I was preparing a post on make-up last night and came across this lovely bit from an article which appeared on the woman's page in a Spokane, Washington newspaper, The Spokesman-Review, on October 30, 1949 --- sixty years ago tomorrow!
Begin the season as you should and be more meticulous about yourself - how you groom, what make-up you wear, your figure, your wardrobe. Look your best whenever you step out. You know what happens when you do not look your best? You meet the man of your dreams, a catty female friend or an old schoolmate. It never fails to happen. [Isn't that the truth!!!] So just make it a habit to look very well all of the time.
Casual fashions, casual manners and casual dressing are now of the past. We have entered (mind you, we are in it now) a new era, when women are to be fascinating, a trifle superficial, beautifully and expensively gowned, fragranced with costly brews, made up to look like very precious and very expensive dolls!
A marvelous preface to the '50s. It's funny to think of women in 1949 considering the fashions, manners, and dressing popular in the recent past as "casual." I guess the spare skirts and slim sleeves of wartime must have seemed like ancient history by the time Christian Dior's New Look hit the runways of Paris in February 1947. (What would the women reading this article in 1949 think if they could look forward in a crystal ball and see the fashions, manners, and dressing popular today?)
The weather here has taken a sharp turn toward autumn, so I've been trolling the stores for the last few days looking for warm pants, cozy sweaters, and non-open toed shoes. I even picked up some tights yesterday! As I step back and look at my own wardrobe, I can't help but think how the author of this newspaper article could be describing my own metamorphosis in 2009. There are still remnants of my frumpy past at the back of my closet - a few things here and there in a size that might fit, but I never reach for them. The colors I used to rely on are so drab and plain I can't bear to wear them outside the house. I've gotten hooked on the feeling of confidence that comes with knowing the fit of my garments is flattering to my figure and the colors make the most of my complexion.
Speaking of fit, I'm lovin' the cowl neck sweaters out there this season. With my hair up and my "new" collarbone on display, they make for a killer neckline. I bought a gorgeous sweater in royal blue the other day and felt so fetching in it all day long I had to go out and get another in black. And if I ever needed an excuse to buy some new earrings...
My metamorphosis even helped me come up with an idea for Halloween this year. Any guesses?
12 comments:
Glamour girl? (Interestingly, the computer tells me I've spelled glamour incorrectly! I just looked it up in the dictionary. hmmmm.)
Anyway, to me, the fact that this article was from the Spokane (pronounced Spo can' - old timers couldn't spell) paper was interesting. Who knew that when I grew up, I'd live in the Spokane "influenced" area? I never even dreamed such a thing.
For reality of fashions, though, compare family snapshots of the time with fashion magazines or even an old Sears catalog. Most people couldn't afford to change.
Anyway, the always being groomed part was and is something we should practice.
I need some new sweaters. I've been relying on a few fast-wearing-out turtlenecks; a drab, though warm, dull-yellow Woolrich cardigan; and a genuinely unpardonable black acrylic (which feels more like plastic, to be honest)cowl-neck for much too long. Good wool sweaters are impossible to find in the South. Sigh.
Wow, I can't imagine thinking of WW2 era fashions as casual. If they thought that was casual can you imagine what they would have thought about what the majority of us wear now? We would seem like absolute cave people.
Will you be posting photos of your Halloween costume?
I love the 1940's (that's when my grandmother got married, and so I know the fashions well....they were not rich, but my great grandmother was an amazing seamstress!). I am lucky to have gotten some accessories from that time period from her (hats, gloves, jewelry, etc).
Isn't it amazing how our wardrobe changes when we lose weight? I know some women tend to hooch it up a bit, but I am loving showing off my slimmer figure in feminine clothing, that displays sexy things (like the collarbone).
I am guessing you will be beautiful butterfly coming out of her shell! Because that is what i think.
Sounds like you can clean out your closet further and only have what you love and what flatters you most. I love hearing this! You have such confidence!
I wonder what you will be for halloween? Hmmm, maybe a wartime nurse? Or perhaps a Hollywood starlet of that era?
Mrs Tailleur hit it right on the nose! I'm going to be a butterfly. It seemed appropriate in this year of changes. I'm going to make up my antennae tonight. Love all the ideas, though! I did think about being a 1940s pin-up sailor girl.
Packrat, I'm sure it took ages for the New Look to trickle down to the ordinary woman on the street. Those massive skirts really held their own once they got there, though!
Latter-Day Flapper, I just itch thinking of the word acrylic. :) Good luck finding some lovely new toasty warm sweaters.
Ms. B, they'd be aghast. They'd probably think we dress like a bunch of androgynous, immodest hobos.
Kalee, you're so lucky to have inherited some of your grandmother's things... Sadly, I think I've probably made a few hooch-y mistakes along the way as I've adjusted to my emerging figure. But they're behind me now. It didn't take very long to figure out just how much flesh was truly appropriate. I hate sharing the goods with everybody, you know? As for a picture, guess I'll have to see if anybody snaps one of me!
Bonjour Madame, yes - I do have some more closet cleaning to do! Maybe a project for the weekend... Even if I don't buy anything more until I'm in a 10, I may as well reclaim that space.
You could not have come close to the hoochiness I see! Literally leaving less to the imagination than Maxim was what I was referencing!
"They'd probably think we dress like a bunch of androgynous, immodest hobos." I LOVE this statement! It's so true!
And I do think that you will be one beautiful butterfly :)
Kalee, okay, not quite that hoochy! It's a little awkward coming to grips with a drastically new shape, though. Like getting used to driving a new car. :)
Muchas gracias, Rebecca! I can't wait to surprise my nieces tonight. (They'll be inheriting my butterfly wings for dress-up when Halloween is over.)
They definitely would have thought many of us were either street walkers, homeless, teenagers from the 'wrong side of the track' or just 'out of the garden' depending on which modern outfit they saw. I am sure they would wonder at all our bare heads and hands and think that odd. Many modern handbacks also make one look as if they DO live out of the thing, all slouchy hoboie and non-tailored. I look at my 80's inspired handbag next to one of my structured 50's the other day and almost caught my breath. The thing honestly looks like the slovenly overweight cousin that will most likely spend her life 'at home with mother' if you get my drift. Butterfly is rather good. Someone told me I could go to any party in my 'normal' clothes and be a 1950's housewife. What was funny, is I went to a party and someone WAS dressed as a 1950s housewife and it felt odd, as she just seemed dressed normally to me, it is funny how quickly our perceptions change. I went to that party as 'a modern woman of the future' and wore some of my old clotehs. I will NEVER wear low rise pants again!
What a surreal experience that must've been... Your "modern woman of the future" costume reminds me of The 1900 House when the mom and daughter did a performance of how they imagined the woman of 2000 would look like.
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