Vinspiration Tuesday! 1940s Wedding?

I haven't gotten anything done this week! The endless phone calls to family members, friends and soon to be in laws have taken up most of our nights. On top of that apparently when you get engaged everyone wants to see you which is awfully sweet. I feel like a princess with people asking me about how my Fiance (formally my Beau) proposed, asking to see the ring, and sending us their well wishes.

There's also the matter of planning a wedding! Holy cow! The engagement was a bit of a surprise for me and I'll admit I did not have one bit of my wedding planned in advance. My Mama and Maid of Honor (aka Sister) have got me thinking about colors, bridesmaid dresses and themes. I'm not sure on any of those things, but you can be sure I'll be pushing for a vintage feel like this.

Just kidding! Though my Southern Man Fiancé tells me he's been to three Gone with the Wind Weddings where the wedding party was in full regalia. He denies it, but I think he secretly wants this type of wedding. The man is descended from the first Governor of GA, two signers of the Confederate Constitution and many many Confederate officers. Me on the other hand? My ancestors were pretty much all poor farmers in the mountains of New York and Pennsylvania. I'm marring up in society!

I'm still in shock from the whole thing. I almost don't believe that this is really happening. So in honor of all the wedding craziness today I am posting some Wedding Vinspiration. As I browsed the historical photo archives I couldn't help but be drawn the gowns of the 1940s. They're so glamorous and so Hollywood. These are the gowns I really would like to emulate on my big day.

I love this dress from 1941. The lacy overlay and the long flowing train! It also has sleeves, which I love in a wedding dress. The strapless look just doesn't do it for me. The cascading bouquets are so elegant as well. The veil is a bit much for me, but perfect for her. She looks lovely!

This photo was shot in 1940, but the dress was actually originally worn for a wedding in 1928. The long simple veil with the lace edging is so pretty and delicate. It's definitely a formal gown, but it's not stuffy. The gown itself has a beautiful bodice and I love the simple long sleeves. I'm also in love with the delicate, but not overly done lace around the neck line.

A gown from 1943. Long veils really seem to the the style of this age. Hats on Bridesmaid's are also very popular. Does this dress remind you a bit of the 1990s? Designers of the 90s were certainly pulling from this time period. Again I love the cascading bouquet, but I much prefer the bouquets of Image #1. Still Image #1 was early in the war, this wedding happened mid-WWII. If you know the story behind the photo the look seems to make more sense. I pulled this bit of info from the Australian War Memorial Collection's Flickr Page.

"The wedding dress was purchased second hand by the bride's mother because the family could not assemble enough coupons under wartime rationing to buy a new one. The bridesmaid wore a dress that she had previously worn when bridesmaid to another bride pre-rationing restrictions." 

Nifty piece of history there.

This is totally my wedding day makeup look right here. I just love it! She looks so pretty, the perfect image of a blushing bride. This image is from a McCall cover circa 1942. It was shot by our good friend Nicholas Muray. I love her soft pink cheeks, her perfect red lips, and her chocolate eyeshadow. The fresh flower on the center of her head is a bit weird, but I'll let it go for now. You can also get a clear view of the nail polish style of the day in this photo. Only the center of the nail was painted leaving an unpainted crescent at the top of the nail and another unpainted crescent near the cuticle area. Loving the peachy pink shade of the polish.

Those shoes! This photo is only fueling my need for a pair of strappy white shoes! This dress is very different from the long flowing gowns, but a much better example of the post-war wedding gown. This image was taken in 1946. My grandmother's dress was tea length and similar to this one. I'm loving the lace sleeves.

So hope you enjoyed today's vintage goodness. I'm still gushing over Image #5's shoes. I also want to apologize for not commenting on all your blogs over the weekend. Everything should be getting back up to speed this week.

Vinspiration Tuesday Goodness and some ARRRG

Vinspiration Tuesday is here again! And today is 1930s Day! In color! There absolutely was color photography in the 1930s. It was primitive and outrageously expensive at the time, but it did exist. The photos I'm sharing today are mostly from Print Ads. I borrowed the images from George Eastman House's online collection. They are all by Nicholas Muray, a great american advertising photographer. These are some of his earlier works. He later goes on to take some AMAZING photographs in the 1940s which I may do a Vinspiration Tuesday on later, but what we're all interested in today is the 1930s fashion! So away we go.

Starting off today we have an image that's just perfect for summer. Yes, yes, smoking in the picture. Just ignore the cigarette. It's the 1930s alright?  Instead enjoy her adorable swim cap. Do you think those leaves and petals are made out of rubber like the cap? Probably. I am also gushing over her cute yellow knit swim suit. I haven't run across many 1930s swim suit photos or patterns so I'm not completely sure what this would look like out of the water, but it's just darling in this photo! The photo was taken in 1936.

Another Camel Ad. Apparently it's from Camel Cigarett's "Magic Campaign, Fun to See - More Fun to Know, 1931" Not quite sure what is going on here other than the fact that there are belly dancers dancing in a box full of broken glass? What? Well, much more interesting than the dancers are the frocks! I love Miss Red Floral Print on the far right with her smart red cardigan. A close second favorite is Miss Green Frock in the back towards the left. She has a fabulous belted minty green print dress with scarf accent. Yummy. And the hats! Wow, those hats just make me swoon all over. Pink hat in the front is my absolute favorite lady's hat, but Miss Haughty Red Scarf to the right has a darling tan hat with dark band. Beau would look fantastic in the men's hat to the far right there, between Miss Red and Miss Haughty.

This one I picked especially for the Vintage Baroness. How fashionable is this lady? Be still my beating heart! The image's name is "Lucky Strike Girl 1936." (Sensing a theme with these photos yet? I told you the process was expensive and rare.) This dress might be one of the most fabulous 30s outfits of all time. I'm head over heels for the flowy blouse with red triangular detail. Her matching hat and gloves are to die for! I wondered to myself if her outfit might be couture, but after looking at the image further I think she's just highly fashionable... times 3. 

And now we enter the land of "what the heck are you wearing, Joan?" She looks like she should be leaving for marching band practice. Still I suppose that Joan Crawford was a very fashionable lady in 1939 so she must have known what she was doing. Her outfit is another great example of cyclic fashion. Don't you think this would look right at home in a 1970s magazine? Or even a 1980s one with those shoulder pads. So you can probably all look forward to wearing this look in the future.

This is a photo of Bertha Case taken in 1932. I'm not sure if this is the Bertha Case, American artist or just someone named Bertha Case. I was only able to find one photo of the Bertha Case on the internet to compare this with, but that photo had been taken in the 1910s and it was hard to tell. I'm leaning towards this actually being her because it is a color print from the 1930s. I am very much enjoying her elegant gloves with the scalloped edging and her hat. Bows nowadays seem to make hats very childish, but this hat is nothing but tasteful. 

And lastly the beautiful Marlene Dietrich in her wispy evening gown circa 1935. Marlene was just so gorgeous, truely one of the timeless beauties. She always looked a little miffed in her photos, but that was her style. Not my favorite dress of today for sure, but it's certainly interesting and dare I say- racy? I wish I knew what the fabric of that dress was. It reminds me a bit of chalk lines on a paper bag. Anyone else have any ideas?

So there's your Vinspiration for the week and now for the Ruby Shorts and rest of Nancy's life update...

Sooooooo, it is one thing after another around here. Today as I was snapping some pictures of my newly completed right Pink Ruby leg my Point-and-Click camera decided to call it quits. My first thought? Needs new battery, so I popped the battery out and plugged the camera into the wall. This worked for like a second, then the camera took some weird grainy liney pictures and decided to DIE on me. I can't even get it to suck its lense back in...

So instead of showing you my nifty button holes (thanks to my awesome automatic button-hole attachment) you get these grainy cellphone pictures. Enjoy... if you can.

Yes, that is my bathroom. Yes those are my cleaning supplies. Yes those are my panties for all the world wide web to see.

I also had some photos of the nice fit I've somehow managed to achieve despite all the troubles people have been having with the Rubys, but you don't get those. They're on the dead camera. And yes, I am wearing a shirt, I pulled it up to take the photos.

So one leg down, the other should go together fairly quickly now that I know what to expect. I don't think anyone from this sew-a-long (SAL?) has actually finished their shorts.The Rubys are definitely a beast, but I hope well worth it. BurdaStyle seems to like to take the simplest directions and twist them around so it seems insanely difficult. These shorts really are not too bad, once you can translate the pattern. I know Purple Rubys will be a breeze now that I know what the pattern means to say. Lisette has an ongoing translation over at her blog Vintage or Bust.