A 1930s Suit Dress Inspired by the Mummy

I know Halloween is over but  today's outfit post does have a nod to the spooky.   One of my favorite film's is 1932's The Mummy staring Boris Karloff and Zita Johann.   Its a well made, clever horror film with a sympathetic monster and while most people today are doubtless more familiar with the 1999 version, which I think is a fine film, the original is in my opinion the better of the two.  In addition to a clever plot, gorgeous deco Egyptian sets, and good performances it has some excellent fashions worn by Zita Johann.  As Helen Grosevenor and the mummy's reincarnated love interest, the Princess Ankh-es-en-Amon, Zita wears glamorously slinky 1930s gowns



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And best of all a gorgeous 1930s black dress suit with diagonal white buttons.

 

 

 

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Ever since I first saw the film I've longed for a similar suit.  When I saw a pattern for a 1930s  suit in Time Machine Vintage's etsy shop I decided to ask Kim if she could make me a dress suit similar to the one in The Mummy.   Of course she came through brilliantly and while my suit isn't an exact copy, which I actually like, it definitely references the original.  I don't generally wear black, dog hair alert!, but this gorgeous and comfortable suit makes all the lint rolling well worth it.  Best of all Kim generously sent me a gold deco belt for cinching my suit.  I paired the suit with green 1930s hat from Lady Eve's Millinery and 1930s style shoes I got on sale from Miss L. Fire.  

 

 

 

 

 

 Its hard to see here but the vintage buttons have little faux pearls on them and Kim also included a silver satin neckerchief and a 1930s belt.

I wore the suit on Saturday on a trip to Bay Ridge Brooklyn.  It was raining but with my favorite pug umbrella I stayed pretty dry while my patient husband snapped some pictures of my new favorite outfit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

Outfit Details

 

 

1930s Dress Suit Time Machine Vintage

1930s style Hat Lady Eve's Millinery

Vintage Deco Belt gift from Kim at Time Machine Vintage

Green Suede Gloves Thrifted

Green Suede Shoes Miss L Fire

Pink Pug Umbrella SanFrancisco Umbrella Company





Vintage Outfit Post-Flapper Fashion Friday

While my favorite fashion decade is without a doubt the 1930s I have quite a soft spot for the 1920s as well after all who doesn't love the adorable, vivacious flapper.

Fashions of the 1920s freed women from corsets, long skirts, restricting sleeves, and mountains of hair.  For the first time in history women where working, studying, playing sports, driving and socializing along side men and they were doing so wearing clothes that made those activities possible. 

1920s college students, image source

University of Texas Female Athletes, image source

Some "regular gal" flappers in their short dresses, image source

Office Workers, image source

Chevrolet add aimed at women drivers, image source

1920s party, image source

 For that reason 1920s fashions tend to be very comfortable and easy to wear.  While actual twenties garments are a rarity and extremely delicate due to age.   Reproductions can give you the look and freedom of flapper fashion.  About a year and ago I had a flapper dress made by Time Machine Vintage using the McCall 1920s Drop Waist one piece jumper dress pattern.

Kim, the seamstress behind Time Machine Vintage, found a great grey and white rayon fabric for my dress.  I love it and I'm not sure why I have not posted outfit pictures before, so when I wore it two Sundays ago I thought it was finally time for some pictures.  I had some fun trying  different vintage phto effects on the pictures:

Outfit Details

Dress Time Machine Vintage
Flapper Headband, Bonnet Boutique
Lavender Gloves, Ebay
Carved Celluloid Bracelet, Ebay
Stockings, What Katie Did
Shoes, Mod Cloth

Vintage Outfit Post-Carefree Dress From Time Machine Vintage

Last Thursday I wrote about one of my favorite old films, the Astaire and Rogers musical comedy Care Free from 1938.

This delightful film features a dress I have dreamed about owning since Junior High when I would watch Fred and Ginger on AMC after school.

 

The adorable dress is more 40s then 30s in style, but the heart and arrow detailing is just the sort of whimsical touch that draws me to vintage styles.   When I discovered Time Machine Vintage on Etsy last year I thought that maybe the incredibly talented Kim could make my dream dress.  For obvious reasons I was thinking of the dress as a Valentine's dress but due to this years record snow falls the package was some what delayed, not a problem since the best things in life are worth waiting for.   Kim worked with me to make the dress perfect and its exactly what I wanted, I'm afraid my pictures don't do it justice.

 

 

 

I wore the dress with a little 1940s hat from the vintage hat shop on Etsy.  Its a cute hat, but eventually I want a larger brim portrait hat that is more like Ginger's.  The fur wrap was my grandmothers and the Bakelite bangle is one I found in Jersey City, the shoes are from Mod Cloth.  I absolutely love the dress and its got me wanting some more applique dresses, maybe a 1950s full skirted navy number with hearts, or something with dogs on it!  The possibilities are endless.

 

This dress also taught me a very important lesson about vintage style clothing, certain styles demand certain underthings.  In my quest to expand my vintage wardrobe I had neglected to think about underwear because I was more concerned with what is on the outside.   Plus I worried old style underwear would be extremely uncomfortable and I am active in my clothes: going to work, walking the dogs, I don't wait for special occasions to wear them.  On Kim's advice I ordered a corselette from What Katie Did and I can recommend it more.  Its very comfortable, smooths out lumps and bumps, and lets you wear the seamed stockings that really complete a vintage look.  I'm a complete vintage style shape wear convert now.



Vintage Outfit Post-Poka Dotty!

If I had to spend the rest of my life wearing only one print it would surely be polka-dots.  Polka dots are so much fun and so elegant and so often turn up on gorgeous dresses from my favorite era, the 1930s.  If you aren't convinced just look at this amazing dress worn by Ginger Roger's in 1935's Roberta.

Or this stunning number on Joan Crawford

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Or better yet take a gander at the beautiful polka dots worn by these fabulously stylish "ordinary" women.

These images would lead any vintage enthusiast to conclude that if you are going to have a 1930s wardrobe you need to have a polka dot dress.  I couldn't find my dream long sleeved navy polka dot dress in vintage form, so I turned to the amazing Kim at Time Machine Vintage on Etsy.  She made me a repro dress that is just as good as, if not better, then the genuine article.  Its so much fun to wear:

 Of course I don't like to leave my dogs out of anything so I made sure to put Weasley in his navy and white bobble sweater made by the wonderful Melissa from pug notes.

I paired my dress with a 1930s hat from Adeline's Attic on Etsy, mod cloth oxford shoes, and a vintage barrette.  Since its always fun to mix eras I wore my vintage style cape from American Apparel and my navy 1960s Good Will gloves when I took the dogs for a walk.

One person asked me why I was so dressed up, the answer, as vintage style icon Dita Von Teese says: "the special occasion is life."


Outfit Details:

Dress Time Machine Vintage
Hat Adeline's Attic
Shoe's Mod Cloth
Gloves Goodwill
and of course Weasley's sweater is from Pug Notes!

Vintage Outfit-A Dress Inspired by Poirot

I've mentioned before how much I love the wonderful BBC series Poirot, based on the novels by Agatha Christie.  While the stories are always delightful and the acting is first rate the absolute best thing about the show is the clothing and the sets.   It is a perfect day dream of 1930s fashion and I am often so distracted by the clothing that I forget what the actual crime being investigated is!   The third episode of the first season, The Adventures of Johnny Waverly, had a dress that really got me drooling.

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Here is the same dress updated with a new bow and worn by a different character in a later episode of the series:

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I love that the Poirot series was thrifty enough to use this gorgeous everyday 1930s dress twice.   I was so in love with the dress that it got me thinking that I would really like one of my own, but since I can't sew a lick there was no way I was going to be making it myself.  Thanks to the wonderful Etsy seller Time Machine Vintage I was able to get my dream dress.  Even with the tiny blurry pictures I sent she did an amazing job re-creating the dress and I think I like my version even better then the original.  I also love how it looks with the cute 1930s hat I got from Adeline's Attic on Etsy.  If you ever want to make your own vintage cinema clothing dreams come true then Time Machine Vintage is a great place to turn.

Vintage Outfit Post-Channeling Clara Bow

I've written before about how my favorite 1920s vintage style icon is the lively and charming Clara Bow.  

To my mind the most iconic Clara Bow look involves some sort of nautical blouse 

and a beret

An outfit combining both of these elements has been on my vintage wish list for some time and thanks to Mod Cloth, Time Machine Vintage on Etsy, and Adeline's Attic on Etsy I have managed to create a Clara Bow-Esque look and it is one of my favorites.  Lately I've been wearing it everywhere. 

 The shoes, blouse and tights are from Mod Cloth which is a great resource for reasonably priced vintage inspired items that mix well with more authentic vintage.   I have also always found their customer service to be very helpful.  My hat is an actual 1910s beret from Etsy shop Adeline's Attic and my skirt is a 1930s reproduction from Time Machine Vintage.   I particularly love the hat as its one of the older items in my wardrobe and when I wear it I often wonder about the women who owned it before me, I hope she had as much fun wearing it as I do.