Ever see the Rogers and Hammerstein musical of the 50's,
State Fair? I tried watching it today. It's no
Sound of Music, so it was a bit hard to get into, although the technicolor was of course great to look at. Most of the songs were just OK, but what really caught my eye was the dresses. I am a self-proclaimed dress freak, especially for old-fashioned ones such as from the 1950's. These had some great ones! Margy Frake, Jeanne Crain's role, had so many different ones, and they were all good. Modest, feminine, and almost 'edgy' for the day, with the strong (but soft) shoulders, unsually bright colors, and even fake fruit on one, but all around a bit peasant-y, Margy being a farm girl... and the other cast had good ones too. All the characters had pretty, neat hair that was popular back then when nice hair meant something and both genders made an effort to have theirs look good.
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| Not sure I like the bust part, but I love puffy, sheer sleeves. |
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| The date dress. I love the vest part... the black draws attention to her slim waist and adds some elegance to her white peasant dress. |
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| Looks almost like a Mexican-style peasant dress, and very cute and dollish. |
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| She rather looks like Vivien Leigh too! Probably my favorite. |
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| Does she wear this at Christmas too? I would! |
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| Very sweet and girly. I love flowers embroided on, and you can almost never go wrong with pink. She has beautiful hair too. |
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| It doesn't go with her brilliantly colored hair, but icy blue is gorgeous and one of my favorite colors. |
So, don't be afraid to look country sometimes, for a state fair, date, picnic, school, even a party. Margy met her true love in these- and without dressing like a hooker or someone desperate for attention too (can we say Taylor Momsen? Ugh). The dresses all reflect the innocence of the women and the time period (not that the 50s were perfect, but still), the sweet simplicity of that decade, and the true femininity today's females so painfully lack often enough.
