vintage fashion

The Costumes Of Testament of Youth: Film Fashion Inspiration

Vera Brittain and Roland Leighton embracing in Testament of Youth

Today I am sharing the costumes of Testament of Youth, one of my favourite period films, in part three of my series of film fashion inspiration! You can read the first two posts, about Miss Potter here and Jane Eyre here. Have you ever seen the 2014 film Testament of Youth starring Alicia Vikander, Kit Harington, Taron Egerton and Colin Morgan? It is set during the Great War of 1914-1918, and based on the memoir by Vera Brittain the British writer, feminist and pacifist who lived from 1893 to 1970. Her memoir chronicles her early adulthood during WWI and the interwar years, capturing the experiences of her generation. While it is an extremely heart wrenching story, it is also beautifully told. The costumes in the film were designed by Consolata Boyle, and I love how they give such an insight into Vera’s character. Here are some of my favourite fashion inspirations from her costumes which span the pre-war to post-war years.

Vera Brittain wearing a blue coat with an embroidered lapel and a matching beret

In her memoir, Vera Brittain speaks of her love for stylish clothing and beautiful fabrics, and she includes passages about her garments and accessories. In this film, unlike the other historical films I’ve shared, the main character has an extensive wardrobe filled with many beautiful pieces, and she doesn’t repeat outfits throughout the film.

Vera’s colour palette consists mainly of blues and pinks, with some adjacent colours of purple and mint. She wears mostly pastel shades before the war, and then those colours darken into navy and burgundy during and after the war.

Vera Brittain wearing an embroidered blouse with intricate details

While Vera wears the more simple and streamlined silhouettes of the early 1910’s (streamlined compared to the decade before) the pieces she wears are extremely intricate, and require a closer look to take in all of the details. Many of her outfits contain embellishments to set them apart, whether it’s embroidery at the neckline or lapel, button placement, bias and straight cut pieced stripes, pin tucks or insets of lace.

Vera Brittain wearing pintucked and pieced blouses

Many of the costumes are extant pieces, which really does give a feeling of historicity to the film. However, her costumes are not stuffy at all, and the elegant silhouettes make the outfits much more “wearable”;  I would love to add pieces like these into my wardrobe!

Vera Brittain wearing a blue skirt, white blouse and periwinkle blue cardigan to write her exam at Oxford

While Vera has chosen the path of academia and a serious career in writing (despite her family’s fears that she will become a “bluestocking”) she does not choose this at the expense of her own personal style. She decries the frumpy and ugly clothing of so many of her fellow students and despite the headmistress scornfully asking a fellow professor, after seeing Vera, whether they are hosting an examination or “a debutante’s ball”, she doesn’t give up her enjoyment of clothing to wear what is deemed serious attire. She is definitely what we would call a fashionista, but proves that you don’t have to stop wearing feminine clothing in order to be smart and ambitious.

Vera Brittain wearing a cardigan and a jumper

That being said, Vera does change to some extent what she wears depending on the season and where she is. She wears darker clothing for the city, the original tailored “academia” aesthetic when she’s in Oxford (with her own fashionable twist) and chooses lightweight and less structured pieces for the country.

Vera Brittain layering knitwear and wool for her outfit at Oxford college

Vera’s outfits also contain a great mix of textures with a wide range of fabrics. She wears a lot of layers, often pairing lighter blouses with interesting knitwear and tailored coats on top. She wears a lot of lovely sweaters, or jumpers as they’d be called in England, and unifies these separates through her choice of accessories and colours to create cohesive ensembles.

Vera trying on several different hats before choosing the one to pair with her pink and lace dress

Vera also loves a good hat, and knows the power of a hat to either make or break your outfit. There is one scene in the film where she tries on several different hats before finally selecting one as the perfect finishing touch to her outfit.

Vera Brittain played by Alicia Vikander wearing two great 1910's hats

A good topper can either complete your outfit, or take centre stage and stand out on it’s own as a statement. She wears both statement hats and more restrained hats throughout the film, depending on the occasion.

Vera wearing a light pink and cream lace dress with a matching hat and shawl at the school graduation

Vera also knows that dressing up for an occasion can make it even more special. During one scene, Vera wears a rather too fancy outfit to an event, raising her mother’s eyebrows, but it elevates the mood and sets the tone for what happens. She knows that it’s better to be overdressed than underdressed, and she’ll never be accused of not being dressed for the occasion. I love this idea; even if there isn’t an occasion to wear your fancy clothes, you can make one!

Vera Brittain VAD uniform

Now that I’ve discussed a lot of the beautiful 1910’s fashions, we come to what Vera wears for the majority of the film: her VAD uniform. Vera left Oxford in 1915 to join the British Voluntary Aid Detachment as a nurse. While we might look at her uniform today and think it looks rather nice compared with modern uniforms, she hated wearing it! Which I can actually understand, as I’ve hated wearing a uniform at past jobs as well, no matter what they were like. Some Volunteers tried to customize their uniforms, which was frowned upon, but there wasn’t really much they could do to personalize it. (Here is an in depth video about the components of the VAD uniforms, by Crows Eye Productions.)

Vera Brittain wearing her VAD uniform on the ward, as well as her outerwear and hat

During this section of the film, Vera leaves most of her personal style to the side, though she still continues to wear some great outerwear and hats; she is able to inject some interest into her outerwear with her berets! The beret is a classic piece for Vera, and she wears them often throughout the film, but I especially love this interesting pleated beret she wears with her VAD outerwear. I’d love to make something like it.

I actually take some inspiration from her wartime costumes too, as keeping separate wardrobes for work and personal time is a great idea.  Even if you aren’t wearing an actual uniform to your job, after a while the clothes you wear to work can start to feel like a uniform, and you won’t really feel like wearing them outside of work. Keeping a small selection of mix and match pieces specifically for your job can make it easier to get dressed in the morning without stress, as well as giving you the chance to save your favourite pieces for when you’re out having fun. Choosing a “uniform” of your own for work can keep the rest of your closet from feeling stagnant, as well as ensuring that you always have a work appropriate outfit ready to go.   

vera brittain wearing her burgundy coat and beret

The latter part of the film, spanning the war and post-war years are understandably a more serious and sombre period, and the costumes are much more subdued. There are a lot of darker colours and pared back ensembles, which reflect the hardships Vera has gone through. Society as a whole, and women’s fashion in particular, changed greatly through the war years, with war jobs and rationing drastically transforming the kinds of clothing that women wore. This film did a great job of capturing that zeitgeist and the film ends right as women’s clothing is heading for even more change in the 1920’s, never to return to what it was before. (For more about how the Great War sparked the Roaring Twenties, this is a really great video, again by CrowsEye Productions.)

Well, this isn’t an exhaustive list of all of the costumes of Testament of Youth, but these are some of my favourites from this film. Have you seen this film, and what did you think of it? What parts of Vera’s wardrobe do you like? Do you wish you could steal any of the pieces to add to your closet?

Vera Brittain as played by Alicia Vikander in the train on her way to her Oxford exams, wearing a light aqua blouse and straw hat with matching ribbon

A Fashion Moment with Creative Hands: Evening Wear

lady wearing a white crocheted long dress with a square motif

Because Valentine’s Day is fast approaching, I thought today would be the perfect time to share some of the evening wear and wedding looks from the Creative Hands book series from the 1960’s – 1970’s. (Also published under the name “Golden Hands”) There are a lot of eras in the past that had elegant evening wear…the 1970’s wasn’t one of them, unfortunately. However, there is still much inspiration to be had!

I have published some more images from the Creative Hands series here, here and here.

Starting off with the wedding looks, I don’t think the above image is supposed to be a wedding look, but it has that iconic space boho look the late 60’s and early 70’s was famous for.

wedding long coat with a hood from the Creative Hands series

Here is a wedding look featuring a floor length coat with a hood and the front buttons all the way down. I love this piece!

vintage 1970's evening dress with batwing sleeves and a regency styled wedding dress

Here is another wedding dress, on the right. I wish that the fabric they had chosen was softer so the gathers didn’t pouf out like that, but it’s a pretty Regency style which is also very iconic for the era.

two 1970's fashion illustrations of a wedding dress and a stole

Here’s the final wedding look, and a knitted stole. I love the fashion illustrations in these books; these two are so detailed.

silver crocheted sleeveless dress with a cowl hood from the Creative Hands book

Now this is an interesting evening dress in silver yarn (with matching silver platform shoes too). The cowl hood is crocheted separately and added afterwards, it says.

crocheted lacy evening top with a silver belt

They were really into the silver yarn/thread, as this lacy top demonstrates. I’m not sure if this is supposed to be an evening look, or not, but because it’s silver I thought I’d include it!

angora knitted sleeveless top and a fringed shawl

Here is the last silver piece; an angora sleeveless top. Definitely not my favourite look. That shawl would be very pretty if worked in a natural fibre and not synthetic, though.

red evening skirts in patterned fabrics and patchwork

I love the floral skirt on the left. There was definitely a thing for patchwork in the 70’s, and it’s actually a great way to use up textile scraps. We should bring it back!

two green dresses with patchwork and embroidery

Another patchwork look- this time inset onto a plain background. And on the right an amazing embroidered dress. Both dresses are in the popular A-Line style.

elegant fashion illustration form Creative Hands book of a dress with bishop sleeves and a lace collar

And to finish off, this beautiful fashion illustration of a dress with bishop sleeves and lace collar and cuffs. Made of a very soft and lightweight cotton/silk blend, or a chiffon this would be so elegant! It’s definitely got that Gibson girl look of the Edwardian era.

Which look is your favourite? Would you wear any of these dresses? Do you like to dress up for holidays such as Valentine’s Day? 

Looking Forward to Fall, From My Fashion Scrapbook

Vogue 1998 photo of a girl wearing a fur coat and a flower crown looking out a window

On a cold, blustery Fall day like today, it’s the perfect time to look through my fashion scrapbook for some seasonal inspiration! It’s still technically Summer, but it’s time to start phasing out the summer dresses and straw hats, and replacing them with wool layers and berets. In this in-between stage of seasons, I like to merge and slowly transition to the next season of clothing. Here are some of my favourite fashion photos from the past that I’ve saved in my scrapbook!

vogue october 1998 photo spread of a girl wearing a tan skirt suit, an oversized fur collar lying in the grass looking at a building

This is one of my favourite photo shoots of all time! (It includes both of these photos above) By Angela Lindvall for the Vogue October 1998 issue, this picture, above, is inspired by the Andrew Wyeth painting “Christina’s World” and it’s beautiful!

smokey eye makeup and a wool camel coat

I really like this bold yet soft makeup look for Fall and Winter. I’m not sure if it would suit me very well, personally, but I really like that 20’s inspired smudged look!

two women walking in the woods wearing pink and yellow fur coats and dresses

I know that people have conflicting feelings about fur, but I personally love the look. If it is ethically sourced or vintage, I have no problem with it, though I do understand why some people don’t. Gorgeous fur coats and collars are beautiful for cool weather!

fur collars and dramatic wool coats

paris inspired vogue 1998 photoshoot

Again, from that same 1998 Vogue magazine (so many good photos in that one!) is this lovely European inspired photo shoot. Again a lovely fur stole, this time paired with a fabulous feathered hat.

elegant winter wool coats

If fur isn’t your thing, though, there are so many beautiful wool coats for cool weather. I love my vintage cashmere coat, and will treasure it forever!

walking down a lane wearing burberry

And here’s another from Burberry in 1998; again such a classic coat for cooler days.

checked blouse and wool skirt in a grassy field

velvet and wool coat with a dramatic feel

bold octaganal sunglasses

I don’t think this is technically a Fall image, but I love the colours and patterns of these bold sunglasses and zebra collar combination.

retro inspired fall layered look

The socks and shoes pairing was definitely a trend a few years ago, but I actually don’t mind it as far as trends go, because it’s inspired by the even older trend of bobby socks and saddle shoes!

ralph lauren ad

I’ll end with this gaucho and blazer look from Armani, below, in 1998- it’s so classic that you could wear this today and look just as fresh.

Armani gaucho layered outfit

If you come across vintage fashion magazines in the thrift stores, buy them! They have so much good fashion inspiration and, because they are no longer trendy, you can really sift through the looks and determine which pieces were trendy and which pieces are classics. If you can look at a fashion spread from years ago and pick out pieces that you’d wear today, then you know you’ve hit on a Classic!

Which are your favourite looks of these? Do you like to page through old fashion magazines? It’s not as popular today, in the days of Pinterest, but do you save magazine clippings?

A Fashion Moment With McCall’s Treasury Of Needlecraft: Accessories

vintage lady wearing a homemade hostess apron

Today is the last post in this McCall’s Treasury of Needlecraft series, because we’ve, sadly, reached the end of the book. For this post, I’ve got some lovely vintage 1950’s accessories to share with you.

Above, is a smocked hostess apron. I love wearing aprons while cooking, because if I don’t, I will inevitably splash all over my clothes. I don’t have any hostess aprons, but I think they are so of-the-era, don’t you think? Do you wear an apron while working?

vintage knitted scarf

This is a really cute scarf. I think it would keep you warm, without being too bulky, and I love that it provides the perfect spot to show off a vintage brooch.

gloves patterns

Ahh some lovely hand made gloves. I like the look of the lacy ones on the right. (Though why do pictures of gloves always look like a murderer preparing for their evil deed?)

vintage belt

trim details illustrations

These home made trims would add such a nice detail.

dress accessories illustrations

And finally, I love these beautiful vintage illustrations, as well as the ideas on how to use sequins for effect. Those stars scattered across a plain dress would be so pretty! The best part about home made clothing, really is the endless options for customization, isn’t it?

That’s all the photos for today; a bit of a shorter post. While I don’t have any more 1950’s images to share from this book, I do have other vintage catalogues and books, so I will still keep sharing from those in the future to keep this series going. And, as always, if you are interested in making any of these vintage crochet/ knitted accessories, feel free to contact me, as I am glad to share the patterns!