Apparently today’s 12 isn’t the same as 1950’s 12. Or today’s medium isn’t the same as 1950’s medium.
I have recently gotten into wearing dresses, not a lot, but I’m working on building my collection. Not all styles suit or flatter me, shirt dresses aren’t the best, but when you add a belt, sometimes that helps, maybe a sweater [cardigan] a whole new look. I even wore one for an interview, worked out quite well, didn’t get the job, but I looked appropriate!
So, along with getting into wearing and wanting to wear dresses, I really like the 50’s style dress, sun dress, short sleeve. Fitted on top, short sleeve, wide strap, long sleeve, cinched at the waist and flared skirt, with pockets, there is something about it! I’ve found a few at goodwill, consignment shops. I even found one that looks like Lucille Ball in the Vegemite episode! Dark blue, white polka dots, buttons all the way from the collar to the bottom, belted with white collar and cuffs on the sleeves. It was a size too large, but with a cute white sweater, perfect! I wore it with the best red peep toe shoes [the ladies are feeling me right about now, it’s ok guys!]
So, today I had some time to kill between training sessions and I went to a Goodwill store called Deja Blue, it was nice. http://www.goodwilldenver.org/dejablue/ . They had a good selection, it was a boutique, instead of the “normal” goodwill stores and there were things that were half off the very low prices! I got a blue dress with, I think very light and tiny polka dots, is there a theme? It’s a shirt dress from Banana Republic, I think I paid $8 for, not too shabby.
Their sizes were small in what I was looking at and didn’t have a lot of the dresses I was looking for, and when I told them what I wanted, they told me about a store not far away called Buffalo Exchange, http://www.buffaloexchange.com/, they had a lot more dresses in the style I wanted, but apparently medium today meant TEENY TINY back in the 50s, I could barely get the dresses over my head and if it did, the girls did not comply!
The girl that was helping me did say that sizes were a lot smaller back then. What’s the controversy about Marilyn Monroe? She was a 12 [or was it 14] and she was a goddess, stylized and idolized. I’m a 12/medium, what happened?
Also had trouble finding dresses with pockets, where are the pockets? I might have to cut the seams and add some pockets for myself, assuming I can find the dresses I am looking for!
There are a lot of vintage store in the Denver area, I’ll keep looking, you never know what you’ll find, but I am determined. Also need some peep toe shoes or perfect vintage ballet flats and some white canvas skips, how perfect would that be?
Here are some samples of what I like, pay attention to the dress, not the girl in the dress.
http://www.modcloth.com/shop/dresses/hepcat-dress-in-clover
http://www.modcloth.com/shop/dresses/soda-fountain-dress-in-cola
Peaches Prattlings 