Floral applique, Lindy Bop Dress, and the 1940’s Working Girl

Rosie the Riveter

I don’t know why, but this outfit reminds me a lot of the photos of 1940’s working girls. Perhaps it’s the headscarf, or the more practical side of my style, or the comfortable flow of this dress, but in the moment I felt as though I could have walked straight from a 40’s WWII photograph. It helps that this gorgeous cardigan really emulates the proclivity towards face-framing applique and embroidery then, and my styling was a bit more relaxed and less corset-and-petticoat of the 50s’ looks.

So, I decided to edit these photos with a vintage flair once again. When I did this before  I was a little less sure of how to get that vintage-tinted look, but I think I’m getting somewhere! One little detail I noticed was that in many photos of the 40’s, the women have what looks to be emphasis on blushing cheeks or a generally glowing complexion. So I did a lot more in editing than I would on a normal basis, taking care to gently brush a tint onto my cheeks and lips, editing the color so that my skin is that smooth-looking, even plane you see so much in old photos.

Of course, in old photos the smooth look is due mostly to the lesser technology of cameras back then and inability to shoot with quite as much detail as we can today. But in my case, it’s simply color editing and a bit of brightening here and there. And also makeup.

I love the challenge of getting a vintage look not only with what I’m wearing, but also in how my photos look. Of course my method is far from perfect and I need to do a little more research to find out how to manipulate the colors just right. But it was a fun experiment and I think it compliments this look!

Celebrations

I wore this outfit for my mom’s birthday. I had to get ready in a hurry, and had gotten this dress in the mail only the day before. Just before we left, the mail came, delivering this cardigan as well, and while they aren’t perfect color matches I love the way they work together! The flowers seem to echo each other and add in a bit of that 1920’s or 1930’s bohemian vibe that Skye has talked about before. It was the perfect outfit to wear for a family party where I knew I would be helping out a lot and corralling my kids!

This Lindy Bop dress is SO comfortable. My one complaint with Lindy Bop is that many of their dresses have a waistline that is just a tad too high to hit my natural waist, but a bit too low to be empire waisted. This dress is one of those cuts, but once belted it didn’t bother me as much. And the fact that the sleeves actually stretch and move the way sleeves should? So perfect.

I had actually spotted this dress on Lindy Bop months and months ago, and agonized over whether to get it or not. Ultimately I decided to pass it up in favor of another dress I needed for photography work, but I always had this dress in the back of my mind as the one that got away.

Then last week, someone posted it in a BST group, new with tags still attached, because she’d purchased it and it didn’t fit her as expected. So I JUMPED at the chance to own it, and I am so glad I did! It fits me just as I would have expected even with the waist issues (which I just figured would be a given!) and I couldn’t be happier.

I hope you will forgive my being late to post this! I got sick again this past weekend, and then once I was well enough to shoot it rained for three days straight. I only barely squeaked in a little photoshoot in this dress before it started sprinkling again! You can actually see the rain in a few shots as I rushed to get done before the deluge started up again.

But it’s supposed to be sunny this weekend, in perfect time for my husband and I to have an early Valentine’s day adventure alone! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Dress, Lindy Bop (similar here) | shoes, thrifted (same brand similar here) | belt, thrifted | cardigan, Coldwater Creek (similar vintage here and here) | headscarf, thrifted | brooch, vintage (similar here) | tights, Target (similar color here in teal)

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