What Makes You Choose One Decade Over Another?

[Marc Chevalier]

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A post by JitterbugDoll in the "eyebrow" thread made me curious.

If you're more into the '40s look than the '30s look, why is this the case?

Conversely, if you're more into the '30s style than the '40s style, why is this so for you?



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[LizzieMaine]

I think for me, it's just a matter of what looks best on my body shape, coupled with what's most practical for everyday wear. Since I do dress in vintage/vintage repro every day, I try to find styles that are practical and functional enough not to get in the way of my daily routine -- and generally, this tends to land me around 1939-1944. I do like a lot of the earlier looks, especially the 1933-36 era, but they tend not to be the most flattering for me, and tend to be a bit fussy for everyday wear.

Culturally, though, I find I'm more of a thirties gal than a forties gal, in the movies I watch, the music I like, and just my tastes in general. I've pretty much always been that way, and I've long since given up trying to understand why....

 

[Lady Day]

Honestly my choice is more social than anything.

I couldnt do anything before 1940 because well, people of color in the US were not . . . anything. It wasnt until the late 1930s and after that you could see black folks wearing sharp styles in print and on albums instead of just being gyrating clowns in movies.

Dorothy Dandridge, Lena Horne, Josephine Baker, Eartha Kitt, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald. Stylin baby!

It wasnt until the mid to late 1950s that it became common to see people of color taken as seriously (as much as can be in that time mind you) as their white counterparts.

I have noting against the earlier clothes at all, its just the social atmosphere of the times are just as important to me as the clothes themselves.


LD

 

[Rosie]

I have to agree whole heartedly with Lady Day on this. :eusa_clap The clothes of earlier times for me are appealing but, there is an entire social context that comes along with it, one that I am not comfortable with, don't enjoy and don't pay homage to.

I'm also a bit of a glamour queen (as much as is allowed in everyday) and so, I tend to like the tailored "put togetherness" of the forties and I LOVE the idealism of the '50's (exagerrated female form). I like the idea of a woman dressing like a lady, looking like a lady and being treated like a lady and for me, that's very related to the attire and period I choose.

 

[RetroModelSari]

I personally find 40s and early 50s styles the cutest. 30s aren´t too bad either, but I don´t really like 20s cause I prefer stuff that defines the waist and bustline

 

[jitterbugdoll]

For me, I simply adore the styles of the late 30s-and early 40s, and again, they are the most flattering to my figure. Late 40s-50s fashion is nice, and I have a number of pieces from this era, but it just doesn't move me in the same way. Same goes for earlier 30s clothing; I can appreciate it, and I can wear it fairly well, but it doesn't set off my figure quite as nicely and I don't love it in the same way that I do later fashions.

Now, in terms of other areas, I enjoy a fairly wide range of eras. For example, I love 30s-40s music and movies, but enjoy 20s and 50s entertainment as well. My house is decorated in a mix of eras, focusing mostly on the 30s-40s again, with some 50s pieces as well (I prefer earlier things, but I have a mid-century couch set, for example.) When I read magazines, I simply adore early 40s and late-30s ones--something about them just thrills me; reading the advertisements and looking at the photographs always seems to make my heart skip a bit. I agree with Lizzie in that I can't explain why I feel the way I do--I just do!

 

[Marc Chevalier]

The clothes of earlier times for me are appealing but, there is an entire social context that comes along with it, one that I am not comfortable with, don't enjoy and don't pay homage to.

Lady Day and Rosie, this is fascinating to me and I'm sure glad to learn about it. I had no idea.


In fact, all the posts thus far have been fascinating!


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[mikepara]

I find I'm regressing..

I started off with a real feel for the mid 50's but then found myself harking towards 40's styles. I then found most of it, especially the household items to be a little austere for my taste so the 30's was a natural place to look, somethings I'm attracted to are even from the 20's.

I don't dress in vintage and can be found most days with jeans and shirts so I don't stand out with one style but given the money my house would be an Art deco ship styled house full of items ranging through all the decades mentioned.

My walk in wardrobe (dream sigh!) would be filled with just about everything Jimmy Stewart / Frank Sinatra was ever pictured in.

Mostly its personal and no doubt would vary my favourites depending what I've been reading or watching.

 

[Rosie]

Lady Day and Rosie, this is fascinating to me and I'm sure glad to learn about it. I had no idea.


In fact, all the posts thus far have been fascinating!


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Not to turn this into a political thing because that isn't what this is but, I like movies, music, entertainment from the earlier periods but, when I'm watching a good movie and that one person of color comes on screen eyes bugged out and having to do that "sambo-ing" thing, it makes me cringe, puts this thing (for lack of a better description) in my stomach, often times, and I'm not exagerrating, it makes me cry.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

I can imagine. I'm sorry that this bug-eyed stuff was ever made, but I'd also be sorry if all of it were hidden away. Society needs an archive of its sorrows and sins, so that we may face the truth and learn from it. Just my two cents.

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[maisie]

I love the 40's, I got into collecting vintage clothes by being dragged along to militaria shows since i was little, until I saw a 40's fashion show at a show called War and Peace, it showed styles from the 30's and late 40's but mainly focused on the looks of wartime Britain and after seeing that i went and bought my first dress, shoes and acessories and thats where it started!!

I particulary like the 40's clothing as it is so chic and stylish, with a military style that still looks oh-so feminine! I love all the utility clothes and accessories from WWII as they were made under restrictions but yet still looked fabulous and the same goes for all the ladies back then who still looked beautiful and smart even when they had to subsitute gravy for stocking and had to use sugar instead of hairspray!
I do like the 30's styles, but find I prefere the 40's styles and I have always had an interest in WWII, and attend many WWII events so thats what goes! I also like the 'New Look' style, it was someting so different to the earlier 40's look, but something hardly any woman in post war Britain could afford or even get the fabric for due to rationing.

 

[maisie]

Here are 3 pictures that show the utility clothing of the 40's in Britain

 

[Naama]

I'm into late 20's and early 30's only. I don't really like the 40's and everything later all that much. Why? For sure, it can look good. Some dresses are adorable and so are some hairstyles, but it's just not me. I don't like those wide shoulders, or how my sister would call it, the cornetto style I also think that in the 40's women clothing, as it seems to me, was too "nice" and a bit too "good girl from next door" and so are the hairstyles. I also would prefer the lifestyle of the 20's then the 40's.

Naama

 

[Lady Day]

I can imagine. I'm sorry that this bug-eyed stuff was ever made, but I'd also be sorry if all of it were hidden away. Society needs an archive of its sorrows and sins, so that we may face the truth and learn from it. Just my two cents.
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It should not be hidden away, it should make us cringe. Ive rencently been creating some prints from this earlier era (1880s-1920) depicting Blackface. I feel in order to desensitize the stereotype we must embrace it. The advertisments they used these characters in were all over the country, and now, all but vanished. Still, when people see them they have Rosie's reaction. Good, bad, evil, angelic, we have to remember it all.

Sorry to get off topic, now back to stylin

I do have to say, 1930s-1940s had the most FABULOUS shoes! Smokin! Chunky low heels, mary janes, yummy yummy!

LD

 

[Marc Chevalier]

It should not be hidden away, it should make us cringe.

Agreed. And it should be around somewhere to make us cringe. And it should never be made again.

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[Naama]

It should not be hidden away, it should make us cringe. Ive rencently been creating some prints from this earlier era (1880s-1920) depicting Blackface. I feel in order to desensitize the stereotype we must embrace it. The advertisments they used these characters in were all over the country, and now, all but vanished. Still, when people see them they have Rosie's reaction. Good, bad, evil, angelic, we have to remember it all.

Sorry to get off topic, now back to stylin

I do have to say, 1930s-1940s had the most FABULOUS shoes! Smokin! Chunky low heels, mary janes, yummy yummy!

LD

fftopic:
I think I this is the strange thing with the past, there where all those horrible things, racism, sexism, and then again, somehow we think everything was better back then (or at least, sometimes we like to think so ).

Naama

 

[humblestumble]

I like the 40s more than the 50s, but I like them both very much. The reason I like the 40s better is because people seemed more sofisticated, and their clothes reflected that, IMHO. Also they looked very classy, even when they were being playful. I like how things are loose, but fitted at the waist and bust. I think the style of the 40s really reflects the attitude of the era which I love. It's less cutesy, and more sultry and glamourous, to me. When it comes to what I wear, I like both, and it would probably depend on my mood, but overall I like the 40s more. Not just for the dress, but the hairstyles too.

 

[Rosie]

fftopic:
I think I this is the strange thing with the past, there where all those horrible things, racism, sexism, and then again, somehow we think everything was better back then (or at least, sometimes we like to think so ).

Naama

It is strange. In many ways, racism, sexism aside it was a better time. People who lived in neighborhoods actually lived as a community, now, we can live on the same street with people for years and never really know them. Also, I, in my opinion, think there was more emphasis on the family, marriage, raising of children, we now seem to live in the world of me, hope I am wording this properly.

It should not be hidden away, it should make us cringe. Ive rencently been creating some prints from this earlier era (1880s-1920) depicting Blackface. I feel in order to desensitize the stereotype we must embrace it. The advertisments they used these characters in were all over the country, and now, all but vanished. Still, when people see them they have Rosie's reaction. Good, bad, evil, angelic, we have to remember it all.

LD

I make Mammy dolls. People are always amazed when they come to my house and see them but for me, it's kind of like embracing that image. Years ago, and in the eyes of many people still, she/this is who I am supposed to be. But, I am not that. That image reminds me of where people of color were years ago, were some people still want us to be, of how much has changed, and how much still has to change.

 

[Caledonia]

I personally find 40s and early 50s styles the cutest. 30s aren´t too bad either, but I don´t really like 20s cause I prefer stuff that defines the waist and bustline

That's me too. I'm best in tailored clothes that accentuate my height and the fact that I have what's been called a "handsome" look (I prefer elegant rather than pretty, So that puts me in clothing from about 34 onwards (the non-frilled fashions - and I agree Jitterbug, the early 30s are too 20s really although you can see the waistlines coming back in), through the utility 40s, and right into the straight skirted versions of the 50s. But I have to be highly selective for about 4years from 38 to 41/42 when some of the styles got very "little girly" with puff sleeves, frills and just twee-ness. So that's why for body shape, but why for period sensitivity? Not sure, but as LizzieMaine and Jitterbug were saying, you just get drawn to an era with no real explanation. Part of my main interest in the 40s to 50s might, and I'm guessing, be that it's the 2 decades before I was born, and which my Grandma and mum both have stories about. So, is it a basic curiosity about where I came from? Given that I didn't have this interest until very recently, is it also a final awareness of history, of the immense changes that took place to make my world what it is? I am truly stuck for a solid (potato salad) answer here Marc, partly because if I skip the 20s I then find myself really drawn to the period from about 1890 to 1918. Reincarnation? Very short-lived and remembering them all?

And, Rosie and LadyDay, I too hadn't thought of the societal/political points you raised with regard to wearing a decade's fashion. But I don't think it's off topic either. If the question is why one decade over another, I think you've got more than a valid point there, and I basically agree with everything that's been said about it. Thanks for raising my awareness ladies.

Quote LadyDay: I do have to say, 1930s-1940s had the most FABULOUS shoes! Smokin! Chunky low heels, mary janes, yummy yummy!

I so agree - they've never been quite the same since have they?

And to end a really long post Maisie, those are great photos. What book? Don't you love that funny little lapel they did - your photos (1) and (3) show it.

 

[Rosie]

Part of my main interest in the 40s to 50s might, and I'm guessing, be that it's the 2 decades before I was born, and which my Grandma and mum both have stories about. So, is it a basic curiosity about where I came from? Given that I didn't have this interest until very recently, is it also a final awareness of history, of the immense changes that took place to make my world what it is? I am truly stuck for a solid (potato salad) answer here Marc, partly because if I skip the 20s I then find myself really drawn to the period from about 1890 to 1918. Reincarnation? Very short-lived and remembering them all?

This is really interesting, I think there may be one thing that really strikes out for us that gets us drawn into this era and then through research, shopping (?) we discover other eras. I know that initially, I was drawn by Lucille Ball, just the glamour of her clothing, oh, I loved it. Then it became watching old movies just to see clothes. When my mom saw my interest, she would tell me stories about my grandmother, how she and her twin would dress up when they went to dinner with their husbands, how they wore their hair, the clothes, shoes, etc. and it became this deeper interest. So, I liked the '50s orginally, but then it crossed over into the '40s on the basis of stories of my grandmother coupled in with movies from that period.

On a purely fantastical level, I love the clothes of the late 1800's (I think that's the era) clothes from movies like Emma, Pride and Prejudice, Little Women (I may be off) but the femininity involved in the clothing to me is beautiful. When I was younger, I always thought I would wear that type of empire waisted elaborate dress for my wedding.