Look Alike Simplicities

After I blogged about my blue poplin 1940s dress, a friend of mine mentioned that she'd love to have a pattern like the one I originally tried to use for the project, but couldn't because it was missing pieces--Simplicity 3517.

I found one that was similar and ordered it, intending to give it to her.

It wasn't until it arrived that I realized just how similar it was.

The pattern on the right has a 1940 copyright date printed on it. The other pattern has no date. I looked it up on Vintage Patterns Wikia and discovered that it was from the early to mid-1940s but there was no definite copyright date. There was, however,  a newspaper tracing of the bodice inside the envelope, dated 1944.

I think it's interesting that on both patterns the blond has longer hair, wears the blue dress, has gloves and a red hat. The other model has shorter light brown hair, wears the yellowish dress and has no gloves.

I wondered if the colors, styling, etc, were simply coincidences...and then my boxy 1940s coat patterns arrived.

Hmmm.

It's obvious that the coat on the right, which has a 1947 copyright and a lot of fabric, is influenced by the post war New Look. The one on the left is early to mid-1940s and uses a lot less fabric. However, the blond gets the red coat, the brunette, the blue plaid.

I guess the moral of the story is that once Simplicity found a pattern cover formula that worked, they stuck with it until it didn't work any more.

I do the same thing with my hair style.