1950s Fabulous for Halloween

Caleb and I were invited to a Halloween party hosted by Bowen School of Law, UAMS, and the Clinton School of Public Service at the Union Station in Little Rock last night. We knew from going to the party last year that everyone dresses up, so Caleb and I put some time into our costumes. I decided to dress up 1950’s.

The 1950’s were quite a bit different than these days. 1950’s women’s fashion was conservative and feminine… and you didn’t have to be stick-thin to look fabulous! Plus, ladies went to great lengths to hide any bulges with their undergarments. Most outfits accentuated the waist and left most everything else to the imagination.

I tried to find a geniune 1950’s dress on eBay, but the prices were quite a bit higher than I’d like to pay for a costume, so I went with some pieces out of my closet. Here’s what I chose:

The pattern of the knee-length dress is similar to a popular pattern from the 50’s. I finished off the look with a short jacket similar to ones worn back then.

My accessories were definitely authentic. Mom let me borrow the amazing cat-eye glasses below. They are bifocals, so I wasn’t able to wear them all night, but made sure to put them on for photos.

She also let me borrow these gloves. Gloves were a common accessory back in the day.

I have a small collection of brooches, so I chose the pink butterfly below:

My shoes weren’t all that fantastic — I picked them up from the sale rack at Kohl’s. I checked out all the Goodwills and Salvation Armies around in search for some great pumps or kitten heels, but didn’t find what I was looking for. My shoes matched my gloves though!

Ladies of the 1950’s typically kept their hair short, so I had a little trouble coming up with an authentic ‘do. However, curly hair was coveted back then so I would have definitely been envied with my natural ringlets. I wanted to set my hair in bobby-pins to create pin curls anyway, but ran out of time and just left my hair down with ’50s bangs like in this video.

1950’s makeup would not be correct without bright red lipstick and black-lined eyes. Youtube videos guided me on how to pull off the look.

I think my 1950’s look turned out pretty good — the glasses made me look a little nerdy, though!