Monday, September 8, 2014

1950's Styled Portraits

At our church's recent missions conference & international dinner (read more about the whole weekend on our family blog, here!) several from my family ended up on team America. My first thought was that "this will be boring", because, after all, we live in America. What could we do for our international booth that would actually be interesting? 
Enter my Cassie friend, who is pretty much the world's most creative decorator/designer/planner extraordinare. She told us all that we were going to go back in time and recreate a 1950's America home, complete with food, furniture, and...clothing, of course! We were going to be LEGIT.
And let me tell you, we went all out, and it was such fun. Pretty sure I could dress like this every.single.day. 
Well, except for maybe the heavy lipstick. That would get annoying. =)
                       
Since we were all dressed up anyway, and since its not everyday that we dress this way, we took a few minutes to grab some fun shots.
Above is Rebecca, in a fun, polka dotted dress I found at goodwill and remade for her, and an adorable little hairstyle that we took from the Shirley Temple version of "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm".
(shh...don't tell that it was previously a women's size sundress  and waay too big for her. There's nothing that a sewing machine can't fix! With just a little work it was transformed into just her size.)
My shoes.
(!!!!!!!!!!!)
Once again, courtesy of goodwill.
Never mind that they were two sizes too small. They were 1950's after all!! So I wore them.
 I may or may not have had the sorest feet for a long time afterwards...but they were still worth it. 
My sister was aMAYzing!! She did her hair herself, which was super impressive. 
Her dress was borrowed from me (it was a dress I've had for a few years-got it at goodwill and added the black band at the bottom to give it a tad bit more length) her heels were her own, and I found the jewelry for her in a 1950's tote at a costume consignment store.
The magazine she was looking at was an antique womens fashion magazine. No clue how it happened to be open to a picture of a baby..whatever.
Vering from the fashion for a minute to..THIS STOVE. 
#Yay for discarded stoves that don't work and red spray paint and friends who are just genius like that. Oh, and REAL APPLE PIE.
Ah-she's just so FIFTIES!! =)
Liz and I grabbed a quick photo together. Poor child-she HATED that huge hairbow and tried her best to convince me that no normal child in ANY time period would have ever been caught DEAD in something like that.
Unfortunately for her, she's stuck with an older sister (me!) who is a fifties junkie. I KNOW this time period. The big bow was a must. End of subject. =)
Big bow and all-agree with me that she looks VERY darling?! Oh. And her dress was from goodwill too!
And then just a few of yours truly. I don't like posting pictures of myself buuut...one of the guys had left their glasses on the table and I just couldn't resist trying them on and grabbing a few pictures.
And no, I haven't had a heart change-I still abhor coke. But a coke bottle really seemed fitting for the shot, so I compromised. =)
And my dress? On cue, all together now....Goodwill! =) Once again it was too short but I took the fabric belt and took out the seams and attached it to the bottom of the dress. (see the above picture-you will be able to tell where the lines contrast near the hem) I love how it turned out. 
Anybody else love the fifties, too? Have you ever dressed up fifties-style?

-Chels

31 comments:

  1. oh my WORD these are so cool!!! I saw a few Cassie posted on fb, but loved seeing your outfits and all better in these photos! And alli's HAIR. #icanteven #solegit

    ReplyDelete
  2. haha,my friends and I just did a 'vintage' shoot. Though we didn't have the awesome props and gorgeous faces y'all do! ;)

    http://hisbrunette.blogspot.com/2014/09/remember-my-small-town-post-yeah-well.html

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow, you really put together an impressive display! I wasn't around during the 1950s, but I do remember the furniture from that time period. Grandma had it at her house. I did dress up 1950s style once when I was a kid. I wore a scarf around my ponytail instead of a big bow!

    Liz might be interested in seeing photos of little girls from the Soviet Union. Their hair bows were sometimes as big as their whole head! I believe in some parts of Russia, girls still wear those bows as part of their school uniform.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Lovely pictures, Chelsy!! Allison's hairstyle is so pretty!! I'm a fifties fan too:-) what other time periods do you like??

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wellll....I love the regency era. (done modestly)
      And the civil war era...and the victorian/titanic style time period. =)

      Delete
  5. Love it! You girls are adorable and I CANNOT wait to see all the other promised posts!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh, wow! You ladies look lovely! or... what is a fifties term for lovely?! ;)

    For real, well done! Liz was such a trooper for putting up with the hairbow. ;)

    xo,
    Ali

    ReplyDelete
  7. Yes! Yes! And yes! Loving yours and Allison's 50's post! You girls are just darling! Hugs, Merry

    ReplyDelete
  8. That was AWESOME! I love.love.love it!!! You girls looks STUNNING!!!! I can't believe Allison did her hair! WOW Thanks for the fun post! Can't wait to hear what the announcement is! :))))))) -Mary

    ReplyDelete
  9. Great post!!! I am a costumer (check out Somewhere in Time, Unlimited in Seattle) and love your 50's look. I am most fond of Regency, Georgian, Edwardian and 40's. We have a spare room which is filled with my costumes. I always enjoy your family and wish you'd tour the west coast (Seattle) someday. Blessings.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Wow! Looks like you had a load of fun! I love vintage style!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hi Chels,

    I may start a blog on Weebly. But for two years its $90 and when I sign in there no lock, meaning its not protected. How much does blogger cost you? Is there a lock when you sigh in?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Blogger is free!! It is super easy to learn/use and I love it! I do pay a yearly fee now because I got my own personalized domain name (I don't have the "blogspot" part attached anymore) But I can still upload/post/do everything else through blogger.
      You have to set up an account with a username and password. You then have the option of either having an open blog (anyone can view it, like mine) or having a "locked blog", where readers need a password, or invitation, to read it.
      Hope that helps!

      Delete
  12. Btw, tell Liz the hair bow is just lovely. My 12 year old still wears them and the bigger the better I say.:)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Love your sister's look! It's absolutely perfect :O and the stove!!! wow you guys did a good job! Yeah I like vintage too ;)

    Love,
    Ruth

    ReplyDelete
  14. I liked your post. I know Coke is not the best thing in the world for you but I drink it. Mainly because it helps my migraines- its the caffeine.. What do you drink instead of coke? I think that's one thing I like- the fizziness.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The drink that I love is called "Izzies". They have multiple different flavors and are a delicious carbonated drink-awesome substitute for soda. =)

      Delete
  15. How FUN!!!! Y'all did it right, I must say! The whole shebang.... And I love it! Y'all look amazing as usual. ;D
    ~Allie W

    ReplyDelete
  16. Cute outfits, girls! You all looked very nice, and it looked like you had a good time dressing up. :-)
    ~Katie@liliesofgrace.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  17. What lovely pictures!!!!! I love your outfits! They are perfect.

    ReplyDelete
  18. You are all just so adorable!! And what a fun evening! I think the 50's are one of my favorite eras. It is just so classy and stylish and beautiful! The heels in the kitchen are the best part of all. Now I want to go and get all dresses up for the rest of the day. :)

    ReplyDelete
  19. The 50's look good on you. ;) And props on getting your little sister to wear her hair like that! Adorablness!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Hi Chels,
    I started a blog, so right now its not that good, but I was wondering if you could do a blog post (I'll include the link) so people will see it? Thanks! http://www.livinginhislight.com/

    ReplyDelete
  21. Umm are you kidding me?? I have that exact same dress! That black and white dress; I found mine at a thrift store also (here in San Diego), and my sister added the exact same black band at the bottom to add length. That is insane; it looks exactly the same. :D

    ReplyDelete
  22. Hi Chelsy! I was just visiting Bethany's blog where she wrote a lovely post about hearing you and your family sing so I decided to come by for a little visit :)

    You have a delightful blog and your pictures are simply beautiful! It was also a joy to read about your faith in Jesus Christ - thank you for being used by Him.

    Blessings to you!

    ReplyDelete
  23. Hello! I've followed your blog for several years now...but my visits have been sporadic of late. I came back in time to see this post and really enjoyed it! :) You girls did the '50s look so well! I thought you might like to have a look at the pictures we took for our 1940/1950 birthday party this year! The end of the post has more dress-up pictures. :) Enjo!

    ReplyDelete
  24. Beautiful young ladies! You did such a great job on your outfits. I wish I had your sewing skillz! :)

    ReplyDelete
  25. I'm continually inspired by how you can transform thrifted items into such awesome ensembles!! And, yes, definitely agree that Liz's hairbow is totally darling. =)

    ReplyDelete
  26. Oh, I love it!!! The 50's style is so awesome...

    ReplyDelete

Comments containing profanity and/or hateful language will not be published. I will not be posting comments with questions regarding either John's or my extended family. If you have questions about them, please go ask them on their blogs. =)
Also, anyone with a question related to a post must provide their full name. Feel free to email me with questions on topics not pertinent to the post. Thanks y'all!