Vintage Perfection

Today was our town’s “fall festival” type thing at the historical center, so like good citizens we decided to check it out. While I’m sure you won’t be interested to hear about the slow tractor race (even though it’s pretty cool), I did find a piece of vintage perfection that someday I’d love to copy, since 1) I’ll never have the figure to wear that exact dress, 2) it’s not for sale, & 3) they’d probably notice if I stole it and wore it…since it was donated from a gal in town. 😉

So anyway, pictures or it didn’t happen, right? Check this beauty out!

Seriously, isn’t it just swoonworthy?!

I love the bias cut satin, the gorgeous lacy bodice, the collar, the criss-crossed stuff under the bust….the only thing I can think of that I don’t like about it is the fact that it’s not mine. 😉

Typically, I’m not a fan of the 1920’s styles–especially the “flapper” look. But if there was more out there like this, I could absolutely see myself wearing them (the description said this was worn in the 20’s). This is the cut that fits and flatters my body the best–it emphasizes the narrowest point on me (that’d be the underbust) without the pregnant look that a straight empire line gives. Sadly, I don’t know of many (or any new) patterns that really give this shape, and it’s pretty distinctive. 😦 Especially since I try not to look like I’m wearing the exact same blouse/dress every day. 😉

This shows the ties on the sleeves a bit better.

I wish I could have been able to tell exactly how the sleeves work, but “look but don’t touch”, you know how it is. They are probably just standard set in sleeves with a ribbon bow on the top, but I’m not positive on that, because I thought there might be a cutout/slit on the sleeve when I was looking at it from a different angle, but couldn’t quite tell for sure with the distance and inability to touch. I’m also bummed that I couldn’t see the back at all. 😦 It was pretty close to the wall and I couldn’t get quite far enough to the side to see the back.

There was another pretty dress, worn by the same woman, but it wasn’t quite as awesome. I probably also should have gotten a separate picture of the red jacket with the fur collar and pockets, but I was too distracted by the dress above.

I like this dress, the sleeves on it are cute and the lace detail is lovely, but it just wasn’t the stunner it’s companion is. 🙂

So what do ya’ll think? Am I crazy and this dress is really  hideous? Have you ever seen a vintage dress in a museum and fell in love?