Easter Sunday’s New Look
I hope you all had a lovely Easter weekend, dear readers, wherever you are. If you are located in Canada, or many other parts of the Northern Hemisphere, you might just have experienced what I did this last weekend: SNOW! Yes, we got a snowstorm last Thursday, and it didn’t let up until Saturday night. I was glad when Sunday dawned bright and clear but, alas, the sun was not warm enough to melt all of the snow away, and we still have snow covered ground out there. All of my visions of Easter bonnets, and flowers, and easter egg hunts and just Spring in general, were quite hopelessly dashed! My visions of a lovely Easter photo set outdoors, were also dashed as well! I didn’t feel like doing supposedly “Spring” photos in a snowdrift! (Especially as last year was so sunny and bright . . . )
So, in order to avert a small blogger crisis, I decided to take a page from Vogue, and many other photo shoots of years-gone-by, and create a set in the living room (by literally moving all of the furniture, opening doors, putting pins in the wall and generally tearing apart everything in sight. . . don’t worry- it’s back in order now). This minimalist backdrop (aka: a white bed sheet) worked out fine in a pinch, and as this outfit is rather “New Look” in style, it lent itself well to the very minimal background and gave me a chance to try out some fun 1950’s poses. Most of these poses are based off of Vogue covers from the 1950’s, or other famous poses (such as Dior’s bar suit)
I originally planned to wear something bright and colourful and well. . . “Springy” for Easter Sunday, however, that didn’t happen. Of all the days in the year, Easter Sunday is the day when you just have to wear an Easter Bonnet, right? Since none of my more colourful dresses had coordinating hats, I decided to forgo the brighter colours in place of a hat and ended up with this cream coloured straw, which is probably my best hat, and this new-to-me vintage dress, which coordinated nicely with the cream tones.
This dress is the one I picked up last fall from the thrift store. It is a true vintage piece, but it desperately needed some work before it was wearable. It is made out of some kind of synthetic material (which creases terribly, I discovered!), some of the dye has faded in places, the bow on the front was rather limp, there were rips under the arms that had been mended very poorly, and the hem was about two inches too short. I was able to bring the side seams in about 1.5″ on each side, to fix the holes, as well as fitting the bodice better, I reshaped the bow, and also let out the hem. I believe that the dress had been hemmed by the previous owner, as the hem was hand sewn- but with three different colours of thread! 🙂 It is too bad that, whoever she was, she trimmed her hem, as I wish that there had been one more inch to let down. It turned out rather nicely though, despite not having that extra inch in length.
After I had let down the hem and altered the dress, I realized that what the dress really needed was a petticoat, in order for it to hang right- as well as giving that nice “New Look” silhouette. I didn’t have a petticoat that worked with the dress, though, as mine was much too full to wear with it, so two days before Easter Sunday, I got the crazy idea to start “Operation: Save The Petticoat”. I managed to alter my existing one – in the process sewing 17 yards of netting into submission – and finished it just in time. (ps. I will have a post in the future about how I altered the petticoat.)
It was rather fun to wear such a recognizably vintage outfit like this on Sunday- with the hat, shoes, purse, gloves and full skirt. I don’t usually go all out like this, and instead wear more “vintage inspired” outfits on a day to day basis. It was kind of nice to break that mold and do something new- or rather – should I say “old”? 😉
Did you get snow for Easter this year? Do you like to wear an “Easter Bonnet”? And do you like to dress in a more recognizable “vintage” styles, or do you dress in a vintage/modern hybrid – or do you even dress in vintage at all?
Outfit Details:
Dress: Vintage
Hat: Vintage
Purse: Thrifted
Jewellery: Gifted and thrifted
Gloves: Vintage
Belt: Vintage
Shoes: Gabor
April 18, 2017 @ 9:52 am
I do like the attention to poses you paid here, it works a treat! That’s a lovely dress, I’ve actually seen that pattern before somewhere.
April 18, 2017 @ 9:18 pm
Thanks Porcelina! It’s always a lot of fun to do “vogue” poses 🙂 This dress was actually store bought, at least it has a size tag sewn in, but I have seen a similar vintage pattern before too with kimono sleeves like it.
April 18, 2017 @ 12:43 pm
What a beautiful outfit, Nicole. You did a great job! to get this polished look.
April 18, 2017 @ 9:18 pm
Thanks so much Annabelle! It was fun to do 🙂
April 19, 2017 @ 1:41 am
What a dress and what a fabulous set of photos! I am impressed that you turned your front room into a studio! Kx
April 19, 2017 @ 10:53 pm
The house was rather a disaster while we were doing the photos- but it worked well in the end 😉 Thanks for your lovely comment Karen!
April 19, 2017 @ 2:55 am
I agree with Porcelina, your poses are always such fun! I often forget to pay attention to poses but when I do (usually taking the photos not being in them) the effort is worth the results. I should just steal some of yours too 🙂
April 19, 2017 @ 10:54 pm
Definitely steal the poses! They are a lot of fun 🙂 If you are looking for inspiration, I would recommend looking at old fashion magazines- there are some really fun and silly ones out there!
April 19, 2017 @ 7:38 am
No snow; just lots of rain and wind this past week. I can’t say I have any vintage pieces except maybe the ’70s dress I made. I do have a few projects planned. ’50s and ’60s style dresses. I just won’t wear the flary ones on windy days. Thanks for the inspiration. 🙂
April 19, 2017 @ 10:56 pm
It’s been such a cold Spring for everyone it seems- I hope you will be getting some sunshine soon Annabelle!
I love the 70’s- its such a fun era for style. And I would agree- definitely don’t wear the full skirts on windy days- unless you are hoping for a “Marilyn Monroe moment” 😉 haha.
April 19, 2017 @ 11:38 pm
What you’re describing is one of the reasons j don’t dabble much in true vintage – that is some skills to revive a dress like that! And lovely it looks too, so you clearly did a great job. I feel for the previous owner and her dubious hemming talents, we can’t all be good at that stuff…!
April 20, 2017 @ 12:25 pm
True vintage has it’s pros and cons! This one wasn’t too far gone, and fortunately didn’t take too long to fix, but true vintage can definitely be a time consuming thing. That’s why it’s nice that there is repro out there 🙂
April 20, 2017 @ 4:38 pm
You’ve certainly got those vintage Vogue poses down! I love that second one, with your hands just so, but all of them really capture that look.
I think you’ve nailed the “it’s spring, but we just got a mountain of snow, so I’ll nod to what the weather is currently doing while also making my desire for weather that is actually springlike clear” look. 😉 The subtle little flowers on a gray background seem really appropriate, even if it’s not quite an easter bonnet or a pastel!
April 21, 2017 @ 12:18 am
Haha- Thanks Jessica! And I would say that that is pretty much exactly the look I was going for- perfect description! 🙂
April 20, 2017 @ 9:37 pm
hello there Nicole…great post with nice photos!…of course here no snow…but even in the indoor your photos…your outfit make shining your Beauty like the sun…cheers!
April 21, 2017 @ 12:19 am
Thanks so much Aure! It was a fun post to do- and fortunately the past few days have been warm and the snow is all melting away now 🙂
April 28, 2017 @ 9:54 am
Lovely dress, you did a good job on fixing it up. Love all the poses too.
April 28, 2017 @ 10:46 pm
Thanks Kate-Em! The poses were the most fun part 🙂
May 8, 2017 @ 7:33 pm
What a gorgeously classic outfit! I love all of the details.
xoxo
-Janey
May 9, 2017 @ 10:20 am
Thanks Janey! It was a fun outfit to put together.