Vintage style - can i pull it off? - help please

Tygermoth

Hi there all,
I need advice re a dressing issue.

I am not a girly girl nor a follower of fashion so am a touch hopeless in this regard. I look neat and dress only to try and flatter my size and shape. However I have just been thrown a bit of a curve ball for a wedding.

The whole wedding theme has been announced today as ‘The Nineteen Fifties’ and they are going the whole hog, music, food, decorations and dress. (We are even being picked up in a vintage Red London Double Decker Bus) I have no issue with this as it was ‘on the cards’ so to speak as the couple in question are very quirky, dear to our hearts and it will be fantastic.

My problem is more of a technical one....

I am 4ft 11 and a size 16/18 and a square shape with my waist at 42/38/42 (as you see I don’t go in!)

So the style of the time is not really flattering to my shape

I was thinking of a heavy boned corset with a circle skirt and under petticoat to give me a waist.

However my when chatting to my mates they thought i was to short to pull it off.


Any ideas?


Many thanks



Tyger

Lobell

I htink you could pull it off...a couple of petticoats (double up on them if necessary - you can pick them up cheap on ebay) will help to raise the hemline a bit and a good pair of heels will help.

I bought a Vivien of Holloway 50s style dress to wear to 2 weddings recently and it's gorgeous....gives a fantastic shape. I can highly recommend them.

cherub1965

if you have a very flared skirt and a corset giving you a bit of shape up top i dont see a problem.i would wear the same colour or slightly different shades of the same to save not chopping yourself in half,so to speak.dont listen to what other people say,wear what you feel right in.i am size 22 myself and wear corsets,bustiers and long flowy skirts with a little shrug or something to hide the bingo wings.i do find belts make me look bigger.some people try to make a waist by wearing a wide belt,i think it just draws attention to what you havent got personally.

ailuro2

Forget the corset- if you're not used to it , it would be torture to wear all day to a wedding.

Can you have a beehive and winklepickers to go with the correct length of dress? Because you're small you can pull off 'cute' fifties style dresses - ones with kooky patterns that taller girls won't be able to do. Also use it as an excuse to get a wonderful hat if you can't have that beehive to add some height.;)

treat it as a chance to wear something fantastically different from the norm, and of course, check out vintage shops such as Oxfam, Save the Children etc. for bargains.

go in and talk to people working in your local shops and ask them to keep an eye out for fifties type clothes for the wedding, bet they'd be more than happy to.:D

elfen

Cherub, that's why I dont like wearing belts! *is a bit of a barrel at 35 waist and 39 hips.....* I think OP, if you go for a corset and a flared skirt with a couple of nice petticoats and decent shoes you should be OK, could you go to a department store and see if they have a free personal dresser service so you could find out the best way of doing it before committing to it (just in case they let you know about a skirt length that looks good on you?)

annie123

Tygermoth wrote: »

I am 4ft 11 and a size 16/18 and a square shape with my waist at 42/38/42 (as you see I don’t go in!)

You do have a waist, there is a 4" difference

In my parents wedding photos is a picture of my nan, who was (and still is) 4'10" tall and the same wide!, well maybe not that big but not far off.

They married in 1958. My nan looked fab in a red shift dress, finishing just below the knee with sweetheart neck line,(showing a hefty cleavage) matching winkle picker stilettos and a matching bolero jacket.
Her hair was that sort of curly thing that framed the face leaving a smooth head for the obligatory matching hat, oh and white cotton gloves.
Her jewelery was the diamond and ruby necklace with matching earings.

Mum wore a white big circle skirt dress etc Dad wore a very sharp suit, complete with toned down quiff and god knows how he squeezed his feet into those winkle pickers!

Why not visit a fancy dress hire shop to try some bits on, so you can get a feel for the look you are most comfortable with.

I can also recommend Vivien of Holloway,http://www.vivienofholloway.com/
She will make it to fit you exactly for now extra charge, or at least she used too.

Just had a nosy,her pencil skirt dresses on the home page look fab:)

FairyShazza

Vivien of Holloway all the way!

I am a size 18, 4ft 11" and curvy. It sounds like you a typical hourglass shape which is the most perfect body shape to wear a Vivien of Holloway circle dress. They do them in a variety of shapes and patterns and they are perfect wedding attire - I always wear a VOH to weddings now as I have always got such great compliments when I have done in the past.

Get a petticoat to wear underneath it and you will look fantastic