7 April 1957 “The Pajama Game and Minimum Wage”

  I watched the 1957 Musical “The Pajama Game” the other day. It was a film adaption of the 1954 Broadway hit and that was adapted from the Richard Bissell Novel, 7 1/2 Cents. Bissell novel was based on his experiences in the garment industry. And he wrote it while he was the vice-president of his family's pajama factory located in Dubuque, Iowa.

The film version kept the principle actors from the Broadway production except they replaced Janis Paige with Doris Day. I love Doris Day and her films, so this was fine by me.

The song, 7 1/2 cents, really hit me in this film. The main plot is concerning the love interest between the new superintendent and Doris Day, a worker. The Management/worker relationship is explored here in a fun way.

Yet, this song really got me thinking about minimum wages. I recalled when back in 1955 I mentioned that the federal minimum wage had been raised to $1 in 1955 and that equaled $7.50 in 2009 money, some told me their states still don’t pay $7.50 today. I was rather shocked by that.

Have a listen to this fun song:

For fun I thought I would list the minimum wages in the times they speak of (the 10 year increments). What they hope they can buy is also entertaining to consider in this song.

1957 Minimum wage: $1.00 Adjusted for inflation for Today: $7.88

1967 Minimum wage: $ 1.40 Adjusted for inflation for Today:$9.28

1977 Minimum wage: $2.30 Adjusted for inflation for Today $8.40

Today many groceries are cheaper by comparison to the 1950’s when one considers inflation, but the cost of housing and healthcare/doctor/hospital and college is much higher. Yet, our cheaper costs on clothes and food is tied to our oil prices (as many things travel thousands of miles from other countries to get to our stores), so it is scary to think of the increased cost of things with a lower standard of living than 1950’s.

Gas was .24 cents a gallon in 1957 which is $1.89 today. In 1967 it was .36 cents or $2.39 a gallon today and in 1977 it was .65 cents which would be around $2.37. It is amazing how cheap gas got in the 1990s. It was cheaper, by comparison, to the 1950’!

Well, I am off to my sewing bee. I hope all have a lovely day and if you want you can buy the DVD in the CORNER STORE.

6 April 1957 “Computers, India, and Modern Worries”

This year we see computers advancing to the point that they are able to have radar displays. In this short film we see how the computer receiver is placed in the nose of war ships. Technology is going hand in hand with defense. And, sadly, this defense can also be used in offensive positions as well as defensive. A move we seem to be taking here in the 21st century.

This year we also see IBM’s Fortran programming language. This computer language dominated for over 50 years (through successive fortran I, II and so on). It aided in everything from Numerical weather prediction to computational physics and chemistry. The mind of man was now being greatly aided by the machine. We are moving from the Industrial Revolutions machine, which helped to replace the ox and cart, to the technological machine, which is aiding and often replacing man’s need for calculations and innovation. This decade truly is an almost intensified kernal of pre and post modern living.

Yesterday, 5 April, the Communist Party in India won its elections in Kerala, the southern most state on the west coast. This state was just created last year, 1956,  when India  reorganized its boundaries along linguistic lines. This was the first time that an opposition party won control over an Indian state.

What often happens when I am researching history for the year (1957 now) I often find an interesting line from it to the future. In this case I found that on 8 July 2008 the communist party withdrew its support over a decision with our country.

This withdrawal was due to the United States-India Peaceful Atomic Energy Cooperation Act. The Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singhand  and George W. Bush signed the contract which India agreed to separate its civil and military nuclear facilities and place all its civil nuclear facilities under International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards and, in exchange, the United States agreed to work toward full civil nuclear cooperation with India.

At first I thought, well this is good as the IAEA is set in place to try and keep Nuclear power/energy towards peaceful purposes. However, this act partially ammeded the U.S. domestic law, in the Atomic Energy Act of 1954.

Now, stay with me here, this act signed by Eisenhower in 1954 was changing the same Atomic Energy Act of 1946. The changes made in ‘54 with Eisenhower allowed:

increased support for the possibility of a civilian nuclear industry. Notably it made it possible for the government to allow private companies to gain technical information (Restricted Data) about nuclear energy production and the production of fissile materials, allowed for greater exchange of information with foreign nations as part of Eisenhower's Atoms for Peace program.

Now what is interesting to me about Bush reversing this part of the contract is it takes away the possibility of individuals (that is you and me or any business0 which might want to address this energy as a clean source of future power.

But, regardless of that, the main thing I found interesting in the 2008 agreement was this: On 1 August of 2008, the IAEA approved safeguards with India then the USA allowed a grant  waiver to India to commence civilian nuclear trade. What this then means is that now India is the only known country with nuclear weapons which is not a party to the Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT) but is still allowed to carry out nuclear commerce with the rest of the world. 

Therefore we look at the NPT (Non Proliferation Treaty). This is a treaty to limit the spread (proliferation) of nuclear weapons. So, we now have allowed India, a producer of Nuclear power/weapons, to not be held accountable to a treaty in which Nuclear weaponry is prohibitive or controlled.

Why this scares me: In our current political climate we are set to be a great competitor to China for control and use of power. This is oil, resources and so on. China is vastly becoming in a strange way a version of the USA around 1900 when Industrialization began to change the face of the country and also an odd mix of 1950’s when the production of cars and the build up of a middle class is beginning. India is a main area to want to control in an offset to China. We, through our connections with India, are now saying to the world, we can (and not have to tell you) make and create nuclear weapons.

It seems whenever I try to innocently spend a day here in the 1950’s it is becoming harder and harder to keep out the 21st century. This is increasingly becoming true here in 1957. As the 1950’s close, I see more and more the writing on the wall for our country and our world. In many ways I feel I would be better served to be doing the wartime years of the 1940’s as it seems large countries are now gearing towards a global world and the means of that end might be war.

After a morning like this, I think I need to go into my kitchen and do some baking. Tomorrow I will be having a sewing bee with some friends, so I shall try to close out our world for a few days. But, I know I must keep my eyes open and keep looking around me. I wonder if this was how the ladies in the war years felt, when the news and the impending feeling of bad times were coming? Did their abilities in home knowledge help them to ‘get to work’ to keep their minds of it all. Yet, have the smarts to make sure they still listened to the wireless enough to keep abreast of situations, to know the best plan for their families? I think they must have.

We are living in vastly changing times. So, today,learn more about your countries policies and the history that lead to them, then go bake a cake. It seems the best equation to use for we modern homemakers.

4 April 1957 “Happy Anniversary To Me: Remembering 1943”

Today is my 14th wedding anniversary.  I thought I would share this vintage 50’s card I found in my 1955 year with you again. It is very sweet, I think, and I love the graphics.

One of my cookbooks has this lovely cake for an Anniversary that I think I will try this year. I adore citrus filling with cake and lemon is one of my favorite.

I was considering today that if Hubby and I were married for  14 years and this is 1957, we would have been wed in 1943. What a time that would have been.

Since the U.S. was officially in the war as of the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese on the 7 December 1941, there is a good chance hubby would be in the military at that point. Perhaps making our wedding something along the lines of this. Though I have a feeling we might have been more along the lines of this couple: 

1943 would have been a very tough year. The war had been raging in Europe since 1939. Now that we were in the thick of it, Rosie the riveter was born. In fact this painting by Norman Rockwell of Rosie the Riveter was painted in 1943, our wedding year.

The world changed vastly in a short period of time. Here is a film I would have seen in the theatre here in the US about the Rationing in UK and know very well we would be here soon ourselves.

This would also be a film I would most likely view when I was at the ‘pictures’.

I am not sure if I would have taken work in a factory to help, or simply rolled bandages and done that sort of at home war work. There would have been a Victory Garden for sure. But, if my hubby were overseas, I have a feeling I would want to help and I could see myself wanting to volunteer to train in nursing or something to be overseas as well. It would be a hard decision to make to stay here and prepare the world for when our boys returned and also to provide for those overseas or to be over there to help in the thick of it. How do you think you would decide? If you had children, that would make a great difference I am sure.

When I consider what my early married life would have been and now the vast luxury and ease of my 1957 home life, I wonder  how I would have ever truly felt all of this was ‘normal’. We would be so happy to have the world back and to have plenty after all that we had to do with out and all the dirt and muck and grim and death of war. The plastic bright world of the 1950’s would seem a dream, almost. And, really, in many ways it was. It was such a unique time that seemed only able to sustain itself for the short period of time. I think, however, in the back of my mind, I would have always recalled the hardships of the war and the vastly changing world, how could I not?

Now, hubby and I are not celebrating today. He has a 10 day vacation coming up next week and we have decided to have our ‘celebration’ be a great ‘staycation’ where in we work on the yard and take little trips here on the Cape. We are also hoping to use that week to really consider and think about our own future. We have begun to wonder what the reality of our true future, here in the USA and the increasing global world of wars in the middle east and rising oil prices, where are we headed? We are beginning to see we need to possibly make a vast change in our lives, even more so than I have done living here in the 1950’s.

I do know that my love of history and how fortunate we are to have such a vast array of past knowledge to draw upon, we certainly can consider and decide on a better future for ourselves.

I’ll close with this lovely rendition of Stormy Weather (from the movie of the same name from 1943) sung by Lena Horn. It is stormy weather up ahead and I hope we can all make it better together.

2 April 1957 “Elvis and Graceland: A Symbolic Rise”

On March 26 of this year, 1957, the 22-year-old Elvis Presley buys Graceland on 3734 Bellevue Boulevard for $US100,000. Adjusted for inflation, that would be like spending $787,576.51 today. While certainly that is a large amount, one must consider a home of this size on 13 acres today would be much more than that.

This is an amazing jump in wealth for the young artist, when you consider his first ‘nice’ house purchase when he began to make money as a singer.

This is  1034 Audubon Drive in a nicer well-to-do suburban middle/upper middle class neighborhood east of downtown Memphis.  This was his first house he purchased in Memphis. He paid $29,100 in March of 1956, keeping his mom and dad on the title. This would be the price of $229,184.77 today. This is roughly our current U.S. median house price. Yet, in 1956, this would around three times the yearly salary of the average family.

This was quite a move up from his birthplace in the 1930’s. Elvis Aaron Presley was born in Tupelo, Mississippi on January 8, 1935 to Vernon and Gladys Presley. His father would later lose them this home (which cost $108 dollars to build in the 1930’s or about $1500 today) when he was arrested and found guilty of check forgery.

What I find interesting about Elvis time at his first ‘nice home’ in 1956 is how fitting it is to him. Here he is in the front yard.And enjoying beer with friends on the patio.A happy and well off Elvis is seen here. Someone who is making a decent living at what he is doing.

Now for me, here is the turn. In one year, this year 1957, his fame and wealth shoots through the roof. His continued fame and his foray into movies, such as this year’s Jail house rock.

To me, we begin to see a sad turn of events that I am beginning to associate with the growing greed and idol worship in my country at this time. Elvis fame came quick and made millions for others who fed off Elvis, and I don’t mean hangers on but Record and Movie execs who saw a ‘product’ to exploit for gain.

Had Elvis lived in an earlier time such fame would not have been considered. Certainly the Crooner’s of the 40’s had a fame approaching this, but not to the extent. Radio and movie appearences began to lead to the type of exploitation a new ‘hottest thing’ could be, but really we are here in this pivotal year when the increased TV ownership/viewing, Growing Movie industry (The sweeping dramas of the 1930’s and even the high Technicolor Comedey extravaganza are beginning to go in lieu of more and easily made pictures ‘featuring’ the latest product: in this case Elvis).

I guess what makes me sad is if Elvis had lived in a world where one appreciated his talent and he was paid for his singing and appearances a reasonable amount, his life may have continued on into old age happily at his little suburban House. But, the money made for him was made at his own expense. His increased prescription drug use into the 1970’s to keep him on stage is the sad fact of this ‘products’ advantage to make more and more for those around him. When is enough enough? Are we to believe we must always have more and more? Is the big pink mansion really the ultimate goal for us when it comes at the cost of our lives and souls? I don’t know.

This sudden rise and even the vast movement in homes of Elvis is almost a microcosmic version of our country from 1950’s to today. The move from the ‘old ways’ of the little house with the relatives, living together to help one another out to ‘our own home in the suburbs’ isolation and increased costs to the McMansions of today. Are we happier? We all live ‘better’ we have more buying power and multiple cars and things at our fingertips, but is our health, our family, our lives better? Are we happier?

 

This is part of Graceland decorated for Christmas. Even this image shows the level to which Elvis was happy, a paneled rumpus room. One would not even associate this picture with the big pillared colonial structure in which it is in. Was this merely Elvis making a happy little nest in the vastness of his new wealth and fame?

I think there is a lesson here in Graceland. The rise from affordability, family, and honest work for honest pay. When we prop up one person and millions who have little happily give up their money to that idol, the money does not go to only them. It feeds a system of people who live and make wealth off the opportunity of others making no real product or music. And was this idol worship good for Elvis? Certainly his traumatic slide and dramatic end makes a great tale and has an almost God-like or Greek Tragedy quality in its telling, but at the root of it, Elvis was simply a young man who liked to sing and play his guitar. Was the result worth it? And, is the result, the need we now have to want to ‘live like a rock star’ a healthy attitude? Do young people even today associate ‘bad behavior and choice’ as a goal to work towards? Wealthy people mis-behaving, abusing themselves and those around them? Is this what we have become?

If this were not the move the world made from 1950’s to today, we might be able to buy a ticket at a good price to sit in a little honky tonk and listen to the ‘old man’ Elvis play his guitar and sing us some of our old favorites. Instead we have a shrine to the lifestyle and waste and we happily worship at it, only hoping we might be so “lucky”.

29 March 1957 “The Little Woman At Home”

I recently have begun to consider how different my day has become in the past two and half years. What often seems normal to me now will sometimes suddenly become apparently alien to the majority of the United States: My being at home.

I am often so buy (even without children) just caring for my home, researching and writing my blog, that the days seem an almost homogenous bubble in which I exist. There was a time when driving everyday, dealing with traffic, or just dealing with more people in general in the city, was a normal part of my day. It can often seem odd, now, when I will stop in the middle of what I am doing and notice the quite.

I rarely listen to music for the majority of the day. I once always had some noise on: the TV, music, headphones and i-Pod. Now, when I do listen to music, it is an intentional act. Perhaps I might like it on if I am ironing in the kitchen or making breakfast (then I use my old-look radio that has a hidden CD player with old music/radio programs on it). I have become so ‘lazy’ about the need to constantly have new or different music that I realized that same CD has been in there since last Thanksgiving. I like the old songs sung by Ella and Louis, and ‘The Colgate Comedy Hour” which technically ended broadcast in 1955-so even in 1957 I can be an anachronism.

Sometimes, at my lunch time, I will take the time to put a record on. Again, I have had a Doris Day album on the turntable for some times and I simply play the same side. I compare this to the old modern me who found it normal to always be finding new artists bands and new songs. It makes me wonder, how the songs created by bands/ musicians now have to be assembly lined. Can there be a classis song from our time? Other than one or two pop songs that might infiltrate all levels of popular society, songs seem to be brought out and used so quickly. And of course then used in advertising, the other constant sound of the modern world.

Not having advertising in your life is a strange experience. Occasionally  I will click on a program such as HULU just to see what advertising is happening now. I am at first always taken by the noise! The sheer constant barrage of sound mingled in one commercial. The last time I did this, maybe two weeks ago, I made it through one commercial and it made my stomach turn. I can’t recall if it was for a service or the device, but there was a father watching a show on a large wall television, then he moves to his desktop computer. It turns into a cartoon and he removes the monitor (Which is apparently also like an eBook or something) and hands it to his children who were just begging for his attention. When he hands it to him (despite the fact he was oblivious to their needs prior) they suddenly go comatose and lose interest in the father and watch the show. Then the parents leave the child with a sitter.

There was also another similar commercial where shows for children went from TV, to computer to hand held devices to car seat monitors all with the idea that the child luckily is kept busy with his/her shows on the go. What about looking out the window? Or engaging one another in conversation (language skills and social skills are really learned at these early stages, with less and less actual human interaction but only faux magical online/TV interaction, how is this skewing children’s reality, I wondered?

Needless to say, I don’t do this very often. But I am always taken by the noise and sound. I even notice sometimes if I am visiting a friend who may have the TV on most of the time. There is this high pitched electric sound I was never really aware of before. You can hear it in spades in big box stores that sell electronics, I am sure (Though I have not been in a big box store in quite awhile either.)

When we lived in Boston it was normal to see the majority of passersby self-engaged with their i-Pods. I too would walk with my headphones in and it seemed normal. Yet, looking back, I can see that last bastion of community, the city, slowing removing its inhabitants to some pseudo-self world that allows you to carry yourself around to the exclusion of those around you. Less random conversations are started when a train full of people are staring into space with headphones or staring at little screens furiously typing away or talking on phones. The social engagement of people to people in person seems a fading possibility.

That is when I began to think of my own isolation here. Certainly I am trying to relive to a certain point the 1950’s homemaker’s life. There would have been those quiet at home moments, no TV or noise and just you and your thoughts. But, what there would also have been is houses and houses full of people doing what you were doing. And a relationship amongst those “little women at home”. A pop next door to borrow a cup of sugar. A shared ride with Betty because it was her day with the car, to go to bridge or marketing together. A chat over the fence or a chance encounter on the main and high streets of towns and villages and cities.

Sometimes I will walk to the end of our drive and look up and down our road. Look at all the houses and see them basically empty. Though we do live in an area of many retired people without jobs, they are often off at the shops and such. Our neighbors next door, a young couple, are almost never home. Their cars are their only indicator. I think sometimes in the summer I will see them together but most of the time they leave at different times, arrive home at different times and occasional share a ‘hello’ with me when they take their dog out briefly and return to the house and then are gone.

It is odd to me that the increased freedoms multiple cars, jobs for all, and endless entertainment has only seemed to produce more isolation in a way. Even when people are together they will stop in a conversation to answer a phone call or continue to ‘listen’ while typing away a text at the same time. Perhaps, it is just me and my own personal location that results in a sense of isolation. Perhaps many of you in other parts are constantly engaged in public situations and conversations, but being a vintage housewife in 2011 is rather like being on a deserted island sometimes. Not that I mind all that much. When I consider what is out there: the Noise, the traffic, the endless downturned heads and little screens, eyes not seeing, ears not hearing, and the constant movement. In many ways I am happy and consider myself lucky to be at home. Though I know many who have said it would “drive them crazy, all the quiet” and it makes me wonder, why? Why do we not want to stop and listen to ourselves. To have the solitary conversation or mull over ideas and thoughts alone. Even our alone time is taken up with music, emails, texts, and constant communication. Yet, in person, our communication is almost non existent. The 21st century seems a time of disparaging contrasts, doesn’t it. And, for me, I am not sure now how I can ever truly live IN it any longer. I am not really welcomed back in time, for all the housewives have gone on, and the modern world might as well be an alien culture to me.

Is it possible to get culture shock from your own culture?

How do any of  you, who are simply constantly modern, find the world different from even say 10 years ago? I’d love to hear.

27 March 1957 “A Movie For A Sunday Starring Marilyn Monroe”

This 1957 American film stars Marilyn Monroe and co-starring Laurence Olivier who also served as director and producer. Though the film will not be released until June of this year, I thought it would be a fun film to watch on this lazy Sunday here in the 1950’s.

Here is the trailer:

Though the movie is meant to take place in 1911, it is for all intents and purposes merely a 1950’s film parading as such. It is very Marilyn and very Hollywood. Her 1911 costumes are merely lovely 50’s evening dress, but what a fun film

I have the entire film on my Channel HERE. Simply scroll down under Classic Films and you will see the parts numbered (though number 3 is not numbered but they do appear in the side bar of the channel in order). So, have fun and enjoy this film on this quiet Sunday afternoon.

26 March 1957 “Space Savers”

Following up on our guest blog organizing topic, I thought I’d share some more smart vintage storage solutions.

This article has some very good closet solutions. By simply building out a wasted corner in the bedroom storage is made. It would be a simple matter of some 2 x 4’s and molding and paint. This also adds, I think, more interest to the room. As the variation in the line of the wall gives architectural interest to a room, rather that the usual builders square many modern homes present to us.

The fact that they lined the inside with fabric that matches their chair is an easy and fun touch. Think what a great way to use that small amount of vintage fabric or single roll of vintage wall paper. You could also build out a corner like this, make the bottom a closed cupboard and the top open book/display shelves. Then you could like it with that vintage paper or fabric. Really, this is a doable DIY project for the homemaker, no need to put on a  “Honey Do” list here.

  The first section of this idea shows a hall closet. I love the idea of the inexpensive window shade to pull down to disguise perhaps not the prettiest storage on top shelf. Another use for vintage paper affixed to the shade! The closed box on the floor is for boots and things and the mirror in the door with little closed shelf would be great for even the tiniest apartment. It basically gives you the front hall even if you haven’t one. And we should have a place for keys and last minute touch ups at the door.

The second image shows another ingenious idea. How clever is this: A built shelf only 6 1/2 inches deep on piano hinges. So when you aren’t accessing it, it simply folds against the closet wall. This is great for anyone with a simply little square closet in a bedroom. It swivels out for great access and then just folds away. Shoes take up a considerable amount of space and the little spots for all your handbags and such. I think one could even make a little jewelry storage area as well. If someone is in a tiny one bedroom or even a studio apartment, what a great solution this would make. It almost could make one closet into three (With one on either side of the closet).

For the last shoe storage solution,  you wouldn’t even need a trip to IKEA. Any hardware store sells dowels. Simply angling wooden strips on your closet walls and drilling holes for the dowels and viola’ shoe storage where you want it!

I think this little hideaway table in my 1940’s homemaker’s manual is very clever. Though here presented as the perfect spot for the homemaker’s afternoon lunch, how great would this be for a ‘hideaway office’. Many of we modern people have laptops. If you have a small place or even just a corner somewhere and no room for  your own little office, what a great trade off. You could have a section of the kitchen or mudroom that could fold out like this for bill paying, online recreation and even part of a cabinet could be used to store your files of bills paid and other documents. Even a second drawer or shelf for small craft supplies for that impromptu moment of creativity that is easily cleaned up before hubby or children come home. I like this idea a lot!

These kitchen storage ideas are very clever and I particularly like the center one. Simply taking out a space between wall studs (Usually 16 inches of space) one could make such a shelf. You could live it open storage or hand a gay vintage curtain over it. No room for a root cellar/basement storage for those home canned goods? Well, there you go! When we think about what we really need to make a day of food and clothes and entertainment and office time, we can see very little space can provide a lot. And, the more we make things streamlined and organized the LESS time it takes to clean it up and keep up with it. And for mother’s what a great lesson to a child, the lesson of organization and tight living. Especially as they will one day be at college and living in small spaces themselves most likely. Who needs IKEA?

I hope you enjoy these little ideas and share any of your own with us. Happy Homemaking.

23 March 1957 “Guest Blog Sanne: Wardrobe & Closet Organizing”

I love having guest blogs. Sanne, our fellow Apronite and  past Apronite of the Month, has a wonderful post today about organizing one's wardrobe/closet. Great advice and wonderful organization.

Any others wishing to write a guest blog simply contact me by hitting the contact button the right and email me your idea or completed post. I know others have done so in the past and I have not got back, but I sometimes get quite a few emails, so if you have done so already and I haven't posted it or responded, please send it again. I do like to grow and share our community.

Now, grab that cuppa and sit back and enjoy, take it away Sanne:

Wardrobe Tips

Inspired by a comment to Donna (23 February) I thought I could write some tips about clothes and wardrobes.You will never hear me say that I have nothing to wear. I have tons to wear! My biggest problem is to choose. I admit it – I have lots of clothes, but it is not cheap made clothes, or lots of mistakes, or that I cannot sort out. I have a style – fifties – and I stick to it. When you have a style, you’ll love your clothes forever. I love all my clothes and I use all of it.

Another good thing is to stick to a colour scheme. Most people have a favourite colour or two, if these colours become you, stick to them. I love red and pink, but have a few things in green and purple. Add some basic colours, like black, grey, beige, and white. This way you can match everything, and feel your wardrobe is much bigger than it is. Everybody at my job thinks my wardrobe is the size of Carrie Bradshaw’s HUGE walk-in-closet, but it’s not. It’s a humble normal closet I share with both DH and son.

And yes, I really want to get rid of all the mirror fronts! DH has promised to make me new white doors when renovating the office.

A golden rule is that you should have more tops than skirts. The “Three Black Skirts are All You Need” is not a joke. You can do well with a few different classic skirts in a great basic colour (like black, but grey is also good) and a lot of different blouses … or cardigans, my absolute favorite. I have cardigans in ALL colours. Truly. I love them. They are SO versatile. During Winter I use them as blouses buttoned up, as twinsets with a matching top, or just over another blouse to keep warm. During Summer I use them instead of a Summer jacket. And they always look nice over a dress.

Building a wardrobe doesn’t have to be expensive. I love visiting charity shops, you often have to go through a lot of bad things, but then you’ll sometimes find a treasure for almost nothing. Do also visit flea markets and street sales. Remember when thrifting that e.g. changing the buttons on a blouse of shortening a skirt can make a huge different. When I see a rack of discounted clothes, I always go through it. Often a goodie is hidden among the other unusable stuff. H&M (in Denmark at least) is good for basic things, and I think their quality is pretty good. I have VERY old things in my wardrobe, but I still get compliments when wearing it. Changing-clothes-parties are also a good and fun idea.

Order is always a good thing – also in your closet. I sort everything in colours, then I sort e.g. blouses in stacks with short sleeves and long sleeves. If I decide on a skirt then it takes me seconds to find a matching blouse. I also sort my clothes in seasons - during Summer the Winter stacks are behind the Summer stacks and reverse. This way I don’t have to go through e.g. Winter blouses during Summer, the clothes I have to choose from are the right season.

Here you see stacks of white, red, purple/plum, and rose/pink and in the second photo there are green, black/ grey and at the button there are training shirts and jeans and a few very warm jackets and my only two pairs of jeans (at the bottom, since they are never used, ha).

I season swap at the beginning of a season, and when I swap my clothes I also think of what I have been wearing and what I have not been wearing. A tip is to stand in front of your closet wearing only underwear, so if you think “Why haven’t I been wearing this skirt?” – try it on and look in the mirror. Often you’ll find out why you haven’t been wearing it – it doesn’t feel right, or it doesn’t become your figure. Give it to charity. If you have e.g. a skirt with absolutely no matching tops, you could either give it to charity or go hunt for matching tops. But first ask yourself if you truly love the skirt in question.

Your closet should only contain clean clothes! No exceptions! If you have worn a blouse and there is just a hint of sweat or perfume - don’t put it back into the closet. All your clothes will soon start to smell. But you don’t have to wash everything every day - air it outside on a hanger. Or hang clothes you can use again behind a door. Your closet should also only contain wearable clothes, if it doesn’t fit you, give it to charity or hang it in another closet (or bags) in e.g. the basement, don’t mix it with your wearable clothes. Wearable also means ironed and repaired. Being tired and busy in the morning, you don’t want to iron or sew in buttons or repair seams. You could also decide what to wear in the evenings. I do this, because I’m not a morning person. This way there is no more morning panic.

This is all my hanging clothes (sons shirts and ties at the left), and it is both Summer and Winter clothes. My shoes at the bottom stand on a rack, on the floor and a few in boxes at the right. These are my daily shoes, season and party shoes are in a closet in the basement.

Shoes! I LOVE them, and I have LOTS of shoes! Also many vintage (LINK: http://www.samati.dk/fotos/sko_uk.htm). Shoes are a question of temper, you can have many matching every colour shade in your wardrobe, or you can have a few in good basic colours. Your choice. If you only have a few, do buy good quality. Your feet and your economy will love you for it.

Jewellery and accessories. I’ve written about jewellery before (LINK: http://my50syear.blogspot.com/2011/01/19-january-1957-guest-blog-sanne.html). And please don’t say “What has this to do with my wardrobe?”.

It has a lot to do with your wardrobe. You can have few classic items in your wardrobe and spice them up or down with jewelry and accessories. A few matching clip earrings, bracelets, pins and necklaces will make a HUGE different on your appearance. Purses/bags – do keep them seasonal, at least. One for Summer and one for Winter use. And do also have a few lovely purses or clutches for formal wear. You will look much more elegant.

If you have other wardrobe tips, please do share them! :)

Sincerely

Sanne

http://gt-sanne2.blogspot.com

http://www.samati.dk/index_uk.htm

21 March 1957 “Think Pink: Madison Avenue to Beatniks”

  The 1957 Film Funny Face staring Audrey Hepburn is such a good example of this pivotal year.

This movie shows how we are on that pivotal point, here in 1957, between the glamour and bright plastic world that began after WWII and edging our way into the black sleek smoke filled rooms of Beatniks.

The contrast between the sultry questioning loner of the Beatnik is even contrasted with the brash ‘devil may care’ big band sound in this modern dance Audrey portrays. The slinky bass notes and modern Martha Graham jerking movements contrast the big brass explosion of the very Hollywood synchronized dancing.

Even the characters portray the changing attitude of my times here in the 1950’s. The ever growing big Madison Avenue NYC world of Fashion and Magazines in Technicolor contrasted with the quiet scholastic modern Audrey who has a mind of her own and sees through it all. The eventual marriage of the two main stars is, in a sense, a marriage of these two worlds. Many feminists might point out that despite the hints of ‘freedom’ of the female character, she is still only happy when she is frothed in creamy white and married to the ‘man’ at the end. Yet, we must remember, that most people do want an outcome of being in a long term relationship. The very notion that denying a natural outcome is both juvenile and really besides the point. To me, this movie, this year 1957, really is the edge of the crevasse which will stretch before us of the coming 1960’s.

Now some photos from the lovely fashions of the movie.

Even Audrey Hepburn’s beatnik-esque attire of all black slim clothes and flats ( a look now synonymous with Hebpurn herself) is the portrayal of the two worlds of big showy Madison Avenue  extravaganza star mingled with the trouser wearing black coffee drinking Beatniks increasingly becoming frustrated with their countries move towards more SHOW than Substance. Now, don’t get me wrong I love the old Hollywood films and their over the top dance numbers and color to me make them Art. Performance and Design combined. I would rather see a streaming loop of these on a museum wall than what passes for ‘performance art’ now a days. But, still, the point those Beatniks were coming to see, the sale of their country to the big company over the ‘little guy’ is starting to feel more real to me. Of course, had they not become so dependent on the growing drug culture and segway into what the Hippy movement became, I wonder if they could have taken a more scholarly ‘high road’ attempt at standing up for what America was before the war. We shall never know, now of course.

But, I wonder, here in my little middle class housewife role, happy in my home and garden, would the works of the Beatniks cross my path? Would I, in tandem to them, begin to wonder myself ‘what was happening to this country we fought for’ while I watch myself set aside canning, growing my own, and being more a part of the world in lieu of the ease of the supermarket, the man made machine that helps me but eats up electricity and gas? I don’t know. I wonder about this more and more as my time here passes.

18 March 1957 “Child’s Closet and Room For Sewing”

Just a quick post today showing two ideas for storage from one of my vintage homemaking manuals.

Here we see a great layout for a child’s closet. This would be wonderful for an adult as well, or even for the laundry room.

Here we see all one really needs for sewing neatly packed into a closet. When put away the sewing machine and bench look simply like furniture. There is even room for the dressmakers dummy. I also like the drawers in graduated sizes for patterns, notions and fabric.

How many of us need more organization in our life? I know I do. I have done much more than I have before 1955, but it is always an ongoing project. Any good organizing tips?