#1950s fashions

Stripes Gone Wild: BurdaStyle Twill Dress 121 07/2021

This is a modern dress with some vintage details. The length and flare of the skirt is reminiscent of the 1950s when a tiny waist and a large skirt were popular. The shirt-waist front bodice on a dress then coupled with a side opening was popular for much of the 20th century. It allowed for the kind of complex details you see here reminiscent of a shirt-waist or blouse–double-breasted button front, shaped neckline, and collar–without having to bring the buttons all the way down to the hemline. Instead, a snap placket in the side seam lets you pull the dress over your head. Here, a zipper is used instead.

Playing with stripes has always been popular as they are among the simplest patterns. By placing them on the bias and matching them for forming chevrons, you can create a playful and dynamic look as you see here. Imagine leaving the stripes all straight on a less-flared skirt and you can see that the entire dress would become much more sober in flavor.

Choosing stripes does mean more work matching the stripes. Careful cutting is key, and then basting and checking before final sewing is necessary. Still, I always enjoy bias chevron skirts in the summer as they seem to capture the spirit of the season.  

You can find it here as a pdf, so you either find a place the prints large images, or you use a lot of tape: https://www.burdastyle.com/twill-dress-121-burda-style-07-21.html

The Big Reveal in the 1950s, Or Simplicity 9536

The reveal comes when you take off the bolero jacket and reveal the strapless dress beneath. Notice how the white, strapless version is clearly an important summer event. She has a flower corsage pinned to her belt and strappy, high heels. This fits with the fabric suggestion of taffeta, faille, or shantung which would have been made of silk. The blue and white version has straps and because it is gingham, it is not so daring in its appearance. Notice that the pink version has flat shoes too, an indication this might be a picnic or other low-key weekend event. This fits with the fabric suggestions of chambray, pique, seersucker or lightweight denim which would all be made of cotton.

This combination – bolero over revealing dress–was very common during the 1950s. It solved the problem of going out without revealing much until you got to your destination, or warming up when the evening turned cool. The bolero here is very simple. It has cut-on sleeves, little jaunty cuffs, a single buttons, and darts front and back to fit to the body. The dress is more complicated despite the “easy-to-sew” designation, as sign of a high level of home dressmaking skill at the time. Both the strapped and strapless version are supposed to be boned through the bodice, and both are trimmed with self-trim bias-cut fabric which is able to follow the curves of the neckline. The large pockets have fold-back flaps.

Of course, it was a look that was first popularized by Christian Dior in 1947, the New Look with soft shoulders, small waist, and long, luxurious flared skirts. The width of these skirts also indicates they were worn with a petticoat which fluffed out at the hemline. While lower calf lengths were the preference of Dior that year, the long skirts had crept up a inch by inch by the end of the 1950s. These fall a bit below the knee.

This is a re-issued pattern, so it comes in modern sizes. Find it at your local fabric store or online here: https://simplicity.com/simplicity/s9536

1950s Swimsuit Glamor from Augusta Auctions

Were Fifties swimsuits glamorous or what? Yes, that is a white swim suit embroidered with gold lamé stems, and with gold lame straps. Another one with black lace overlay sprinkled with rhinestones, a more daring lingerie look. They really look more like something a chorus girl would dance in, but they were swimsuits.

True, it seems unlikely that gold lamé and rhinestones are really likely to survive a lot of time in the pool, but these were probably not made for meant for swimming laps. Can’t you image two women wearing them pool side, drinking tropical cocktails, looking flirty, and then announcing it was just too hot and dipping into the pool to cool off?

Augusta Auctions tells us the white one is made of a cotton/rubber/acetate blend and the black one, more vaguely, was synthetic. There are zippers along the center backs as designers did not have spandex to make them extra stretchy, so they needed some way to get you into a fitted garment. These suits cover far more than suits would later and were easier to wear as a result, but they do show off as much of the figure as anything that came later.

They were made by “Deweese Design, Swim & Sun Fashions Los Angeles California" according to the label. California had a post-war fashion cachet as the war industry had brought so many more people out west. Designers catered to the region’s longer seasons of sunshine which meant more people were spending time in outdoor living, including poolside. Postwar prosperity mean more people had the time and money to relax in the outdoors too. Yet, even sportswear, as you can see, could be fancy.