Having of late decided to jaunt back to my lovely 1950’s and put down some roots again, I thought it might be fun to share the frivolity of that move. These fun little movie clips about the outlandish designs occurring at the time for footwear, eyeglasses and hats are simply sugar and fluff. But a big pile of pink candy floss/cotton candy is always fun, in moderation of course.
After landing my virtual time machine back in the 1950’s recently, I have happily enjoyed toying with images and colors and layout as can be witnessed by the sites new look. It’s interesting to me that I have come to view the 1950’s as my ‘home’ of late. When I began my project back in 1955 (2009) I actually felt almost nothing about the 1950’s. I have always loved history and in depth research. And my love of fashion, interiors, clothes and art usually landed me in the 19th century when it came to wishing upon times I would like to visit. Therefore it is interesting to me that the 1950’s, a decade to which I only had mild interest, came to mean so much to me. But maybe, in some way, that is part of the appeal and eventual home-like feeling it has provided me. I went in trying to have no pre-conceived notions but trying to look out to see of our general ‘perception’ of the time was at all accurate. And yet, much like a family or community that we may not necessarily choose but to which, by circumstance or random acts, we find ourselves part of, we begin to fell akin to it. Despite its quirky behavior or odd habits we find we love our odd little town, or dysfunctional. family or bizarre little circle of friends. The 1950’s have become that to me.
I hope to make more in depth forays into the 1950’s then but worry not I will still continue my 1913 reasearch, as I mentioned in my last post. It will simply be more sporadic or possibly upon a set day once a week. But, for now lets travel to the fun and bright shine of 1950’s fashion oddities.
These films, though a bit tongue in cheek, are wonderful views into makeup and hair styles though. They have a feeling of clever wit I really enjoy. And I must say, I wish the British News Announcer accent was more the norm, but alas I fear, much like some of the lovely traditions of the past, that too is fading.
Here are lovely shoes:
Silly Hats:
Eyeglass fashion:
Quirky, but sometimes rather lovely glasses. I adore the cat eye upswept versions The Robin’s egg blue pair they decide are not good for the auburn haired beauty, I rather liked for myself. And the swirl on the arms of the glasses are divine. Here is fashion about style and not simply about trying to be ‘sexy’. I rather like fashion for the wearer, i.e. a woman loves the feel and swirl of a full skirt or elaborate outfit because it makes HER feel good, not because it is somehow meant to always illicit sexual desire or attraction from the opposite sex. Today, however, it seems the latter is more important.
And for a fun finish to today’s post of decadent eye candy, here is the lovely color scheme of Ricky and Lucy Ricardo’s tv Apartment. Here we see the lovely pink and grey fabric of the sofa and the grey brick walls.
Here is a shot I took from the movie that follows. During a shooting of the I Love Lucy show, someone was also filming with a color home movie camera of the time. It is amazing to see the home footage in color and then the actual black and white of the produced TV version. I never knew their apartment (This was during the time when they didn’t have the more modern furniture in the apartment) was that lovely 1950’s salmon pink and grey. I love this color combination and was excited to see it. You can see the above sofa from the official TV photograph most likely for a magazine and the same sofa on the set in the movie that follows.
It inspired me to make a board on my retrocolorstory pinterest site with pink and grey color schemes. You can visit that board HERE if you are interested.
Enjoy the clips of the color and black and white footage of the 1951 shooting of I Love Lucy.
Have a lovely day and as always, Happy Homemaking.
