How to Look Well in Clothes

How to Look Well in Clothes
From the advice of New York designer Edwina Patterson







"If you have beautiful hair, play it up by going hatless, and specialize in dashing hair ribbons."   [Page 15].

Veronica Lake Minus the Peek-A-Boo Hair

[Source:  Quick Steps to Beauty and Charm.  Dorothy Cocks.  White's Book Company.  Westfield, Massachusetts.  1948.]
















Edwina Patterson (2 April 1915 - 27 June 2007)
Born in Seattle, Washington, was a New York clothing designer and seamstress.  She had shows shown in American, Pageant, and Life magazines.  For a while she was a fitter at Lord & Taylor in New York.  At the time of this advice (1948), she had a staff of 14 and her famous clients included:

Merle Oberon

Maggi McNellis

Arleen Whelan

How to Look Well in Clothes - For Tall Women

How to Look Well in Clothes - For Tall Women
From the advice of New York designer Edwina Patterson

Plaids

Belted Jacket

Ruffles, puplums, tunics

Small pillbox hats

Low turbans

Cloche hats

[Source:  Quick Steps to Beauty and Charm.  Dorothy Cocks.  White's Book Company.  Westfield, Massachusetts.  1948.]

How to Look Well in Clothes - For Short Women

How to Look Well in Clothes - For Short Women
From the advice of New York designer Edwina Patterson

V Length dresses

Do not wear too much padding

No horizontal stripes

No wide belts

[Source:  Quick Steps to Beauty and Charm.  Dorothy Cocks.  White's Book Company.  Westfield, Massachusetts.  1948.]

How to Look Well in Clothes - For Thin Women

How to Look Well in Clothes - For Thin Women
From the advice of New York designer Edwina Patterson

Full-cut skirts

Dirndls

Peplums, tiers and ruffles

Dolman sleeve (3/4 length)

Soft Necklines

[Source:  Quick Steps to Beauty and Charm.  Dorothy Cocks.  White's Book Company.  Westfield, Massachusetts.  1948.]

How to Look Well in Clothes - For Stout Women

How to Look Well in Clothes - For Stout Women
From the advice of New York designer Edwina Patterson






No belts on coats

Dominant colors should be:

Navy

Black

Or

Neutral Shades

Flat fur coats ( like broadtail -  'the wavy, moirélike fur or pelt of a young or stillborn Karakul lamb'.[Source: Dictionary.com] )

Broadtail fur from the 1940s

No doll or pillbox hats.

*Bummer, because I love pillbox hats.  I didn't realize they were so popular in the 1940s.  When I think pillbox hat, I think Jackie O

Jackie O. Impersonators 1961

Wear off-side berets

Susan Peters 1943

Wear medium-size off to the side hats

Zasu Pitts, Paula Laurence & Celeste Holm

No peplums or tiered rulles, dirndl skirts, wide belts, and unpressed pleats

*Basically anything that adds volume








[Source:   Quick Steps to Beauty and Charm.  Dorothy Cocks.  White's Book Company.  Westfield, Massachusetts.  1948.]

Sleeping Beauty - The Prince

Models for scenes from Walt Disney's Sleeping Beauty

The Prince

Realized Animated Prince

Sleeping Beauty - Maleficent

Models for scenes from Walt Disney's Sleeping Beauty 

Maleficent

The Realized Drawn Image

Ramona, Bluing, and Powder People

As part of my reading adventure this year, I'm trying to read 12 books published in the year of my birth.  So far I have been pretty disappointed, as I was with this book.  I guess I just must be too much of a Beezus or something, but I did not enjoy Beverly Cleary books as a child, and I still do not find them enjoyable as an adult.  It seemed like a combination of fighting parents and trouble-making.  Since I remembered my parents fighting before they divorced, when I read Cleary books as a child I found the parental arguing to be distressing.  And as to Ramona's shenanigans, I was and still am a rule stickler, so I never found Ramona's antics humorous.  I imagine some children enjoy it and feel a kinship with Ramona, but all I felt was frustration.

I did find two instances in the book humorous:  the Kleenex incident and the bluing incident.  How many people use bluing anymore?  I have used it before but I haven't used any in my laundry lately.  I need to restock at Vermont Country Store or at a store you can pick up Mrs. Stewart's Bluing.

I can definitely sympathize with Wanda running around the house throwing Kleenexes everywhere.  It reminds me of one of few times I acted up as a child.  It would be the infamous 'Powder People' episode.  When I was about five years old, my three year old sister and I had a brilliant idea.  

The 'brilliance' of 'Powder People' was us running through the house puffing baby powder above our heads.  My mother was just thrilled to find the entire upper floor of our grandparent's home caked in a thick layer of fine, white powder.  Our dance of joy did not last long, for we spent the entire day dusting, vacuuming, and washing the walls.  Both the joy, and the punishment from the 'Powder People' incident, are some of the strongest memories of my childhood.  

Sleeping Beauty - The Kiss

Models for scenes from Walt Disney's Sleeping Beauty 

The Kiss

And of course, the finished product

Homes of the Stars - Part 6

Loretta Young

Norma Talmadge

Pola Negri