Glamour? Or Down To Earth Reality

[Folly]

I was inspired to start this thread from a post by missjoeri in the seamed stockings thread.

I like portraying the more common woman at events and during my daily life, too many people have been bitten by the glamour bug and walk around like hollywood moviestars, even at wartime events.

At the forties events I go to, which are very much based around WWII, I see a lot of women in uniform, but then there are the civilians. I notice how very English I look compared to some of these women, who are draped in furs and their altogether American garb.

Afterward, when I show pictures of myself, I'm told how very authentic I look, how I remind people of their grandmother back in the day. I'm frequently approached by elderly women who say how I remind them of themselves sixty years ago and elderly gentlemen say "I remember you - from 1940!"

I feel very glam but at the end of the day I'm wearing a simple (though not very simple to make) home made dress and plain black day gloves lugging a wicker shopping basket. I see many women with fur stoles, glamourous hats that look entirely American, with matching bags and glamourous gloves and expensive looking suits. My hair is simply pinned back and my make up is nothing more than red lipstick and I must admit, I do wear nylon seamed stockings (there are enough spivs to be found )But it seems that overall, Hollywood ideals have definitely bitten these women.

So, how do you prefer to adorn yourselves? Hollywood glamour? Or down to earth every day wear?

 

[GOK]

Interesting question Folly.

When I did dark age re-enactment and living history, I was always an 'ordinary' character as this afforded me the opportunity to do many things a higher ranking person wouldn't be able to do (medicine, cooking, craftwork etc.). Besides, the everyday life of people in the past is something I find fascinating.

When I've done medieval stuff, it's usually been something that has involved my ancestors (because quite a lot of them did in fact, have something to do with a lot of English history), so I've tended to stick to my lineage and play noble characters....simply because I know a lot about them!

If I were to do 'modern' historical re-enactment/living history, I would be an ordinary person, doing everyday things, wearing less than glammy clothing.

In my everyday life I see no reason why my vintage (authentic or repro) should be any different to my (somewhat limited) non-vintage attire. I don't do dowdy or ordinary! lol (Absolutely no offence meant or implied there, ladies)

I was first attracted to the GE by the glamour. Glamour was the reason I began making clothes in the first place. If I wanted to look the same as everyone else, I'd buy my clothes from the High St and not wear scarlet lippy! As it is, I like to be well dressed and well made up. I don't swan around in tiaras and silk pegnoirs but I do want to look good.

Aesthetic plays such a huge role in my life, why should I settle for anything less than glam? My clothing reflects my personality; I am not a feet-firmly-on-the-ground kind of woman. I can be outrageous and bohemian, sensitive and sensual, creative and artistic...and more. I'm more velvet than tweed, more stiletto than stack, more satin than sackcloth. This is me, who I am, what I am. So unless I'm portraying a fictional or historical character, I will be one of those women at a social event wearing swanky threads - not because I am trying to create an illusion but because that is who I am. Every day of my life.

(Says the person whose avatar shows her looking somewhat plain! lol )

 

[JazzBaby]

I think simple day dresses can look as pretty and glamourous as the full shebang with furs and wraps etc. Once you've completed the whole ensemble with hair and make-up it still looks ten times as glamourous as any modern 'casual' look (or even a modern dressy look). I'm a bit of a tomboy to be honest, and prefer a boyish 1920's look when I'm mucking about at home (tweed blazer, cropped trousers, flat cap & argyle socks...yes it looks as funny as it sounds!), so for me a simple shirt dress with a full skirt is as glamourous as an evening gown. Then again, I always have imacculate vintage hair and make-up so...

Although I've always wanted to go the whole hog in a 1940s suit with fur stole and matching hat & gloves. Then again, who wouldn't love that?!lol

 

[Fleur De Guerre]

Mostly, I find the very effort of wearing vintage puts you leagues ahead of most people on the street in terms of glamour. Like you say Folly, just wearing a dress with gloves and stockings means glamour, you don't have to be decked out in fur and hats. But for special events a lot of women *did* do the glamour thing, just look at the photos I posted of my granny at Buckingham Palace towards the end of the war - she was wearing her best fur coat, matching hat and kelly bag had her hair all curled and styled. She was a hair dresser and was fascinated by the Hollywood glamour so she emulated it when she could. I'd say a forties event would count as a special occasion today, so getting your best gear out seems like the right thing to do, at least to me.

For me personally, who tries to look vintage most of the time, I live in little high street blouses with vintage skirts and repro blue jeans, cardigans and high waisted trousers. But for a special do I go more glamorous because not only is it sooo much fun, when would I wear it otherwise?

 

[Folly]

Indeed yes, I think even a plain dress is glam when teamed with gloves and heels and a hat .. the very idea of setting foot outside in what I see so many people wearing, really bothers me. Sports gear as every day wear? Oooh, no thank you!

I opted out of going for the Women's Land Army uniform because I wanted to look as glam as I was able, being that I was portraying an ordinary person during WWII. Vanity stepped in then, I must admit I do love the American look mind you, but I prefer to portray the reality of the situation I would have actually been in, even if my hat is from Harrods lol

 

[Folly]

Mostly, I find the very effort of wearing vintage puts you leagues ahead of most people on the street in terms of glamour. Like you say Folly, just wearing a dress with gloves and stockings means glamour, you don't have to be decked out in fur and hats.

It's the effort that shows through. Pulling on a mini dress to me, just isn't glamour, it's all the trimmings in my opinion, that create the glamour. caring is a big step in looking glamourous.

 

[JazzBaby]

.. the very idea of setting foot outside in what I see so many people wearing, really bothers me. Sports gear as every day wear? Oooh, no thank you!

Amen sister - if I see another hot pink velour tracksuit this week...:rage: lol
Even worse are the girls who go to my college, and walk around in the depths of winter (in the rain more often than not) wearing denim miniskirts and...FLIP FLOPS. I kid you not. Give me a sultry Bacall style trench anyday!

 

[LizzieMaine]

I dress like a simple working-class gal with a '40s aesthetic, because that's what I am. It's the background I come from, and it's the life I know. And yet, as Fleur says, the mere act of wearing a dress every day is counted as something outre and glamourous by some people nowadays -- I certainly don't mind the compliments, but they do strike me as rather humorous when I'm wearing a cotton housedress and sensible shoes....

Once or twice a year I'll do myself up Hollywood, for a special event at the theatre, and it's a lot of fun -- but I do feel "costumed" in a way I never do when I'm wearing my everyday wardrobe. While I can do the look, I've never quite gotten the handle on the glamourous persona to go with it!

 

[TheKitschGoth]

I'm glamour all the way

I nodded all the way through reading GOK's post.

Whether I'm in vintage or not, I always try to be glamourous, even if the event/situation doesn't call for it. (who am I kidding? Especially if the event doesn't call for it!) I like luxury, and do my best to achieve it on a limited budget, anyways.. I look dull when I'm not all glammed up, and I can't have that.

 

[Folly]

Amen sister - if I see another hot pink velour tracksuit this week...:rage: lol
Even worse are the girls who go to my college, and walk around in the depths of winter (in the rain more often than not) wearing denim miniskirts and...FLIP FLOPS. I kid you not. Give me a sultry Bacall style trench anyday!

It's the fact that they call them yoga pants that annoys me .. try and dress it up all they want, but at the end of the day - it's a tracksuit!
Ah yes, the delights of flip flops. The last time I wore those was when I was little and at the beach.

I saw a fashion article that stated all these flip flop wearers were getting claw feet No pain, no gain, it's heels all the way here, I don't want claw feet thank you very much lol

And don't even get me started on frayed denim mini skirts .....

 

[Miss Sis]

It depends on what you are doing, in my opinion.

When you are doing 'Living History', what are you trying to portray? Our group does British WW2 Civilian. We do different scenarios all the time. Sometimes it's everyday, ARP, WVS. Other times we do events in the City of London and then we might wear our smartest suits or dress uniforms. Summer or Winter? I have baked in the middle of summer in a cotton frock, sandals and WVS wrapper and beret (until I got so hot I had to take the beret off) and frozen in a Winter Suit with a fur jacket at a Railway event.

It is a bit of a joke amongst us that some people will wear their fur regardless of the weather or situation.

Then we also do 1930s. Again, it depends on the event. We tend to dress a little 'posher' for that because we are portraying the Upper classes most of the time. The exception was when I was the maid!

For dances then I feel you can dress in a more glamourous way if you want. I still tend to dress in a more 'British' way than American. I just like the style.

 

[Folly]

I dress like a simple working-class gal with a '40s aesthetic, because that's what I am. It's the background I come from, and it's the life I know. And yet, as Fleur says, the mere act of wearing a dress every day is counted as something outre and glamourous by some people nowadays -- I certainly don't mind the compliments, but they do strike me as rather humorous when I'm wearing a cotton housedress and sensible shoes....

Once or twice a year I'll do myself up Hollywood, for a special event at the theatre, and it's a lot of fun -- but I do feel "costumed" in a way I never do when I'm wearing my everyday wardrobe. While I can do the look, I've never quite gotten the handle on the glamourous persona to go with it!

Do you find that dressing in a more glamourous manner makes you change the way you act automatically? If I paint my nails red, I become very aware of my hands and start acting incredibly theatrical, hehe! If I wear heels, I swear I walk differently .. put me in a long satin dress and I can't help but wonder how I would start to act lol

 

[Folly]

It depends on what you are doing, in my opinion.

So true! This is why at the forties events, I wear ordinary clothes as I'm standing on the platform of a small town train station.

 

[TheKitschGoth]

Do you find that dressing in a more glamourous manner makes you change the way you act automatically? If I paint my nails red, I become very aware of my hands and start acting incredibly theatrical, hehe! If I wear heels, I swear I walk differently .. put me in a long satin dress and I can't help but wonder how I would start to act lol

Heels do change the way you walk, they shift your balance and make your hips move more. Unless, of course, you wear heels that are too high for you, then you just look awkward :s (yep, it's a pet hate of mine)

 

[Folly]

Heels make me very conscious of how I look. They correct your posture and then force you to slow down .. there really should be incidental music playing as I sway through crowds lol

 

[Fletch]

Glamour ain't all that: a male perspective

I can be outrageous and bohemian, sensitive and sensual, creative and artistic...and more. I'm more velvet than tweed, more stiletto than stack, more satin than sackcloth. This is me, who I am, what I am. [...] (Says the person whose avatar shows her looking somewhat plain! )

Plain? You? Put you down in Greenwich Village, 1949, with that look and you'd be crashing Sky Top taxis into lamp posts from Washington Square to 7th Avenue.

I'm a bit of a tomboy to be honest, and prefer a boyish 1920's look when I'm mucking about at home (tweed blazer, cropped trousers, flat cap & argyle socks...yes it looks as funny as it sounds!)

Tomboys fascinate some men. A pretty 20s/30s style TB might be my downfall - especially if she could recycle some of my old size 38 suits.

I dress like a simple working-class gal with a '40s aesthetic, because that's what I am. [...] I certainly don't mind the compliments, but they do strike me as rather humorous when I'm wearing a cotton housedress and sensible shoes....

Do they really think you're all dolled up? Maybe you stir something in people's collective unconscious. A vision of comfy domesticity they never knew.

In a world of glitz and gloss and neverending merchandising, a woman of down-to-earth style is a treasure.

 

[JazzBaby]

Tomboys fascinate some men. A pretty 20s/30s style TB might be my downfall - especially if she could recycle some of my old size 38 suits.

Send them over!lol I might get paint on them though

 

[Fletch]

Send them over!lol I might get paint on them though

We can barter if you'll paint me something...what do you paint?

 

[JazzBaby]

I do portraits of people in charcoal, which come out quite well but then I have an overwhelming desire to paint them afterwards (which I'm bad at, hence also painting my clothes) and ruin them.

So I either need to practice or stick to charcoals. Or cultivate some new paint-streaked fashion trend lol

 

[Sunny]

I haven't been to any events (yet); my vintage clothes are simply part of my everyday wardrobe. I wear whatever I feel like. Today, for example, I'm wearing a modern sweater knit dress (NOT wrap) with a very modern-styled cardigan, but I'm also wearing girdle, seamless nylons, black suede round-toe pumps with bows, and elbow-length gloves (outside the guilding).

I really enjoy dressing up with the glamour. But for me, it's all about appropriateness. If I have an event where Hollywood style is appropriate, I'm going to be sad since I don't have the outfit for it. lol But most of the time I'm trying for the classy working girl look.

My biggest influence is my own reenacting experience, in the American Civil War. Event-appropriateness is a huge concern. I have an event in the backwoods of northern Louisiana in March. Working class is the only impression for that environment, and I'm going to be careful not to be too dressed up. For example, the green wool I posted in the "Pricey Hobbies" thread won't be appropriate. And it's not an elaborate dress by any means.

I'll love to be glamourous if the situation calls for it. At work, I'm classy without austerity. At home... let's just say, as soon as I finish sewing CW shirts for my brothers, I need to do some housedress construction. lol