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Every summer, I lose my way in the blogging world just a bit. Summer does not inspire me. Today as I shot these photos, smelled the cool pine of the needles beneath my feet, felt the slight chill of the breeze, and reveled in the cloudiness of a typical Washington day, I realized that my element is in Fall. In that perfectly in-between season, when it is neither too hot nor too cold, when one only occasionally requires a coat, but could comfortably wear tights all day. That is my season, as cliche as it is in the blogging world to admit. This outfit very much feels like fall to me; the plaid of the skirt, the sweet softness of the sweater, the booties. Yet, it is a perfect match for our summers. The skirt is a lightweight cotton, the sweater a comfortable thinness, and the booties are not designed to keep out too much cold. It emulates my favorite time of year, my favorite self in fashion, and my favorite era. It is on my shelf of perfect outfits. Hannah sent me this skirt for my birthday, and I’ve put it up on our board for all the girls to swap. As I flounder around in the summer, not quite knowing how to put myself together to combat a cool morning and a hot afternoon, this skirt saves me time and time again. I would love to see the other girls style it, and put their own personality into the outfit! I’ve been researching more and more into the 40’s and 50’s era clothing, hairstyles, makeup, and etc., and found one interesting tidbit about a movement similar to the pinup girls: the sweater girls. The sweater girls were, as the name suggests, girls akin to pinups who went around wearing tight sweaters to better show off their figures with wasp waists and bullet bras. They were alarming to the elder generation, some of whom suggested “what kind of mothers and wives will they be?”

Actresses such as Lana Turner and Jane Russell were the Hollywood icons of this trend, known for their curves and tight sweaters in the popular films. At one point at the height of the trend in 1968, a young woman named Francine Gottfried, a simple secretary, gained notoriety as “Wall Street’s Sweater Girl.”She took the same route to work every day, and people began to notice her. At first it was young girl gangs, then mobs of men, then their colleagues and co-workers until the word had passed so far around that two weeks later a mob of 10,000 people swarming the streets just to see her walk to work. She thought they were all crazy, but enjoyed her fifteen minutes of fame and left her job as a IBM 1260 keypunch operator to become a go-go dancer.

Finding this pretty vintage sweater while thrifting the other day reminded me of my research, and while I’m not wearing a bullet bra and I certainly don’t have a wasp waist, I think it’s a fun interpretation of that trend. Of the housewives, bobbysoxers, pinups, and sweater girls, I think I could most easily settle into something that is a mix of the first and the last look. While it was most certainly meant to titillate the eye, something that I’m not really trying to do, it’s a safer way to resonate with a trend of the past while still maintaining my personal comfort level where modesty is concerned. Sweater, thrifted | skirt, gift from Hannah | heels, thrifted | belt, thrifted | headscarf, vintage | Whovian pin, gift

What vintage trend do you identify with? Who would you have been, in the 50’s? A housewife? A pinup? A bobbysoxer? Or a sweater girl?

I hope you’re all having a beautiful Monday!