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.

Bolero+brah

I would ike to wear underwear as outerwear but I darenot do it, certainly not in Holland. This velvet bolero jacket (from somewhere between the late 30's to the 50's) has a kind of brah at the front. It reminded me of Ariel the mermaids shell-brah. This jacket is hinting towards underwear as outerwear in a very subtle way, a way I dare to wear.





I think it looks best on something simple sleek and bodycon, aka a slip dress(underwear no-one will notice is underwear).





A short slip dress makes a fine cocktail outfit. And a bias cut full length one makes it into an evening 'gown'.





A 'daring outfit'without showing skin and underwear as outerwear without a brah, perfect (though still hugely overdressed) for conservative boring Holland.

Treasure hunting in my parents wardrobe

I sometimes rummage my parent's closets and find wonderfull things they don't wear anymore. In the picture above I'm wearing a smocked blouse my mother once bought with a suit, very nice quality. The pants,(I'm really into wearing pants again lately) are my father's.



This blouse is also my mothers. It a little over the top hence I paired it with a sobre pencil skirt (belonged to a suit).


With this outfit I cheated a little the red top is my own (but my mother did give it to me). The silk blouse is my mothers and the pants are my fathers again.

For the perfect autumn daydream

This dress is so dreamy. It is not a proper evening dress nor suitable for usual day wear. The dress is probably from the mid-thirties and is far more intricately designed that you see at first hand. The A/W collection of Ralph Lauren featured some floor length black with floral 30's style dresses. When I first saw them I wanted a dress like that, then I found this one. Ofcourse it is not exactly like it but it has the same feel, it fits in the same imaginary story.I could not find a good picture of the exact dresses I mean, but if you hapen to read Vogue or Harpers, the Ralph Lauren ads give you a pretty good idea. My fav dress is only seen from the back. It's at the bottom of the collage page where three models are walking in a garden. The dress at the left that the model is swirling around is the one for me. For fun just look at the leaves of the trees, not very autumnal, more like april,according to my dad.



You might call this a maxi dress and it has a kind of 70's vibe about it (though it is really 30's).
The fabric is quite thin and almost sheer but the colours are not meant for a summer day.



The sleeves are a little puffy at the top with a piece of filling on the inside. Just beow the elbow the sleeves are gathered with some pleats. I've seen this in many 1934/35 fashion plates.





This is a dress by Paquin from 1930. Below are some mid thirties fashion plates that have the same 'feel' as my dress, though they're not floor-length.











Now I need a wonderfull sunny autumn day to take the dress for a walk in the park or a forrest. As long as there's no mud or cycling involved it will be perfect. No matter that some people might stare I'll be in my own little dreamy world, just me and this dress.