What Would You Change (about yourself) for Your Vintage Wear?

[fuzzylizzie]

I'd like to be about 3 inches taller. Almost all the floor-length vintage I find drags the ground, and I just can't being myself to shorten anything. And I agree with the narrow feet. I wear a 5.5, and often the shoes are long enough, but way too skinny.

Lizzie

 

[Emily C.]

What I would change....

I would like to have smaller waist and hips, smaller feet (trying to find vintage style shoes in a size 10 is NOT fun!) and I would like to have hair that would curl and style without 20 gallons of hairspray!

 

[USO Gal]

hair that magically forms fingerwaves after a shampoo

I actually have that! Granted curly hair isn't popular now... but it suits vintage looks quite well.

However, I am a big girl. I am working on that but for now it's repro only for me for clothes. Funny thing, a friend asked why I was being so good on weight watchers... and I hated to admit that it was all about vintage (but that is a good encouragement). Even when I lose I will have trouble, because I am 5'10".

For shoes I wear size 11 - I'll never find original womens shoes (but I found some great shoes at Kohls today on clearance!). I think repro is OK because I like all my toes where they are.

 

[Emily C.]

We ar in the same boat!

I can sympathize with you! I am 5'9 and a size 12, I also am working on that, but like you said the height is still there!

 

[jkath]

Funny thing, a friend asked why I was being so good on weight watchers... and I hated to admit that it was all about vintage (but that is a good encouragement).

What a wonderful goal!

 

[ITG]

Shorten my size 11 feet and slim out the body.

 

[tinytot]

I would like to be taller, have smaller feet and waist.

 

[HistWardrobe]

Oh to be a PERIOD size 12 instead of a modern one!

Wish I were a much smaller size so that the really GREAT looking vintage dresses would fit me. All the truly gorgeous and interesting period originals that come up for sale seem to be in the equivalent of about a modern 6-8, maybe a 10 if you're lucky. Hence, I can only buy these things as reference items to try to copy in a larger size. Needless to say, I never get around to this.

Most of the originals I've got that fit well are either black or navy blue, suggesting my size was considered fairly matronly back then. And I'm not THAT large. I'm about a modern size 12, depending on the manufacturer. However, in 1920s-50s period sizes that makes me about a size 20 which is about as big as things go. Usually the stuff I find that fits me looks pretty old ladyish, even for me as a middle aged person, even in a period context before the era of "50 is the new 30" had all us old muttons dressing like lambs!

I'm no bigger around than my grandmother (b. 1910) was (although she was 4 inches shorter) and she dressed VERY fashionably -- stunning fabrics, color combinations, tailoring and details -- and was a very smart looking lady indeed. The pictures of her and her friends in the era suggest that a lot of them weren't that tiny either -- most were, like her, on the just slightly plump side of average. Where did these ladies get their clothes? And into what black hole did those larger, high fashion clothes vanish? Wish I'd gotten into this before she died so I could ask her about things like this!

 

[magneto]

I'm no bigger around than my grandmother (b. 1910) was (although she was 4 inches shorter) and she dressed VERY fashionably -- stunning fabrics, color combinations, tailoring and details -- and was a very smart looking lady indeed. The pictures of her and her friends in the era suggest that a lot of them weren't that tiny either -- most were, like her, on the just slightly plump side of average. Where did these ladies get their clothes? And into what black hole did those larger, high fashion clothes vanish? Wish I'd gotten into this before she died so I could ask her about things like this!

I think the usual explanation (I'm sure you've heard this) is that the clothes that survive are what women bought in their (slim) young adulthood, wore briefly and put away after marriage and the weight gains of aging and childbearing. Meanwhile the clothes they bought and wore while larger-sized, they wore longer/more often (had smaller frivolous clothing budget for the homemaker as opposed to the single gal) and thus wore out. I remember my (short, plump, but stylish) grandma stubbornly wearing her 40s/50s dresses for decades; strictly from department stores as I recall the labels.

 

[maisie]

I can sympathize with you! I am 5'9 and a size 12, I also am working on that, but like you said the height is still there!

I'm a modern US 6, but I'm 5'9" and still find at lot of things that fit! Alot of the 30's dress are long even on me, but I do find that most of the 40's pants are to short!! :cry:
(Also I think the 30's dresses look alot more elegant if you are taller, just by the way the dresses were cut!!)

 

[Lauren]

The other is hair that is full of body and took to and held 1940's curled styles perfectly!!! My hair is fine and just wants to go flat! :cry:

Ooh! I added another one to my wish list. I want to get a perfect marcell wave, or height, or curl that will hold for days...

 

[miss1934]

I would kill for a good marcel! Or even the time for pin-curls everyday! I has size 6.5 feet, but eveything i have seen recently has been fours and fives! I have a complete small foot fetish, how i wish i could just lose a bone or something...
~Anne

 

[miss1934]

Sorry, to post twice in a row, but i would die for Katherine Hepburn's thin face and sculpted cheekbones! My face is quite round....
~Anne

 

[CherryBombRock]

I'd love to shave a couple of inches off my feet (then I could fit into these!
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8375704715&rd=1&sspagename=STRK:MEWA:IT&rd=1 )
Also a smaller waist and thicker hair so I'd at least have the option of bangs!

 

[ITG]

When you have size 11 feet, even an 7, 8, or 9 is considered smaller.

 

[RetroModelSari]

I´d have to get smaller feet for sure!

 

[AllaboutEve]

Things I would change

I think I would like to have a 25" waist, hair that does that lovely thick longer hair wave that Bette Davis has in All About Eve, and at the same time "just happen" to "stumble across" a long lost trunk of Monroe's dresses that have as yet been undiscovered......all in my size.
........ooh and while I'm at it smaller feet........ not much really!!!!

 

[Daisy Buchanan]

Hi Ladies,
How is everyone doing? I hope the new year has brought you lots of joy and vintage purchases.
Well, for me I would have to say I would change my chest! I have a 26/27 inch waist, but am only a 34 inch bust, so all the clothes that I find with my waist size usually have a 36 inch or bigger bust, so they all have to be tailored down. I guess I could try to make my waist smaller, but that's just not gonna happen!
I would also change my feet. I have flat feet which means I have to find a wider shoe, and usually all the size 6.5 shoes I find are very narrow.
But, I usually manage to squeeze my pudgy feet into a too narrow shoe, and then take a ton of tylenol to get through a night of dancing!:cheers1:

 

[imoldfashioned]

I've always wished I had broader shoulders--I have a friend who is blessed this way and clothes just hang so beautifully on her. Shoulder pads are a pain but worth the trouble for me.

Smaller feet would also be very welcome--size 9 just doesn't seem to exist in vintage.

Other than that, I'm pretty happy with what I've been dealt.

 

[Irena]

I am VERY happy with my shape, size, and so on, but I would like to grow about 1 inch - in my back. I'm short-waisted, so the high-waisted pants that I love look ridiculous on me.