Ralph Lauren fully embracing the 1920s trend for the season, in anticipation of Baz Luhrman’s The Great Gatsby…
Fantasy flappers! Oh my! And check out the half-moon manicures, back in 2005 before they were all the rage…
Charlotte Fiell’s latest compilation has just been released today: Fashion Sourcebook of the 1920s! I’m guessing this will be a gorgeous sourcebook for original images of twenties fashions. I want this now! But I can’t buy it until February when I move to London (and therefore have a bookshelf to put it in!). Oh well, you kids can buy it now at Amazon.com. Here’s the blurb:
Saucy flappers and manic Charlestons, dramatic silent movies and the bigband euphoria of early jazz: the 1920s must surely rank amoung the most dashing eras in American styles history, and this volume documents in ravishing detail the clothing that helped make the decade so stylish and glamorous. Sumptuously illustrated with more than 600 original photographs, drawings and prints, Fashion Sourcebook 1920s focuses largely on the Art Deco period, with its beautiful beaded dresses, cloche hats and t-bar shoes as worn by the fahsionable flappers and the “bright young things” of the time. Hemlines and haircuts both became drastically shorter, mirroring the changing social roles: at the decade’s outset, women gained the right to vote and Prohibition led many otherwise law abiding Americans to break the law of the land rather than abandon their gin fizzes. This title will prove an indispensable reference work not only for students of fashion but for all fashionistas seeking ideas for the major themes within fashion during this period, surveying its most famous designers and assessing their creative contributions. A cornucopia of beautiful clothes with exquisite detailing, this book is a rich source of inspiration as well as an important survey of Art Deco fashion.
John Galliano chooses theme after theme for his menswear collections that I love love love! Fall 2006 was aviation, Spring 2006 had New Orleans and jazzmen, and now for Spring 2011 it was epic show themed on silent movie stars like Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd. Look at this!
Watch the full show, it’s a fabulous spectacle:
Categories: Men's Fashion, On CatwalksCarl Erickson (1891 – 1958) was an American fashion and advertising illustrator from the 1910s through to the 1940s. At the peak of his career, he signed his work “Eric” and was known by this name. He worked a great deal for Vogue in the 1930s and 40s. He had a reputation for being obsessively hardworking. He only ever sketched from live models. For each illustration that appeared in a magazine, he had made dozens of studies. And he was known for bringing his sketchbook with him everywhere he went – to the restaurant, to the theatre – and capturing the elegance he saw around him.
Chloe Memisevic in Donna Karan by Yasunari Kikuma for Numéro Tokyo November 2011
For me, as a vintage clothing collector and wearer, old clothing catalogues are must have as they are gold-mines of imagery and info. Part of recreating a vintage look is understanding how an outfit was put together back in the day, and old catalogues are the best way to find this out.
The clothes people bought to wear to work, around the house, for vacations or for more formal or glamourous occasions are all to be found in Sears catalogues. Dresses, hats, shoes, purses and scarves, jewellery and stockings. These books are a wonderful record of exactly what people wore in the 20s, 30s and 40s and HOW they wore it. It can be hard to source original catalogues these days and most go for a fortune on ebay, so these three “Everyday Fashions” books from Dover Publications are great resource and not too expensive. I use them all the time as a reference. They are available from Amazon.com
I stumbled across this photo of Cheryl Cole in a golden gown on the X-Factor. It reminded me of some photos of vintage starlets in metallic gowns I have set aside over the years. Amongst the beauties here we have Ginger Rogers, Jean Harlow, Baba Beaton, Rita Hayworth, Eleanor Powell, Nancy Coleman, Veronica Lake, Myrna Loy, Carol Hughes and Delores Del Rio. Wow, I need something like this…
This is a book I bought myself for Christmas. It covers fashion history from the 18th century to the 20th century, with glossy photographs of the collection held by the Kyoto Costume Institute in Japan. The book has been out for a while, but oh my, if you don’t own it yet, go out and buy it immediately! So much inspiration for any swing fashionista, the kind of clothes that are so beautiful it makes my chest ache. The Poiret, the Schiaparelli, the Chanel, oh god the Vionnet! The Vionnet, people! Now I want desperately to visit the Kyoto Costume Institute. A holiday to Japan anyone?
Seriously folks, this book is sheer fashion heaven. It is definitely now one of the favourites in my collection. You can buy it here on Amazon. Enjoy!
Gasp! I must right this wrong immediately! One of my all-time favourite shows:
Sarah Mower on Style.com:
Categories: On CatwalksIn a way, it was a classic: combining the indelible fifties inspiration of Lisa Fonssagrives, Dior mannequin and wife of Irving Penn, and that of the new model of French conservative chic, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy. Those two streams of thought merged into a collection John Galliano called “fresh couture—restrained and refined.” If it didn’t exactly result in 100 percent conventionality (there were plenty of sheer skirts and fetishistic patent belts that might not work at a political summit), the happy fact that the first lady of France has chosen to dress at Dior gave Galliano full rein to revel in the realms of glamour the house established 60 years ago.
The templates were all there: big coats, wasp waists, nipped jackets, circle skirts, tulle dance dresses, architectural gowns cut from spiraling lace and jutting scrolls of crin. Mostly framed in black and white, with tints of gray, caramel, Parma violet, mint, and chartreuse to follow, the shapes traced familiar silhouettes—albeit a familiarity shot through with Galliano’s irrepressible touches of perversity. A nod to Dior’s New Look peplum became a stiff patent hip-jutting belt with cross-lacing in the back, and a knowing acknowledgment of the basis of the hourglass silhouette came in a couple of see-through gowns with the corsetry fully on display. Still, this was Christian Dior very much under control and within the scope of reality. Add some lingerie and take off the belts, and it’s no stretch at all to imagine Madame Sarkozy finding plenty here to wow the world in her demure manner, come fall.
This is the Savile Row bespoke tailor that dressed the likes of Fred Astaire, Rudolph Valentino, Charlie Chaplin, Noel Coward, Sir Laurence Olivier and Duke Ellington. They recently celebrated their 100th anniversary, and over their century of dressing the British upper-class and the American movie star, have managed to maintain their classic elegance like good British chaps. If you happen to be in London, do visit… if you can gather enough pomp to walk through those doors.
I’m guessing a lot of you know my friend Sara Deckard, or have seen her in some YouTube clip or other, killing it like Josephine Baker in a Charleston battle or swinging out just like Ann Johnson. Well, I bet you didn’t know she has her own jewelery line and handmakes the most gorgeous vintage-style beaded jewelery! Visit her shop Salt Peanuts on Etsy and add it to your favorites too!
Here’s her blurb:
My name is Sara Deckard and I am a Jazz baby.
I love everything about the Jazz era; the music, the dancing, and the fashion. I’ve been making jewelry since my eighth birthday, when my mother bought me a bunch of supplies as a gift. So, it was only a matter of time before the two collided.
I discovered bead embroidery and found it to be the perfect medium for creating pieces that look just like my grandmother’s. I really hope to get going on a number of other projects soon, including hair pieces, hats, gloves and vintage-style dresses.
Visit my Facebook page and become a fan! Fans receive exclusive coupons, previews, and info on special events.
Ahh, so talented! A dancer and an artist, and drop-dead gorgeous with legs up to her armpits, if only we could all be so lucky! And my favourite thing about this chick – she swings out in her vintage. Gotta love that!
Categories: AccessoriesSwoon…
As promised, here are some images of the real King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (yes, that is the Queen Mother who passed away in 2002, mother of our current Queen Elizabeth II). There are some photos of them in the 1920s, before Edward abdicated and George was forced to take the throne (at that time they were called the Duke & Duchess of York), through to photos of them in war-ravaged London in the early 1940s. I believe the latest photo is 1951 (she is wearing a ballgown, crown and white furs).
The LIFE photograph is of a very young Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, before she married George (she was Scottish nobility). In another photo you might notice Eleanor Roosevelt standing between King George VI and Queen Elizabeth – this was during an inspection of English war conditions in 1942. The photo of the King & Queen, with two young princesses, waving on the balustrade, is VE Day (8 May 1945), announcing and celebrating the end of the war. On the left that is Princess Elizabeth (now our Queen), in military uniform.
Well, The King’s Speech is the Golden Globe favourite (which makes it an Academy Award favourite too, of course), with seven nominations. I can’t wait to see it – I adore Colin Firth, Helena Bonham Carter and Geoffrey Rush, how could it not be wonderful? And the story! All us Swing Fashionistas know about Edward VIII, who abdicated to marry the American divorce, Wallis Simpson (since he was such a style icon for the 1920s and 30s, and besides, oh what a love tale!). But I certainly never knew this side of George VI and the Queen Mother’s story. When my mum explained it to me the other day I was very touched. This should be wonderful!
Anyway, plenty of fashion to admire. I’ll post some images of the real King and Queen, who Colin Firth and Helena Bonham Carter are depicting, since I can see the film is aiming to be historically accurate.
So I was procrastinating a few days ago, browsing vintage dresses on eBay with no intention of buying (no seriously, I went on a November shopping spree, so no more this year!). And I got to thinking about the photographs of vintage clothing for sale online. What a resource! When somebody sells a vintage dress online, they photograph the dress from all angles, with closeups of details and embellishments – they show more detail in those photos than most costume museum archives! It’s an amazing historic record. Plus, so many of these dresses are one of a kind, or at least, the last of their kind.
But the photos are online only as long as the item is for sale, and given that it’s changing hands to a new owner, it may never be seen again! Once the listing is deleted, that photographic record is lost to us! Sitting there, I had a terrible panic that we were losing a valuable resource, oh my word! And proceeded to nab as many photos of the 1920-1940s dresses listed as I could. So yeah, an hour later…
Anyway, what do you think? I’ve always liked to post the lovely vintage things I see on eBay and Etsy, here on SwingFashionista. That way, even if none of us get to buy them, we can still enjoy the pictures, get inspired by the style, and maybe even use them as a reference for making our own. And well after the original listing is gone and the item has headed on to its new owner. But now I feel like I’m on a mission!
What are your thoughts? Want to join my mission? Do you have that same photo-saving habit I do? Do you have a folder on your desktop, filled with photos of pretty things from the glorious internet? So why not start your own blog? Or send them to me and I’ll always post any gathered photos of original 1920s – 1950s fashions here on SwingFashionista. Drop a comment if you have a thought!
Oh yeah, and to satisfy, here are some of those photos 
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