X-mas red&white combo

So it is nearly Christmas. I've already decorated my room and my parents house(hope to post some pics in a few days). The only thing that needs decorating now is me!



On Christmas I'll be wearing more dressy outfits but during the week leading up to Christmas I'm getting in the mood with warm red& white (just like Santa).



This 30's/40's rayon dress is perfect (also perfect for my rusty-red coat). It already has a white collar. Warm tights and a beret finish the look (white gloves for going out, and since there's an unusual amount of snow in the Netherlands: boots).

Variations on my dress part 5: Gold&black velvet

The very last variation. This time the simple dress is made fit to wear during the holidays. I'm wearing the dress with a black velvet belt with a gold-coloured buckle and velvet/gold wedges. The hat and the purse are also made of velvet. I actually wore the dress like this last old years eve(with more robust shoes because I had to walk through the snow quite a bit).



Now that might look like an understated outfit for such a big night but is was very very cold (and slippery) and this dress is very warm and not itchy.



Anyway I like velvet and it is a perfect party fabric, it also tones down the fake gold. I plan to wear lots of velvet coming holidays, but more about that in a while.

My 'new' red wintercoat

This is my new wintercoat. It is from the late 30's or 40's but it looks like new. There was a price tag still in it stating it had once cost 75 Reichsmark(the Reichsmark was replaced for the Deutschemark in 1948).



The fur collar does not belong to the coat but I think it looks amazing with it. I was also lucky to find a beret in the same shade of red at H&M.



There is also a piece of extra fabric sewn into the coat, in case reparations were needed. But there were no reparations needed since it has never been worn. And now after more than 60 years I'm the first to wear it.I'm going to be very careful not to wear it out.



The white beret is also made of fur I'd like another collar to match it
some day. For now the scarf will have to do.



Photo's were taken by my dad in last weeks winter wonder land, unfortunately the world it all green brown and grey again now.



The blue scarf is from Russia, bought it there this summer (tried it on when it was 35 c.). Looks very lovely with the red too.

Magic realist painting & Variations on my dress 4:blue symphony

Today I went, through the extreme cold (shiver shiver), to a museum to see a painting I have to give a small presentation about in two weeks. It is a picture of a woman in electric blue painted by Carel Willink in 1932. The painting is in a style called magic realism (more or less related to surrealism). The somewhat uncanny atmosphere in this painting is like the world in a dream, the elements are real (since you've seen them during the day) but they are deformed.

To me the sky is like thunder and lightning are about to start,like silence before a storm, this kind of sky is in many of this painters pictures.
The exact building in the backgrount actually exists,it stands near the painters studio in Amsterdam. The woman (Wilma) was to mary the painter in 1933 and she's in many pictures.

Now since this blog is essentially about clothing and dresses especially: the electric blue dress.....
I can't stop wondering wether this dress was actually that blue. The style was probably copied correctly. There's another portrait where Wilma is wearing a checkered jacked. there's also a photo of her posing in that same jacket.




The dress is pictured with enourmous^eye for detail, even the ending of the (blind) hem is visible. But I just can't help but wonder if someone in Holland would dare to wear a color like that. Futhermore there's also a painting of Wilma in a black dress of a very similar style (couldn't find a pic).

Anyway loooove the blue dress, very fashionable for that time. I was totally inspired and therefore the forth variation on my dress is a blue (although not an electric blue) color symphony, with some surrealist sculputral elements invading the image :P. My gaze is not as icy as Wilma's (really she suited today's sub-zero temperatures just fine).



The blue dress is paired up with a blue cardigan with puffy sleeves, blue dotted stockings and a blue beret with blue dotted veil.





Just one last 30's picture, from 1934. This time Willink pictured himself with Wilma (now his wife). The surrealist influences are more visible in this picture. It reminds me of a Magritte painting where the artist painted an artist painting a nude in the air. In this picture almost looks like the painter just painted his wife, not as literally as in the Magritte though.

November 1947

Just some pics from 'Le Petit Echo de la Mode' from 23rd of November 1947.



Fashions are very new look already, even in this low brow fashion magazine.

Variations on my dress part 3: pink knitwear

My mother wanted to start knitting again and ofcourse I was happy to oblige her in choosing a pattern. She wanted to make something small form some old wool.



I found this pattern in a 1940 womens magazine. My mother made it of some pink wool she still had (shem made me a cardigan of it when I was about three and never got to the one she intended for herself).



The collar gives this late 30's dress a very mid 30's feel.

Variations on my dress 2: White collar

Here's the simple dress again. This time with the original little white collar. I took it off when I had to (hand)wash the dress. I could see that the white ribbon in the inside of the sleeve was a little blue probably from previous cleaning so I feared that if I did not remove the collar it would turn bue(it had only been attached with a few stiches indicating that is was indeed meant to be removed easily). I was glad I did for the water turned a little purplish.



Dress looks a lot more friendly with the white accessoiries. I automatically started smiling.

Variations on my dress part 1: Basic

This is the first version of the simple dress, worn in the most basic way with only a black belt (original belt was missing). It photgraphs like heaven! I think I look very streamelined in it as well :P.



The dress is from the late 30's and has puffy sleeves with ribbon in the inside to make the puff more structured. The fabric is a dark blue wool with a black pinstripe, very warm in winter (though it has short sleeves, I always think it is funny that this got into fashion and was so mainstream. Womens arms must have been freezing in a time when not every room was neccesarily heated.)



The rest of the design is very simple, but elegant (I think it is one of my favorite dresses).



So this dress will form the basis for several 'outfits'.

Variations on a dress

This is an article in a women's magazine (Het Rijk der Vrouw) from 1940. As textile had gotten scarce and was no longer freely avaiable all kind tips on how to keep looking good were given in these magazines. This time it is about the many different ways one simple dress can be worn.



Well this is the simple dress. Given the plaeting and other details it does not even look that simple.



A kind of collar. The text reads "does this not look neat when I have to visit my strict uncle".



With a little (rather unflattering)vest. "But when I receive people myself I prefer this sweet vest. Is my old dress still recognizable?)



A silly hat a lace collar, silk flower and a different belt are added. "On a cosy tea afternoon at my dearest friends everybody was exited about my distinguished little toilet". The text is very,very oldfashioned but in English it does not even sound that archaic.



An outfit for going out (could not read the text on the photo and haven't got the magazine anywhere near). With a coat hat and a piece of fabric for a belt. This outfit is my favorite it is the most glamorous and least silly of them all I think.



A last outfit for colder days. Same coat turned inside-out, how clever :P.

Now I have a simple dark late 30's dress too. And just like the 'model' (aka ordinary woman) in this article I can wear it in very different ways. Coming weeks I plan to post a veriation every week.

Dress for less

A while ago I bought a horrible silk skirt at a flea market for only one euro. I took the skirt apart and used the lovely fabric to make a dress.



I used a 40's pattern I found in a Beyer pattern magazine. The magazine and the pattern are in a very bad state. The pattern dates from WWII so the paper quality is very poor.




The patterns (there are 10 dress patterns on this one leaf) are very crowding a relatively small piece of paper, this is probably due to paper shortages.



The fact that these patterns are from WWII makes them ideal for making dresses out of scraps of material or when there is only just enough fabric to make a dress. Because textile was so scarce none of these patterns require large amounts of fabric and some of them are especially made for little fabric or two different materials.



I loved this pattern with shoulder pieces and big pockets and a six piece skirt. Ideal to experiment with the possiblities chequered fabric. It took a lot of carefull fitting to get the dress out of the small amount of fabric (little overv 2mtr of 88cm broad).




The original skirt was decorated with velvet ribbon. I used the ribon to acentuate the pockets and shoulder insertions.



So for only one euro I've got a dress made out of real silk, pretty amazing, and also a nice chalenge.