All posts filed under: 20th Century

Rate the Dress: Hattie Carnegie stripes and suit-inspiration

Last week I showed you the wackiest Halloween costume: a bug-bedecked floral frock. Hana Marmotta correctly identified the bugs as may bugs, which frequently swarmed in Europe in the 19th century, which gives a bit more insight into the joke behind the frock. One of the main points of criticism for the costume was that it didn’t look like it had taken any effort : it was just some pictures of bugs tacked to a dress. From a modern perspective I agree: find an image on the internet, enlarge it, print out copies, paste to cardboard, boom: costume! But the outfit was from 1900ish, when getting copies was a LOT harder. Either she had them specially printed or hand drawn, and in either case, I’m impressed! Whether you were impressed depended mainly on whether you thought it was icky creepy, or fabulously wacky. The division between the two led to a score of 7 out of 10. Not quite winning the costume contest! This week, I’m still inspired by florals, but have gone for something …

My Ballerina Moment

Published by The Dreamstress

Last week I discussed the idea of how every girl should have a ballerina moment, and shared my inspiration for a ballerina inspired dress, using my grandmother’s fabric and pattern. I have definitely had my ballerina moment now, and it was worth every bit of angst and mad sewing and panicked moment of ‘Oh no! I’ve ruined my fabric!’. As it turned out, my ballerina moment wasn’t, as I had planned, the Windy Lindy ‘Enchantment Under the Sea’ ball. The dress was done, and I wore it, but the ball was a bit of a wash-out for me: the music was too loud, the dance floor too crowded, the theme didn’t quite come together, and I wasn’t feeling well the whole weekend. So I had to wait another week to be a ballerina, but it came together perfectly: I spent the night in Palmerston North with the fabulous Juliet of The Crazy Gypsy Chronicles, and we had a girl’s night and ate Korean and had too much chocolate silk cake and stayed up too late …

Monogrammed sportswear in the 1920s

Published by The Dreamstress

Carrying on with showing you the bits from my Bestway Initial Transfer catalogue, here are the pages featuring monogrammed sportswear – so not only could you have monogrammed unders, but you can wear monogrammed tennis dresses over them! The first page features monogrammed blouses and blazers for women, a ‘smart’ day ensemble, a monogrammed mens shirt, and (best of all!) a swimsuit! Oh wait, I stand corrected. The day ensemble is not just ‘smart’, but ‘exceedingly smart’! Don’t you love the tricorn-esque hat? And here is the write-up for the ensemble and the swimsuit: I think I might need to add a swimsuit in navy stockinette with red trim to my swimsuit collection – and add a rosette covered hat! Check out her lace-up beach boots too! I also need the pointed-bottom blouse. I could see that on the catwalk today – and in my own wardrobe! I also adore the cloche worn with the classic cardigan blazer. It’s such a perfect illustration of the late teens and early ’20s cloche – still with …