Sunday, October 10, 2010

Vintage Love with a Hint of Danger



(Image Courtesy of MyVintageVogue)

I went searching for fashion photos of the war-era 40's not so long ago and I came across this amazing dress. I just LOVE LOVE LOVE it. One of my friends called it "dangerous" and my husband calls it.. well we won't tell you what he calls it. Lets just say he's all for my obsession on this one.

Now I want to copy it and make it my own. I am certainly not at that skill level where I could try doing a draped pattern. Especially since I don't currently have a dress-form. I really do want a good one though. So instead I went and started looking at The Big Four pattern companies. And wouldn't you know, it was Butterick that had a good starting base! B4343, to be exact. Lovely, isn't it? It would not be hard at all to add a strap to one side and a flowing sleeve to the other. The other beautiful thing about this modification? I can actually WEAR A BRA! I know, I know. But when you are a 38DDD, this is important.


What do you think? Can I pull this off? What color should I do? Maybe a black velvet?

2 comments:

  1. Love it! I think black is the right color, but maybe a heavy crepe or faille would be better than velvet, for the slink factor. (I have issues with velvet - not just the creepy fuzzy feeling, but also the odd halo effect and color weirdness in photos.)

    The bigger question is: Where will you wear such a fantastic dress?

    Every time I see a fabulous dress like this I think about hosting swanky parties and insisting that my friends dress up so I have a reason to dress up too.

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  2. Are the bodice and skirt two different fabrics in the original picture? I can't tell. If you're willing to go that route, I would say velvet for the bodice for greater structure and something slinky for the skirt. As for color...black will always work, of course, but a rich color (burgundy? dark green?) could also work. I guess it depends on what trim you fall in love with!

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