Back to School Clothes, 1965

 

From this picture can you guess which movie influenced back to school clothes in 1965?

Another clue...

And this darling third clue?

Naturally, it is the movie that for five years made more money at the box office than even Gone with the Wind.......

The Sound of Music!

I remember seeing the movie when it premiered at Nashville's nicest movie theater in 1965. How I loved it! RH and I had only been married a few years and didn't have any children yet but if I'd had school age children I most likely would have been wanting to dress them this way for the first day of school.

And that first day of school back then was always the day after Labor Day, not some barbarous day in August when we would have still been at Pleasant Green swimming pool or Myrtle Beach.

I loved the songs from the movie, still do. You still hear These are a few of my favorite things on Instagram, don't you? I think one of the most memorable scenes from the movie was So Long, Farewell when the von Trapp children bid adieu to their house guests one evening and disappeared one by one up the staircase, cute little Greti  going last. And then of course when the song is repeated at their performance at the Salzburg Festival when they bid adieu to the audience and escape  through the Alps to Switzerland. 

But back to fashion! Here are two more fall fashion pictures from my August 1965 issue of Ladies' Home Journal.

 

 and...

 I see a slight influence of the movie in the second woman's dress, do you? 

Would school children today be caught dead in these clothes?

Do you think the style will ever come back?

Did you ever wear a dress similar to these, as a child or as an adult?  

 

It's September and Anything Is Possible

Anything is possible...as long as I'm wearing my red lipstick by Prince Matchabelli.




Oatmeal Beige hand-knit wool by Iraina-Norelle...
Tortoise-shell belt...
Cat's-eye buttons...
Silver-muskrat lining in raglan straightcoat...
Muskrat-belly beret...
Jewels by Black, Starr and Gorham...
Prince Matchabelli Red Flower lipstick...
Kislav gloves... 

Photographed in Kodachrome by Louise-Dahl Wolfe... 

Harper's Bazaar September 1942 

The Delights of April

Have you heard, dears?

       April is here!

Do you like my new silk dress?

       The color is called Rosemary.

You know, for remembrance. 

       I'm remembering all the delights of April.

I'm craving asparagus and shad roe and strawberries.

       At the same meal at my favorite restaurant, please.

A proposal on the same night would be lovely.

       Or at least a clutch of Parma violets edged with paper lace. 

I may look like a modern woman of 1930, but at heart?

       At heart I'm just an old-fashioned girl.

And it is sweet sentimental April, after all.

       What are you craving this April?


[Picture is an ad for silk fabric from my March 29, 1930 Vogue magazine.]

I dreamed I wore a pink raincoat.

I dreamed I wore my new pink Paris raincoat for a walk to the pond with the dogs. I let the day's drizzle fall gently on my face as I gave thanks for being blessed with an English rose complexion.

The rain did not frizz my pale blonde hair. 

Storm clouds gathered but held off until I leisurely strolled around water's edge.

Eventually I walked back to the house, whistling for the dogs, my mind full of plans for writing the final chapter in my latest book, the aroma of a perfectly roasted hen, redolent of rosemary and lemon and garlic coming from the kitchen.

I knew that a chilled crystal bowl of creamy potato salad waited in the refrigerator and a bottle of Maison Veuve Clicquot was on ice in the silver champagne bucket.
  
A late lunch for two at a beautifully laid table was waiting only for RH to wash his hands after pruning the  English roses in the garden.

Into your baskets, BreeBree and James Mason! 

Hurry, before Mama wakes up!


[my raincoat-wearing alter ego from Harper's Bazaar, February 1936]
 

 

Fantasy Fashion for a Daughter

Daughters!

What are we going to do with them?

A 1934 fifteen-year-old thinks she knows everything there is to know about fashion.

Here is what I want my Anne to wear to the Valentine's Day Dance at school...

Don't you love that fuchsia-purple faille taffeta evening frock?

The pale pink sash is so sweet and I know that her father would approve of the ruching around the neckline.

Anne looked as if she were going to cry when she tried it on.

"Mother, you wouldn't! 

I look about twelve in it.

Even if a boy asked me to dance if I wore this,

no one would cut in on him, no one."

That dejected look on her face went away when she tried on the one she chose.

At least she had not chosen a black dress but even in pink she immediately assumed such a sophisticated pose and world-weary face.

Where did that hand on the hip stance come from?

Is this my little girl?

Is she really old enough to wear slipper satin?

With that low décolletage?

Will she next think she is old enough to go to nightclubs?

And the most important question of all--

What will her father say?

[Gowns from Vogue magazine, Advance Retail Trade Edition, November 1934]

More Fantasy Wardrobe

What's a wardrobe without something for Halloween as I welcome Trick-or-Treaters at my door?

My own two little goblins are making the rounds of the neighborhood with their daddy and I've been wearing this pumpkin corduroy jumper on a busy day of going to the market after story hour at the library. 

I wore my brown jersey blouse today but last Saturday night I wore it without a blouse and with my topaz necklace when my guy took me out for dinner, children at home with my mother.

Because I'm a young mother on a budget in this fantasy, I'm proud to say my pretty jumper was only $13.

Here's my new fall church dress that of course will be worn all winter long. I think my saddle leather bag, also $13 is a good choice for my budget.

My wool cashmere coat with a brown velvet collar was a splurge on our budget at $50 but think how many years it will last. 

I've been busy from sunup to sundown, chasing toddlers and keeping house and I still feel energetic enough to greet hours of Trick-or-Treaters ahead with a big smile and compliments for their costumes, in between times putting a meal on the table for my husband and tucking the little ones in bed with a gentle Halloween story.

Now that's a real fantasy!


Today's wardrobe courtesy of Woman's Home Companion, August 1955.

My Fantasy Wardrobe

As someone who rarely shops anymore but is tired of her wardrobe, I think I will indulge in a fantasy wardrobe, bought with fantasy money and fitted to a fantasy figure. 

Why not? What is the internet for if not for fantasy?

I'll begin with this piece today because with Autumn here every woman needs a good basic suit and in my fantasy I look good in brown.

I'm meeting girlfriends for lunch, sitting outside with golden leaves falling from the trees. I'm thinking Jane Wyman in Magnificent Obsession about to meet Rock Hudson--but minus the accident that leaves her blind.

This is a good basic piece to start my wardrobe, a Handmacher suit made of oxford-brown flannel with cut-steel buttons. 

I see this suit adapting to many social occasions, adding blouses of olive green or silver gray, a black cashmere sweater instead of the jacket for casual or a taffeta blouse for dressier. I can easily unbutton the jacket and add a brown velveteen vest for warmth (LHJ's advice). I can add scarves and belts and change its looks season after season. 

I might even wear this suit all through my 30s.

It's my fantasy and I'll be however old I want to be.

I'm very pleased with this start to my new wardrobe.

I Miss These

I miss beautiful fall suits...

     I miss hats and gloves being de rigueur...

Most of all I miss big beautiful cars with all that leg room.

     I miss them.