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#1950s fashions
professorpski · 1 year
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Fall Foliage, Stiff Petticoats, and Wool Skirts, McCall’s 9900
The deep brown of the skirt on the right reminds me of fallen leaves and the wool skirts that I am now pulling out of my closet. Those of us up north turn to wool when the air turns crisp as it is doing now.
This full skirt with six gores—that is six wedges from waist to hem—shows off the full hips and tiny waists that were the fashion back in 1954. The lower edge at the hem for a skirt with a 26” waist was a whooping 101 inches or almost three yards around which is a lot of fabric. But notice how the hem stands well away from the body. Now, in a crisp linen, or Zebeline suiting, a thick, silk twill, which are some of the fabrics recommended, that is a natural possibility. These fabrics would be likely to stand away from the body.
But for many of the other fabrics recommended, only a stiff petticoat beneath would have the force to defy gravity by holding up the fabric of the skirt. These fabrics include lightweight wool which would not be stiff, rayon suitings, ditto; corduroy which would be heavy, velveteen ditto; or tweed which admittedly can be a looser or a stiffer weave.
This vast range of fabric tells you that the pattern company thought it was a skirt that serve for many occasions. Corduroy was a sporty fabric and the brown skirt has topstitching along the seamlines, another sporty feature that was first used to make a seam tougher and ready for hard wear. But velveteen and Zebeline were more formal fabrics for dressier occasions.  
Notice too that by the mid-1950s, skirts had moved up from the lower-calf length which debuted in 1947 with Christian Dior’s New Look and were getting closer to a hemline a bit below the knee. While we tend to think in decades having one particular silhouette or hemline, there was always some variety within a decade, and some evolution as well. Not as much as the very wide variety we have today, but enough to give almost everyone some choices worth having.
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20thcenturystarlet · 7 months
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sweethearts in photo booths (1920s-1960s)
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susoriginals · 3 months
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Vintage 1950s Plaid Wool Double Breasted Cape by Dee Dee Deb
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inthedarktrees · 6 months
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Showgirls Play Chess Backstage at the Latin Quarter Nightclub
Gordon Parks, “The Girls Backstage,” Life, Dec 22, 1958
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• Skirt.
Designer/Maker: Tachi Castillo
Date: ca. 1955
Medium: Cotton, wool, metallic thread & rhinestones.
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tatigabrielles · 5 months
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Audrey Hepburn wearing Givenchy in 'Sabrina' (1954) dir. Billy Wilder
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thecinamonroe · 2 months
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Marilyn Monroe during a costume fitting session at Brooks Costume on March 30, 1955.
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kitsunetsuki · 7 months
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Bettie Page
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gorjee-art · 2 months
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With many requests from my mum and generally from people liking how I design caricatures, Here's a tiny Lucille Ball as a sticker! I don't see a lot of cute, adorable art of old Hollywood shows I enjoy so I figured I'd just do it myself. Get your "I Love Lucy" Sticker here!
Yes, I will be making more, Yes I will include Ricky, Yes I will include the rest of the gang. :)
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ladeekiki · 7 months
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Vikki Dougan photographed by Earl Leaf, 1957
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oxcoxa · 8 months
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Pin-up inspired by the original Barbie design from 1959 by oxcoxa
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professorpski · 1 year
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Suits Can Be So Much Fun: 1960 Suit at Fashion and Nature
When many people think of suits, they think boring. But women’s suits from the early to late 20th Century were sometimes tons of fun. They came in all kinds of styles and fabrics, always being an important part of women’s wardrobes for office work and city outings. During the 1950s, they were often fitted through the waist, just like dresses were. You see here a simple, unfitted shape which was the early 1960s fashion and a straight skirt just below the knee.
This bright pink suit dates to 1960 according to the curators of Fashion and Nature at the Grand Rapids Public Museum. It has no label apparently which I find interesting. Is the label simply missing or was this custom made for someone? We do know it is made of mohair fabric which comes from the fibers of the angora goat which means it is soft and fuzzy. Mohair sweaters became an important fashion in sweaters in the late 1950s and early 1960s, so the fiber was trending. And the matching trim is actual fox fur which signaled luxury then.
The result is a stunningly playful suit perfect for an evening party. The shape itself is simple, but the color and the trim turn it into something dramatic. Keep this in mind as you consider making evening wear. A suit pattern, matched with the right fabric, could make something wonderful. So says a woman who is pondering making a suit jacket out of an old gold wool and silk suiting that has spent far too long in her sewing room.
For more on the Grand Rapids exhibition, go here: https://www.grpm.org/fashion-and-nature/
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20thcenturystarlet · 5 days
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“People were just smaller back then”
Nope. Fat people have always been here, aren’t going anywhere, and have always been beautiful and worthy of respect.
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susoriginals · 10 months
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Vintage 1950s 1960s White Cardigan Vest Open Front with Black Polka Dot Trim by Alfred Werber Small Size 6 Union Label Only $8
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inthedarktrees · 3 months
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A young woman wearing turned-up denim jeans and saddle shoes, circa 1955
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• Royal blue oriental pantsuit.
Date: 1950
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