Don't Fear the Flapper (dress)

Queen of curves Marilyn Monroe as Clara Bow

 I decided to face a bit of a vintage fashion fear and obsession head on these past few weeks. That love/fear for me has been the 1920's. I love that period for style and decorative arts. One of my all time favorite designers is Jeanne Lanvin, and even as a period of history, it's fascinating!

As a fashion though it be daunting to wear. It's so counter my usual way of thinking. These were women throwing off the corset and the tyranny of the tiny waist. hemlines rollercoastered, and it really was the decade that set the pace for modern clothing. But me, I'm not all that into modern clothing. I love my corsets because for us they are a choice not a mandate, and my waist is one of the few things about my body I actually feel comfortable with. I know how to handle it and use it to my advantage when dressing. To wear the 20's I'd have to be willing to let my waist go (become invisible not actually physically go), and that scared the heck out of me, but still I recently set said on a voyage of flapper self discovery!

20's dames weren't all ultra skinny, and not necessarily ultra tall, something I always felt a person would need to be to pull the look off. Keeping that in mind I decided to pull my first 1920's dress into my closet and challenge myself to try wearing this decade to see how it felt.

My 1st dress is this one. A dropped waist (scary!) Nile green Charmeuse straight style dress with lace and ribbon roses for accents. When worn I was kind of shocked at first to see a straight figured person looking back at me, but found that the waist kind of reveals itself in movement, and all the motion in the dress has a surprisingly playful feel as a garment in action. The freedom of movement was the nicest part of wearing the 1920's. Though I did still pull on my long girdle to keep my line as smooth as possible it was very freeing to poddle about in.

I'm a pretty full figured gal, and really very short (just 5'0") but the style was more forgiving than I had anticipated, and I'm now largely over my fear of the roaring 20's as a look!

I'm loving my first 20's style flapper dress.  I don't think I'll be hanging up my waist cinchers and petticoats for good (I learned to love my 1920's lips but can't give up on my 1950's hips!), but I do think I'll be bringing more 1920's outfits and looks into rotation from time to time. I hope this helps a few more of you feel confident to give this look we love a try too!