Monday, February 23, 2009

50's Fashion Overview

50's Fashion

The 50’s are one of the decades that exemplifies America. From the ’57 Chevy to Elvis and The Beatles, the 50’s were a great time to live. One of the great pieces of the 50’s that still lives today is 50’s fashion, and no piece of 50’s fashion is more iconic than the 50’s poodle skirt. However, to truly get into the spirit of the 50’s a number of things are required besides the poodle skirt.

Blouses

Most blouses in the 50’s where tighter fitting with quarter length sleeves. They sometimes had a pocket or an appliqué sewn on the front on the right of left shoulder. Most blouses had collars albeit very small collars and a scarf would sometimes be worn to accessorize the outfit. Lastly, the blouse would be tapered around the waist very tightly to give the appearance of a small waist line.

Pants

Pencil leg pants were quite popular. These were tight fitting pants that stopped about mid calve. They were very similar to what we consider capris today. Again the pants were tight and were worn that way to give a very slimming appearance.


Skirts

Unlike the blouses and pants, the skirts worn in the 50’s were very full and loose fitting. The most popular skirt was the poodle skirt, which was a long full skirt that went to about mid calve, and was worn with a Crinoline Petticoat or a full slip to give the skirt more body. A thick belt was worn to separate the tight blouse from the full poodle skirt and this gave the impression of a very small waist.

Shoes

Saddle Oxford Shoes were worn by most girls. These were very simple shoes that were great for dancing at a Sock Hop. They had about a 1” soles which didn’t give them much height. They were white and black and were worn with Bobby Socks, which were little socks that went about ankle length.


Accessories

We have already mentioned a few accessories like scarves, belts and bobby socks. Some other 50’s accessories were Cat-eye Glasses and Pearl Jewelry. Anyone of these accessories will really help finish off a 50’s costume or outfit.

50’s Poodle Skirts

Most of the mentioned items can be purchases at www.50spoodleskirts.com . For the last decade 50’s Poodle Skirts have been designing and producing some of the most authentic 50’s fashion, apparel and accessories online.