Sisterhood Of The Vintage Dress - New England In The Fall

Our lovely dress has paid a visit to Emily of Emily's Vintage Visions  Please go check out her blog post.    She was so kind to do a photo shoot at the end of October even considering her recent wedding and all the time and planning this took:)   Emily looks fabulous in this dress amidst the last echoes of fall.

The setting is the backdrop of New England in the fall.  She styled the dress so charmingly and her hair is beautifully set.  The coat is an excellent match for the dress.  Please click on the link to see more.
Thank you Emily!!

A Lilli Ann Ramble

I hope you don't mind if I ramble more about Lilli Ann.  Even though this is the creme de la creme line for me, there are times when I'll buy a jacket or a suit and it doesn't fit well.   One thing to keep in mind with a vintage suit is that it isn't like nowadays where you walk in a shop try it on and buy it.  These ladies had their suits tailored.  It was all about structure and form.   I've been fortunate to see many different varieties of Lilli Ann suits so it isn't a total disappointment when they don't fit correctly as it is still a joy to see the tailoring and fabric style in person.  It is kind of like they stop in for tea on their way to their new homes.

I think it is easier to find a well fitted coat than a suit.    I wanted to share with you a remarkable jacket that if it would have fit correctly, I would have kept it.   I tend to pass forward the clothing that doesn't fit me well, including Lilli Ann.  I haven't yet been to a tailor to adjust a vintage suit and not to say this wouldn't happen in the future but I feel like with a jacket the adjustments are much more complex than with a cotton dress.

I took a few pictures of this jacket for remembrance sake.  It had exquisite details and the white against the navy was certainly a dramatic effect.  But, it was slightly too big.   Certain angles it is difficult to see, others it is quite obvious.

This jacket was beautiful the white stripe effect so well done.

Would you like a sneak peak at my latest Lilli Ann jacket?  I'm just waiting for the right brown skirt to come along.  <Fingers crossed>

A really lovely detail is how under the lapel is a white satin fabric.

Lilli Ann Suit Journey Part I

Since fall is approaching, I've been thinking about vintage suits.   If you scan the pages of any vintage fashion magazine from the 1930s to the 1950s in the fall issues, you are very likely to find a plethora of suit styles.  There is something so special about a well tailored suit that certainly embellishes the word style and vintage glamour.  Of course, with a well tailored suit you need the icing on the cake in the form of the right accessories and hats.  I have such difficulty with hats that it is a very useful resource for me to go back and look through these fashion magazines and see how ladies of the day styled their suit ensembles.

I'm going to share more of my suit and accessories in the next post but I thought it might be fun to share with you a few images that I sought some inspiration from.

Image to right via. MyVintageVogue

Image to right from Harper's Bazaar 1954.  In this image I think the lady curtsying forward ads an element of charm.  I didn't quite capture this but fun try and it's difficult to see that I am actually holding flowers too.  I am not too crazy about how my image came together but thought I'd share the attempts too as it's all a learning process. 

Image to right via MyVintageVogue.  This image is interesting as I think putting the right leg forward ads an element of strength to the composition.  My image is more casual and not as structured.  

It is interesting how a certain position and camera angle can give the impression of strength, confidence, softness, sophistication, etc.

I also have a board on Pinterest devoted to Sensations Suits Vintage Style.

I also scanned some sensational suits from two issues of vintage Vogue, hope they can provide inspiration for you too!

I love the risk of a golden yellow hat with a green suit and red shoes.  Only in vintage color.

I'm going to try this at some point, navy suit with red shoes, why not?

Things I've recently added to my want list as a result of cruising through these magazines:

- A bamboo handled purse
-A purse in a light tan leather combination

I also recently saw an image with black toned bamboo bracelets.  These were certainly grand.  I am thinking I see some bamboo in my future:)

I'm also interested in the turban type of hat look.  I have some of these types of hats and the 50s cap hat look is growing on me.

Sisterhood of the Vintage Dress -New York City

The vintage dress has paid a visit to the lovely Paper Mothball Vintage  .  Please go check out her blogpost all about it.  Laura really is vision of timeless glamour and I'm so thrilled she was apart of this journey.  I could quite see her being photographed by John Rawlings.  I love the spirit she captured in her photography of the vintage dress.  Beautiful!

Princess Coats of Vintage Bloggers

I thought it would be a fun idea to put together a look at some other lovely vintage bloggers and their princess coats.  If you also have one, I'd love to hear from you too.

This entry is part of a series I am discussing on princess coats.  If you check out the October Vintage Life Magazine, I have an article in this magazine about princess coats from the 1930s to the 1950s.  It was a great article to put together and provided kind of a source of inspiration to delve into the subject even more.

I also have a Pinterest board on princess coats.   I recently was very thrilled to add a new princess coat to my collection and I hope to get it photographed sometime soon.  It's a beauty.  It's also an off white color so I'm having a bit of a difficulty finding just the right hat.

Below are the lovely ladies and their coats.  Links below are also to their original posts.  Aren't they all so beautiful in their coats?  I've really enjoyed putting these images together.  Thank you ladies for allowing me to use your images for this blog post.  All of these coats are so very special.

Laurence LostInThe1950's

Laurence LostInThe1950's

Luckybubbles

Luckbubbles

Frances PolkaPolish

Jessica ChronicallyVintage

NoraFinds

JustAnotherWardrobeExperience

Princess Coat Press Photograph

I thought I might share with you today a press photograph for a princess coat.  I'm not sure the purpose of this photograph as there really isn't any information on the back.  Just an interesting look back at an early 1950s princess coat.  What I also like about this photograph is that the model is very natural looking in appearance not really a "super model" type.  It's like you could picture her walking down a busy street in everyday vintage life. 

Winners Digital Giveaway

Via MyVintageVogue

Winners are random numbers:  6,4,9 per random number generator:

Kate-Em

Tubby3pug (Katherine)

Laurence

Please contact me ladies and I will get you set up with the digital October edition of Vintage Life.

Thanks for participating!

Sisterhood of The Vintage Dress Traveling To New Destinations!

After our vintage dress  left the lovely Kristen,  the dress made a stop with the very chic Whitney at LittleHeapVintage.  I love how she was able to add her personal touch to this dress.  She gave it a casual yet whimsical spin.   She paired this dress with moccasin looking boots.  She could take this dress on even a nice hike in the woods, if she choose.  Her backdrop is urban.  You know what I love about Whitney is that she isn't afraid to take chances with her wardrobe.  If you also take a look back at her other posts, you'll see a variety of wonderful vintage outfits!  She even did a take on the "bar suit", just like me.  Great minds think a like:)

Whitney, LittleHeapVintage

After leaving Whitney, our faithful dress has paid a stop with Stephanie, of The Girl With A Star- Spangled Heart.

The beautiful Stephanie, chose to style the dress withe floral accents in her hair and black with period black gloves, belt, and shoes.  Stephanie is a seamstress so it was nice to see her take on what she saw in the details of this dress.  There is a softness to Stephanie's interpretation of the dress.   I keep being drawn back to the lovely soft purples in her hair flowers.  Her husband is a photographer so of course, her photographs are amazingly done:)  Beautiful, dear Stephanie!

Stephanie, The Girl With The Star-Spangled Heart.

Thank you ladies for participating in this adventure.  You both look so splendid in the dress and I am having such fun seeing the interpretation of this dress.  Well done ladies!

Please other readers, take a stop on by to their blogs and leave them a wonderful comment.  I'm sure they'd love to hear from you!

The Birds And The Bees

Continuing on with my theme of novelty prints...

I came across this blouse a couple months ago and it sold in a heartbeat.  So, another one crossed my path recently and I bought it and I thought I'd share images of it with you.   Besides being a novelty print, it was also styled by Edith Head.   A very beautiful blouse indeed.  I love how this blouse is styled in the vintage ad with the bow on the side.   I also have not seen the film.  Have any of you?


According to the ad, you could own this very lovely blouse for $3.00 and two Dial Soap wrappers.   This ad is from 1956.  So, in today's dollars this blouse would cost you around $26.  Not too bad for an Edith Head blouse!  Or, if you didn't have the soap wrappers it would cost you $10 or $86.  I've just sold this blouse as it isn't quite me but will be a winner for the new owner.   It was really fun just to look at it in person as I love the sleeve and collar effect!

Image via MyVintageVogue

The Right Place At The Right Time

I've been really enjoying my foray into novelty skirt prints.  I've been keeping my eyes peeled for particular types of prints, mainly scenic in nature.   I've also got some great prints I need to sew up.  I'm really interested in making a paneled skirt and I keep waiting for the right print but I'm thinking I should just dig in and make one with one of the fabrics I already have.

A little over a week ago, I see this marvelous skirt pop up on LuckDryGoods.  This is a skirt that wouldn't have lasted long for sale.   It's also a rare store made skirt.  It fits well with no adjustments and it is really difficult to find 1950s novelty skirts that are in a regular size as I see so many with very tiny waist measurements.  This skirt print showcases boats and has a very painterly effect but when you look up close there is a lot of line details.  The color scheme is just beautiful.   I'm very happy with my purchase.   The sweater is also from LuckyDryGoods.  I saw it on the model and thought what a great combination.  I don't know about you but it's also a task to find matching sweaters and blouses to skirts.  There are so many wonderful things in the LuckyDryGoods etsy shop.  I encourage you all to take a look at their stock on Etsy.

I was also very happy that my ReMix shoes fit the color scheme as I have been looking for the right outfits to pair them with.

We also just recently put in a nice walkway to our home.  I'm ashamed to tell you about the before walkway:)

Sisterhood Of The Vintage Dress - First Stop Pennsylvania!

The lovely Kristen at Verity Vintage Studio has posted about her adventures with her visit from our Sisterhood of the Vintage Dress.   This is the first stop of our sisterhood dress adventures and oh my, what a grand entrance!
 

This dress will make its way through the USA, then to Canada, then to Australia.   I smiled all the way through Kristen's post.  Her post is so warmly written and oh wow, what an amazing place to live!  I almost felt like Kristen was going to offer me a nice slice of homemade apple pie at the end of her visit with the dress:)  I'm quite sure the dress enjoyed this first stop.

The dress just fits her beautifully and she shares a lot of wonderful images.  Please take a look and leave her a lovely comment.   She really took a lot of time out to think about the dress, accessories, and incorporate some of her own personal journey into this dress.

Thank you Kristen!!!  How gorgeous is Kristen's hair?

Recreating A Fashion Look - 1942

There is a certain art to bringing back to life an outfit that I've seen portrayed in a vintage magazine.  I feel like I am learning a lesson in history, art, form, discovery, connections…the list goes on.

A couple months ago, I was wandering the lockers of ebay and I came across an auction for a butterfly skirt.  This skirt looked very familiar, then a rather large wave of epiphany hit me, this is the same skirt pattern from the butterfly image by Louis Dahl-Wolf.  The image below was originally printed in a 1942 Harper's Bazaar fashion spread in very rare color form.  You could buy the skirt from B.Altman.

Thie skirt that was worn in this iconic image was way before its time.  The sweeping nature of what was to become the 1950's circle (full) skirt look.  But, it is not just the skirt, it is the whole impression that just lingers and is one of those fashion images that leaves an imprint.  The composition is perfection and so is the lighting, not to mention the beauty of the model (Bijou Barrington), it's like all forces of nature were aligned to bring this image together in color.

So, when the auction ended for the version of the skirt I am wearing above,  I fell off my chair when I won it for $18.  I did have to have the side button holes fixed but well worth the investment.  It is a cold rayon skirt and still very vivid in print.  I also bought a yellow linen kind of short sleeve cardigan that I believe went with this skirt.  But, that is for another day.

Then, my quest began, to find accessories to match this creation that would be similar to the vintage fashion image.   Isn't it crazy that this image is from 1942??

I really did want to recreate closer to the exact image but my skirt isn't full enough for the effect.  So, I opted to photograph near a rounded arch doorway in a Spanish influenced entranceway.

The interesting vibe I really like about the jewelry in the 1942 fashion image is the metallic nature.  I think we so often think of Bakelite and rhinestones but there was also a big movement of warm earth tone metals.  Some of these bracelets and earrings carry with them a great mid-century modern overlay.


Outfit Details:

Earrings:  I found by looking for "pearl and metal" and came across these wonderful  Hogan Bolas screw back earrings from Etsy shop Classic Mid-Century.

Bracelets: Various sources keeping to the theme of the 1942 photograph.

Butterfly Clips:  Even better in person and appear to be made from feathers.  Olgadesigns

Blouse:  Made by me, vintage pattern Simplicity 2127.  I actually bought this pattern as a size 30 bust and it's still crazy big.  I think if I ever made it again I would certainly bring it in.  Pattern went together pretty easy and I made this pattern because there was nothing similar out there for what I was looking for.

Skirt: Ebay 1942 cold rayon with butterfly motif.

Shoes:  Gave me blisters:)  Really need to break them in but they were free with Amazon rewards points:)