50s fashions tends to make most people think of the "Grease" look. Leather jackets, t-shirts for the guys. Poodle skirts for the gals.
The simplest place to find 50s adult fashions might be the movies from that era. Here is a list of the top 100 movies from the 1950s. I usually think of Kim Novak or Grace Kelly with the knee length dresses.
http://www.digitaldreamdoor.com/pages/movie-pages/movie_50s.html
A number of Hitchcock movies that most people probably have seen on that list.
What I was getting at earlier about the fifties being as complex as any other decade - poodle skirts were only in for a short time. They became iconic, or whatever you call it, but they didn't hold sway throughout the fifties, at all - quite the contrary. I don't remember them lasting for, say, more than a month. Don't remember any friend liking them.
So - one would not wear the hat and gloves mentioned earlier with the poodle skirt... 1955 was diff from 57, from 59....
Not to be snippy, just remembering.
Will enjoy the movie list..
Yea, think Doris Day or June Cleaver.
White gloves.
The '50's were the last gasp for white gloves.
parados wrote:50s fashions tends to make most people think of the "Grease" look. Leather jackets, t-shirts for the guys. Poodle skirts for the gals.
I know that's the cliche, it's what I'm trying to avoid. Basically it starts with the shoes. I don't have saddle shoes or any equivalent, and don't want to buy any. So if I have some nice 50's-ish heels, what goes with them?
I have a fair amount of vintage clothes but they're much more 40's that 50's. I have one fabulous jacket that's probably early 50's but it's not seasonally appropriate and I don't really have anything else that goes with it. Definitely don't want to buy a whole outfit. As of now I'm going to have to get hose, maybe a girdle (for that true 50's hourglass), and red lipstick.
I found some vintage button earrings that I never wear that'll be perfect.
I do have some gloves somewhere but they're long and silk, I think they're more 30's.
You could always go kinda "school-girl slutty" with the heels, white anklet socks (with ankle bracelet worn on the outside) and tight capri's. Wide cinched belt and maybe a tight sweater. Then you could do the ponytail. Got any cat-eye glasses?
the accessories
seems that hair will be the trickiest part of all of this
the snood's more associated with the 1940's, but some women did carry it over
Those McCall pattern images at the site Beth linked can give you hair style ideas, too.
They're all short...
I guess I could wear a wig.
Right now I'm planning to emulate the picture Roberta posted, the bun with the slightly poofity top.
I figured out that with big fat curls I could get my hair about the length of the Veronica Lake et al photos, but that seems labor-intensive. I'm a wash and air-dry kinda gal, my hair is naturally wavy but I'm not skilled with the curlers.
What about the Lawrence Welk ladies do?
how's about a French twist?
THERE! That's pretty much what I was calling a chignon -- I thought a chignon was a 50's thing but I'm not seeing much of it.
I don't know if I have the right cut for the top puffiness, but could be done I think..
The same site where I found tha pic has instructions for the Beehivee. Here it is:
http://www.hairarchives.com/private/archivesnew.htm
According to Wikipedia, the Beehive originated in 1958.
My wife informs me that the beehives were of the 60s.
JLNobody wrote:My wife informs me that the beehives were of the 60s.
I agree. Maybe invented in the late fifties, but people didn't wear them until the sixties.
It's not exactly from the 50's but surely one of the reasons which disturbed my view of the world .... when I saw such after my birth :wink:
Soz, I hope you're gonna tell us about the party. What you wore, your hair, etc.
'Twas last night. I didn't win the costume contest (which I didn't know would be happening), but several people told me I wuz robbed. ;-)
Outfit:
Full-skirted, cinched-waist cotton dress, black with a retro leaf print on it in white and gray.
Black cardigan, buttoned at top.
Pearl pin (cheapie, from sozlet's costume jewelry collection, a bunch of pearls set in "silver," kind of lacy, about 2" diameter).
Triple strand of (fake) pearls, choker length.
Very cool actual vintage button earrings, black with an inset (silver? pearl? hard to tell) delicate floral design.
My own glasses, which aren't cat-eye but are tortoiseshell and suggest a sort of cat-eye and worked in context.
Nude hose (no seam, color was good though).
Black vintage-looking heels.
My hair gave me absolute fits. First I tried a variation of the French twist, above. I left a section of my hair in front, did a regular twist (I do that fairly often), and then tried to bring the top swath up and over to give it some height. It refused. It kept laying flat at the front, then lifting at the back, which didn't look right at all.
After struggling with that for a while, I ended up with a side part and a wide bun at the nape of my neck, with my hair very smooth and shiny. An approximation of your picture, Roberta, though I wasn't able to get any poofiness there either.
With everything else, it fit, if not perfect. But it was amazing how the last step -- bright red lipstick -- suddenly made it all come together.
I thought sozlet had some sort of a clutch purse but if she did I couldn't find it. She did have a little poodle purse, it took things in a slightly different direction but I wanted to bring lipstick and such for touch-up and didn't have any pockets or anything better. It got a lot of comments.
E.G. wore jeans, white socks, vintage black wingtips, white t-shirt, and his old black leather jacket from high school. His hair is currently in a buzz-cut. He refused to be in the costume contest though, wimp. (A certain amount of posturing was expected... some of the guys were hilarious.)
Thanks so much for your advice, everyone!
Sounds like you had a great time, Soz. Are there any pictures? Hmmm?
