After the hardships of the wartime years, the 1950s exploded in a riot of colour. Women embraced the hourglass figure of Christian Dior’s ‘New Look’ and wore big petticoats to make their skirts larger, and for the first time teenagers developed their own fun sense of style.
I say ‘10 things you didn’t know about Marilyn Monroe‘ but obviously I have no idea how much of a Marilyn expert you are, so I guess these are really 10 things I didn’t know about Marilyn Monroe! Let me know if they’re all news to you too – I was amazed by some of(…)
After the interest in Marilyn Monroe’s measurements (and the debate about whether she was really a size 16) I thought it would be interesting to look at the measurements of some of the supermodels of the 1950s and see how they compared. I assumed models of the fifties would all be very much the same(…)
Marilyn Monroe’s measurements There’s a lot of discussion about whether Marilyn Monroe really was a size 16, and whether that was a US size 16 or a UK size 16, so I thought I’d look into it in more depth and see what I could find out. Like most women (with perhaps the exception of(…)
What is a cupcake dress? A cupcake dress is a very glamorous 1950s gown which had a tiny waist and a large voluminous skirt resembling a ballerina’s tutu. The skirt was usually made from tulle and often decorated with beading and trim. Think of a big frothy wedding dress or those Barbie cakes you get(…)
What is a wiggle dress? You hear the term wiggle dress used a lot at the moment, especially since Mad Men became popular, and often it’s applied to something which is nothing like an actual wiggle dress! A proper wiggle dress is a fitted dress meant to exaggerate an hourglass figure and which is narrower(…)
A 16 year old Shirley Temple photographed in 1944 with William Lyon Mackenzie King, the Prime Minister of Canada. I don’t think I’d ever seen a ‘grown-up’ photo of her before, wasn’t she gorgeous? I wonder why she didn’t make it to be a grown-up movie star…
It’s my birthday today, so I’m treating myself (and you) to some of my favourite images! First is this wonderful photo of dancer and actress Leslie Caron (who was in one of my favourite movies: An American in Paris)
1950s glamour girl and pin up Betty Brosmer who had the amazing hourglass figure of: 38-18-36 (inches). Her she has the most tiny waist, I know a lot more clothes were handmade in the fifties, but wow it would be hard to dress to figure like that off the peg! Source and copyright: BettyBrosmer.com Edited with BlogPad(…)
Actress and pin up girl Jayne Mansfield with Barry Coe from the television program I’ll Follow the Sun, 1962.
1950s swimwear Source and copyright: This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Netherlands license.
Source and copyright: This media file is in the public domain in the United States. Edited with BlogPad Pro
Lisa Fonssagrives at photographed on the platform at Paddington Station, London. This photo by Toni Frissell was published in Harpers Bazaar in 1951. Source and copyright: This work has been released into the public domain by its author, Toni Frissell
An “atomic pin-up girl” dancing in front of a (stemless) mushroom cloud. This photo was taken at Upshot-Knothole Dixie on 6th April 1953. I’m assuming somebody thought it was a good idea to photograph a pin-up shoot in from of an Nuclear test, but it all seems very strange now. I guess attitudes were very different in(…)
1950s fashion model Dovima wearing bikini photographed by Toni Frissell in Montego Bay, Jamaica, 1946. Similar image published in: Harper’s bazaar, May 1947. Source and copyright: This file is in the public domain, because Gifted to the Library of Congress by the photographer Edited with BlogPad Pro
A young, uncredited Audrey Hepburn modeling a bizarre costume with pointy elf ears during the run of her third dance revue, Sauce Piquante. Can you spot her?
The wonderful ‘Queen of Pinups’ Bettie Page who died on this day in 2008.
Princess Margaret with Sir Raynor Arthur during a brief visit to Nassau in May 1958 Source and copyright: No known copyright restrictions
I found myself wondering the other day about waist training and just how corsets and girdles have shaped women and fashions over the last century. The fashion for different body types has definitely changed with the decades, but what underwear was needed to help women achieve this? I hope we’re getting to an age where(…)