Western Dress From The Black Pinafore

I've always loved  1940s and 1950s Western fashions.  The jeans, casual shirts, suede vests, beaded designs and ample fringe are all adorable and the whole look makes for perfectly stylish vintage casual wear.

My favorite  cowgirl, Dale Evans, wore  western wear throughout her life and always looked smashing.  Kitschy too, but in the best way possible.

 

 



I love seeing how her and Roy Rogers stayed true to their style over the decades.

Despite my love of  1940s and 50s western gear I didn't have any in my own wardrobe.   It is very hard to come by authentic vintage western gear and I'm not too crazy about many of the repro versions.  This fall though I added a few vintage and vintage inspired western pieces to my wardrobe that I will be sharing on the blog, the first of which is this charming dress from one of my favorite vintage reproduction designers, Debora of The Black Pinafore.  

I adore all of the clothes Debora has made for me and this dress is no exception.  I choose the cut and design from another dress in her shop, but the fabric and rick rack detailing are my own idea.  It's a simple dress with a really flattering cut, and I particularly love the neckline.

The white rick rack really compliments the print on the fabric which I love too. Debora found the perfect fabric, it's kitschy and western, but subtley so.

So many novelty western prints are just way over the top, but not this one.  I paired the dress with a red hair flower from chatter blossom, a western novelty brooch from luxulite

 my amazing 1950s novelty horse purse from annacatetsy (which is probably my favorite purse ever), and my black canvas Remix penny sandals.

I had some fun posing for pictures with Bob who has an adorable retro western bandanna we got years ago.

 

 


All in all this is the western dress of my Dale Evan cowgirl dreams.  I'm so greatfull to Deborah for bringing it into reality for me!


Outfit Details:

Dress: The Black  Pinafore
Novelty Brooch: Luxulite
Hair Flower: Chatterblossom
1950s Horse Novelty Purse: Annacatetsy
Canvas Sandals Remix Vintage Shoes

Note-This is by no means a political blog and I had planned this post weeks before the election.  I published it today to bring some light to what is in my opinion a very dark day for our country and the world.  Hate, anger, and fear have never made anything great.  I hope that some day we can move past this into a brighter future, but it seems very dark.  Find what ever your light is and cling to it now.