I read a lot of style books from bygone times, including '60s fashion mini-guide by Genevieve Antoine Dariaux, A Guide to Elegance. As someone who loves all the outmoded, outdated fashion "rules" in old magazines and even in movies, I went a step further back in time. These curvy fashion "rules" are sure to make you giggle.
1. Skirt Length: Not Too Short
The Vintage Quote: "For the woman who has large hips we recommend fullness of the material and a skirt that is worn an inch or two longer than the prevailing mode."
The Reality: Well, a full skirt definitely isn't a bad thing for some of us, but neither is a mini! As for length, I usually make mine a little longer because I'm not crazy about the backs of my legs. If you shop at eShakti, you can specify skirt length.
~ The New Course in Fashionable Clothes-Making
2. Patterns: Not Too Bright
The Vintage Quote: "The woman who is stout should remember that solid colors always draw less attention to stoutness than checked, flowered and horizontally striped materials."
The Reality: Weren't we debating this AGAIN last week? Yes, yes we were.
~ The New Course in Fashionable Clothes-Making
3. High-Waisted Looks for All?
In Wikipedia Commons, there's a great little cartoon: "This caricature satirizes the figure-type which is most flattered by high-waisted dresses, contrasting it with a body-type which was not flattered by the style..." Of course, it's completely incorrect...4. It's Not All Bad
The Vintage Quote: "But all of us, whether we are tall or short, stout or slender, have some certain point of beauty and it is our duty to see that the clothes we wear emphasize this 'good point.'"
The Reality: Emphasize the positive is something I live by...
~ The New-Way Course in Millinery and Hat Design (1928)
5. Anti-Vintage Advice: Horizontal Stripes Study
An little addendum: in a study highlighted in the U.K. newspaper The Telegraph, scientist Peter Thompson (University of York) determined that horizontal stripes are not the enemy:
"Horizontal stripes don't make you look fat. The one wearing the vertical stripes looks wider than the one wearing the horizontal stripes. Horizontal stripes, if anything, make you look thinner."
He also said that vertical stripes were more problematic in his survey results.
