Modern pin up girls provide plenty of inspiration for how to wear 1940s and 1950s pin up dresses in a fresh way: Mix and match swing dresses with colorful fluffy petticoats and a hair flower. A wiggle pin up dress ads a sexier variety that can also be office appropriate with a matching jacket. Don’t forget seamed stockings and a comfortable but oh-so-sexy pair of wedge heels or casual ballet flats. Think beyond the pin up dress with high waisted pants and shorts or swing skirts and tops. Use the 40s and 50s menus at the top for more pin up clothing.
Orchard Corset: If you’re looking to try out corsets, this is the best place to start. The website has such a wealth of information on how to find the best one for you, how to wear it when you’re just starting out, and where to go from there. Choose from a ton of options, from waist cinchers to full overbust corsets, and designs and shapes for just about everyone.
Many of the most popular prom dresses today are based on styles of the 1950s. Again, Christian Dior created one of the fashions that every girl had to have when he included the bubble dress in his 1954 and 1956 collections. French designer Pierre Cardin also included it in his collection. These dresses are made with hems that fold back on themselves to form a bubble. Women could find various style tops, but bustier ones are most common. Making them even more radical for their time, most had hemlines ending mid-thigh to just above the knee. Look spectacular at your next party by checking out this offering from Lyst (@lyst).
WOW! This dress is just stunning...we've been looking at this style for a while now and it's exceeded our expectations. The flowing chiffon fabric is gathered between the underbust seam and waist and turns into a full circle shirt over a soft and smooth lining which has a built in bra with removable soft cups. Genius! The shirring in the back panel provides a nice firm fit and I'd recommend a long Hell Bunny petticoat underneath to complete the look.
Pinup Girl Clothing: Leaning a little more mainstream and rockabilly, Pinup Girl has an enormous fanbase that spans a variety of subcultures and demographics, from hardcore pinup enthusiasts to true vintage hounds to Disney fanatics. The shop always features some kind of sale and carries collections inspired by everyone from Audrey Hepburn to Dita Von Teese that go up to a size 4X.
Voodoo Vixen: While the brand has the same themes as many of these other shops (swing dresses for everyone!), Voodoo Vixen has two unique angles. It does collaborations with popular retro bloggers — like this winter’s collection with Chicago Chic — and it creates its own vintage-inspired prints in house (this nautical dress is everything), which means you can’t get some of these looks anywhere else.
Using spray and a bristle brush, comb the underneath of the hair upwards in sections and pin it tightly up into the base of the top section. Grab small sections on top of the head, teasing the base and creating barrel curls by wrapping the hair around your fingers. Secure each curl with bobby pins. Refine the style by dressing each curl out so they work in harmony with each other. It is important to make sure the style is symmetrical unless you purposely want a feature piece framing one side of the face. Once you are happy, fix the style with strong hold hairspray.
Although ballet flats had been around for centuries, they had gone out of vogue until Rose Repetto reintroduced them in her 1947 collection. After Audrey Hepburn declared ballet flats her favorite shoe, many teenagers wore them as often as they did their saddle shoes. While some had a very small ½ inch heel, most had no heel at all making them easy to wear to the sock hop. Black ballet flats became all the rage, but other colors were popular as well. Some had small ornamentation on top, however, most were just plain. The trend was firmly established when icon Brigitte Bardot began wearing them. Follow this trend with these classical ballet flats by Remix Vintage Shoes(@remixvintageshoes).
If there’s one thing the ladies from previous decades knew how to do perfectly, it was creating a flawless silhouette. But we aren’t here to tell you to squeeze into a suffocating corset. After all, we’re talking about retro swimwear, not swimwear antiques! So, when you’re shopping for some retro swimsuits this summer season, keep an eye peeled for high waist swimsuit bottoms that are designed with a vintage appeal.
Started in 1999 by Laura Byrnes, Pinup Girl Clothing is best known for its high quality, vintage inspired, made in the USA fashions. Composed of its house brands Pinup Couture, Deadly Dames, Dixiefried Clothing, and Laura Byrnes California it covers styles from the sweet demure to the vampy vixen and beyond. Embracing body positivity, Pinup Girl Clothing designs dresses in sizes ranging from XS to 4XL. Once you try one of their pieces, you'll know why so many other have fallen in love!
Lastly, I smoothed the front with Suavecita Pomade and finished with R+Co’s Outerspace Flexible Hairspray. In short, curl the hair with a small curling iron ans set it using a heat protectant. Tease the front into two sections and mold one side into a victory roll facing forward, and the other side into a barrel role going back. Use a lightweight pomade or wax to smooth and a flexible hairspray to set.
