All posts tagged: 1940s

Rate the Dress: Shakin’ the Blues Away in bright yellow

The ratings for last weeks pink and black 1890s Worth gown were very different, but everyone agreed on one thing: you DON’T like swag!  Yes, that unfortunate swath of beading dragged the rating down to a 5.7 out of 10, pretty dismal for a Worth. When I asked for Rate the Dress suggestions someone mentioned film costumes.  It’s been a while since I’ve featured a film costume, and only once before have I shown one with a clip, so you could Rate the Dress in motion. So here is Anne Miller Shakin’ the Blues Away in 1948’s Easter Parade (starring Judy Garland and Fred Astaire) I’m going to confess right out that I love this clip.  I’m having post-awesomeness blues at the moment, and what better way to shake them off than with a bright yellow and black dress and some fabulous dancing? I won’t be drawn on whether the dress itself is fabulous.  That’s for you to decide.  I know you haven’t been the biggest fans of yellow and black in the past.  And …

Fabulous hats of Spring 1940

I just love this ad for hats that appeared in the Evening Post in September 1940.  Isn’t the little bowler with cherries just delicious?   Sadly, C Smiths has long since closed, and though the building still stands it now holds a prosaic collection of shoe stores and pharmacies and a gym, and renovators are gleefully stripping all its Art Deco charm from the interior and replacing it with the corporate colours of whatever the latest chain store to occupy the space are.  The romance of an old department store that once sold fabulous hats is long gone.

Elise’s gift: the mannish cape

Last week, out of Elise’s gifts, I showed you an exceedingly quirky and romantic and feminine leaf-green velvet evening wrap  – a perfect illustration of the mid-late 1930s Medieval Revival.  This week I’m sticking with velvet evening wraps, but going to the other extreme, to illustrate another fashion trend of the late 1930s – the masculine look for women.  Thus an almost severe and mannish evening cape: You’ve already had a sneak-peek at this rather masculine monochrome evening cape: I wore it to the premier of  Porcelaintoy’s Monsters. I’m afraid the cape hasn’t photographed very well – the contrast of the black velvet and the white satin lining was just too tricky to balance.  I’ll try my best to tell you about it in great detail to fill in the gaps. Like most of the textiles Elise gave me, this cape dates from the late 1930s, as shown by the materials used and the broad shoulders. The cape outer is black velvet – almost certainly rayon.  It’s fully lined in quilted rayon sateen. The lining …