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 9 June 1932, pg. 13.
  2. ↑ 15 Steel Men Here To Study Our Mills, New York Times, 1 June 1932, pg. 6.
  3. ↑ Paris Modes, New York Times, 3 January 1932, pg. X11.
  4. ↑ Nonchalance Is Now Chic, New York Times, 22 May 1932, pg. X9.
  5. ↑ Paris Features Cotton, New York Times, 21 February 1932, pg. X13.
  6. ↑ Vera Borea Makes Plus-Fours for Boating-Metal Trimmings Are a Novelty, New York Times, 5 February 1933, pg. X9.
  7. ↑ Two-In-One, New York Times, 19 February 1933, pg. X9.
  8. ↑ Bathing Suits Undergoing Changes, New York Times, 14 January 1934, pg. X9.
  9. ↑ King Cotton Dresses His Attractive Subjects in Newest Smartly-Tailored Summer Styles, Los Angeles Times, 6 May 1935, pg. A6.
  10. ↑ Paris Sports Suits Show Novel Trend, New York Times, 7 August 1935, pg. 21.
  11. ↑ Dressing The Part, Manchester Guardian, 20 July 1936, pg. 6.
  12. ↑ By Wireless From Paris, New York Times, 30 January 1938, pg. 80.
  13. ↑ Double Bell Evening Silhouette Is Novel Idea of Paris Designer, New York Times, 4 August 1939, pg. 15.
  14. ↑ Summer Clothes In Paris, Manchester Guardian, 27 May 1940, pg. 3.
  15. ↑ Paris Sees Garb For Sportswomen, New York Times, 13 September 1946, pg. 5.
  16. ↑ Rainwear a la Francaise, The Guardian, 16 October 1959, pg. 7.

External links

  • Vera Borea Culotte Dress
  • Vera Borea Coat, December 1938
  • Red and Blue Ensemble by Vera Borea, October 1932
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