Dresses: Which Decade?

[kamikat]

I prefer 50's and early 60's. I'm an hourglass and the 50's and early 60's styles really suit me best.

 

[Miss 1929]

How is it possible?

I love them all! 20s and early 30s are so beautiful to look at, but I don't wear them because I know I'll look like a sack of potatoes
.

They are SO unlike each other! How could they have the same effect?

20s: No natural waistline, straight up and down, short skirts, no shoulder interest.

early 30s: waistline, interesting large collars and effects, long slim skirts.

Try the early 30s, you'll be very pleasantly suprised at how flattering it is. Unless you're a really big, busty gal, it should look fine. The 20s are another story, I agree with the potato sack effect.

 

[Amy Jeanne]

The 20s and early 30s are my very favourite time periods, but, unfortunately, I feel I do not look good in the dresses from that era. My measurements are 38-30-38 and I'm 5'7" -- I'm a "Jane Russell" type, I guess. Because I have a larger bust, the 20s dresses make the dress stick out more than it's supposed to, thus creating the "potato sack" look lol

I think my smaller waist is a good thing, but I hate my bigger hips so the early 30s are out of the question. Again, the "potato sack" look comes into effect with the hip-hugging skirts. My hips look like potatoes!!!

The late 30s suit me fine. The dresses hug me at the waist and flare at the hip, but not too much as to give me the "wide bottom" look.

Yea -- I've spent way too much time analyzing this lol

 

[Lareesie Ladavi]

It's a toss-up between 30s and 40s. However, I do like the 50s whimsy. :eusa_doh:

 

[Miss_Bella_Hell]

BTW Kitty and Miss 1929, thanks for the zipping advice! I once got stuck in the aforementioned dress and had to throw a sweater over it, go to school, and ask a classmate to zip me in the ladies' room!

 

[StaceFace]

The 20s and early 30s are my very favourite time periods, but, unfortunately, I feel I do not look good in the dresses from that era. My measurements are 38-30-38 and I'm 5'7" -- I'm a "Jane Russell" type, I guess. Because I have a larger bust, the 20s dresses make the dress stick out more than it's supposed to, thus creating the "potato sack" look lol

I think my smaller waist is a good thing, but I hate my bigger hips so the early 30s are out of the question. Again, the "potato sack" look comes into effect with the hip-hugging skirts. My hips look like potatoes!!!

The late 30s suit me fine. The dresses hug me at the waist and flare at the hip, but not too much as to give me the "wide bottom" look.

Yea -- I've spent way too much time analyzing this lol

You took the words right out of my mouth! My measurements are almost the same as yours (I haven't taken exact measurements in a while), and I feel like a sack of potatoes quite often - ESPECIALLY with modern-cut clothing (i.e. babydoll shirts, cropped swing jackets). Because the size of my bust, the clothes are "pushed out" more than I like, creating somewhat of a maternity look :eusa_doh: lol So although I love the fashions from the 30s, I feel the 40s and 50s suit my body type much better.

 

[Lady Day]

I picked 30s.
Precisely 1933-1945.
Fashion eras generally start mid decade, so Id say my tastes are pre-war to the beginning of post war.

Classic, demure, and efficient designs. Love it!

LD

 

[Miss 1929]

The 20s and early 30s are my very favourite time periods, but, unfortunately, I feel I do not look good in the dresses from that era. My measurements are 38-30-38 and I'm 5'7" -- I'm a "Jane Russell" type, I guess. Because I have a larger bust, the 20s dresses make the dress stick out more than it's supposed to, thus creating the "potato sack" look lol

I think my smaller waist is a good thing, but I hate my bigger hips so the early 30s are out of the question. Again, the "potato sack" look comes into effect with the hip-hugging skirts. My hips look like potatoes!!!

The late 30s suit me fine. The dresses hug me at the waist and flare at the hip, but not too much as to give me the "wide bottom" look.

Yea -- I've spent way too much time analyzing this lol

I am envious of your matching top and bottom measurement, mine have always been 10" bigger in the hips, No mater what weight I am , I am always bottom heavy. That is an ideal figure, you are so lucky!

 

[Lorena B]

I am all for mid 40's and 50's.

Always loved and dressed 50's, since i was 13 years old, so it is obviously a while, but i also have to say that with the years passing by i realized quite a while ago that the 40's are just great, great fashion, music, architecture, cinema ... man, you cant get me to decide for one, love both!!

 

[Amy Jeanne]

You took the words right out of my mouth! My measurements are almost the same as yours (I haven't taken exact measurements in a while), and I feel like a sack of potatoes quite often - ESPECIALLY with modern-cut clothing (i.e. babydoll shirts, cropped swing jackets). Because the size of my bust, the clothes are "pushed out" more than I like, creating somewhat of a maternity look :eusa_doh: lol So although I love the fashions from the 30s, I feel the 40s and 50s suit my body type much better.

I often feel like "Herman Munster" in modern clothes!! The arms are always too short, the buttons at the bust always pull, and the short-sleeved shirts are always just a bit too snug around my upper arm. But if I go a size bigger, it's ALWAYS TOO BIG!!! And, well, there goes that potato sack thing again!

 

[StaceFace]

I often feel like "Herman Munster" in modern clothes!! The arms are always too short, the buttons at the bust always pull, and the short-sleeved shirts are always just a bit too snug around my upper arm. But if I go a size bigger, it's ALWAYS TOO BIG!!! And, well, there goes that potato sack thing again!

Ha, deja vu! You and I should swap clothes, because finding some that fit and look decent is nearly impossible. Really, it's scary how similar our predicaments are.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Early '40s for me -- tailored and practical, with a minimum of frou-frou. It's impossible to chuck out a disorderly patron when one is wearing frou-frou.

 

[Sunny]

I picked 30s.
Precisely 1933-1945.
Fashion eras generally start mid decade, so Id say my tastes are pre-war to the beginning of post war.

Classic, demure, and efficient designs. Love it!

LD

You said it! That's my favorite!

 

[Lauren]

I voted 30's. My era of preference for my body type are specifically 1929-1941, though I am finding I'm leaning even a little more into the 1920's than I had before- the fabrics were brilliant. I also love the Audrey look of the 50's, but I have a hard time pulling it off.

 

[Lillemor]

Early '40s for me -- tailored and practical, with a minimum of frou-frou. It's impossible to chuck out a disorderly patron when one is wearing frou-frou.

lol I loved that!

I mainly wear 50s retro but I checked 20s because I like the 1920s dresses by themselves and not in relation to how they may look on a 4'10"ft 33-25½-34 frame. I generally prefer the make-up, accessories, jewelry, shoes and coats from the 1920s over the other decades too. I know that hub prefers how the 50s styles emphasize my shape though.

I'm passionate about historical clothing from many different eras but anything pre- 20th Cent. would be pretty difficult to wear on a daily basis.

 

[Helysoune]

Gimme the early 40s, the war years all the way. Creative use of limited fabric, nice natural waistlines, flattering hem lengths, a minimum of what LizzieMaine said - frou-frou. Plus curls and victory rolls are the best hairstyle I've EVER worn. EVER. The style just fits me well and I tend to get a lot of compliments on it.

 

[Marzipan]

Spanx!

If you can't find a vintage girdle that fits well (like me) try Spanx. They're very comfy and will suck you in just as well.
I'm on the lookout for a bullet bra right now and have my eye on one from What Katie Did. Hopefully this will make the 50's look really come alive... though sometimes I wish I was doing a 40's year so I could act like Rosalind Russell!

 

[Miss_Bella_Hell]

If you can't find a vintage girdle that fits well (like me) try Spanx. They're very comfy and will suck you in just as well.
I'm on the lookout for a bullet bra right now and have my eye on one from What Katie Did. Hopefully this will make the 50's look really come alive... though sometimes I wish I was doing a 40's year so I could act like Rosalind Russell!

There is NO WAY Spanx suck you in as well as a girdle! They'll smooth ya but not cinch ya like a girdle! IMHO anyway

 

[MissAmelina]

I know....I want to *be* Rosalind Russell.

I wonder what creative frock she was wearing under this....

And yes, I agree....Spanx smooth, but don't shape as well. In fact, they throw my proportions off a wee bit.....my 39-30-40 is squished into less of an hourglass....and I just can't have that! Well....it works for some of the 40's slim-hipped stuff, I guess.

 

[Naama]

1920s all the way - but that's not news! I love both the teens into early 20s style dresses - the sheer exoticism, romance and whimsy of the styles, coupled with those fantastic headdresses of bandeaux, Kokoshniks etc. And for a different look, I love the sharper, more Deco lines of the second half of the decade. The intricate bead, sequin and embroidery work, the fabrics, the sheer wittiness of some of the dresses...and then the elegant, simple chic of others.

So my choice is more from pure aesthetics than from what necessarily is my best body type (with my height and broad shoulders, I should probably lean more to the 30s).

Me too! I mean, I can be glad, I somehow have just the right body for the 20's (I have no waist really, even though I'm not skinny, I'm not curvy really...)

Oh, and I have also rather broad shoulders, but I think that's also good for a 20's look, don't you think? I don't like the 30's too much on me, because I think it makes me look ridicioulus since it looks like I have no hips at all and with the broad shoulders, I feel like I look like a guy in a dress lol



Naama