Cool Photos Show Fashion Styles of Young Ladies in the 1950s

Fashion in the 1950s was exciting and diverse. There were new colors, fresh silhouettes, and different style options for different personalities. Today, the iconic decade is still heavily referenced in the fashion world. It is especially beloved for its chic retro style and playful looks, including those of the pin-up and rockabilly subcultures.

Key designs for the decade included dresses with cinched waists, pencil skirts, poodle skirts, gingham and polka dot garments, cropped sweaters and cardigans, and much more. The key shape for the decade was a feminine, exaggerated hourglass silhouette.

Additionally, as this decade saw the birth of the teenage culture, a distinction between youth fashion and more mature styles also developed. These cool photos from Vintage Cars & People that show fashion styles of young ladies in the 1950s.

See more»

30 Portraits of Lovely Ladies Featured on the Covers of Radio Control Modeler Magazines From the 1970s and 1980s

We all know about the lovely ladies who graced the covers of such manly car and bike magazines as Easy Rider, Hot Rod, and Lowrider... but there was another type of magazine that gave those macho muscle car magazines a run for their money, the radio control airplane magazine.

A radio-controlled aircraft (often called RC aircraft or RC plane) is a small flying machine that is controlled remotely by an operator on the ground using a hand-held radio transmitter. The transmitter communicates with a receiver within the craft that sends signals to servomechanisms (servos) which move the control surfaces based on the position of joysticks on the transmitter. The control surfaces, in turn, affect the orientation of the plane.

The first official contest for RC model airplanes was technically held in 1936, but no contestants flew radio-controlled models that year. The first official RC contest with entrants was in 1937. And it was not until the 1970s that this form of aeromodeling became so massively popular.

See more»

Stunning Vintage Portraits of Girls in Front of Mirrors Taken by Lady Clementina Hawarden

Clementina Maude, Viscountess Hawarden, née Clementina Elphinstone Fleeming (1822–1865) commonly known as Lady Clementina Hawarden, was a noted English amateur portrait photographer of the Victorian Era.

As a devoted mother, her life revolved around her eight children. She took up photography in 1857; using her daughters as models, she created a body of work remarkable for its technical brilliance and its original depiction of nascent womanhood.

Lady Hawarden showed her work in the 1863 and 1864 exhibitions of the Photographic Society. With the exception of a few rare examples, her photographs remained in the possession of her family until 1939, when the more than eight hundred images were donated to the Victoria and Albert Museum. Only recently have they been the objects of research, publication, and exhibition.

See more»

30 Cool Photos Defined Fashion Styles of Young Women in the 1970s

The 1970s began with a continuation of the hippie look from the 1960s, giving a distinct ethnic flavor.

Popular early 1970s fashions for women included Tie dye shirts, Mexican ‘peasant’ blouses, folk-embroidered Hungarian blouses, ponchos, capes, and military surplus clothing. Bottom attire for women during this time included bell-bottoms, gauchos, frayed jeans, midi skirts, and ankle-length maxi dresses. Hippie clothing during this time was made in extremely bright colors, as well as Indian patterns, Native American patterns, and floral patterns.

By the mid-1970s, the hippie look had completely disappeared, although casual looks continued. In the mid-1970s women wore sweaters, T-shirts, cardigans, kimono, graphic T-shirts and sweaters, jeans, khakis, gauchos, workmen’s clothes, and vintage clothing. The disco music genre spawned its own fashion craze in the mid- to late 1970s. Disco clothes worn by women included tube tops, sequined halterneck shirts, blazers, spandex short shorts, loose pants, form-fitting spandex pants, maxi skirts and dresses with long thigh slits, jersey wrap dresses, ball gowns, and evening gowns.

Women’s fashions in the late 1970s included cowl-neck shirts and sweaters, pantsuits, leisure suits, tracksuits, sundresses worn with tight T-shirts, strapless tops, lower-cut shirts, cardigans, velour shirts, tunics, robes, crop tops, tube tops, embroidered vests and jeans, knee-length skirts, loose satin pants, designer jeans, culottes, daisy dukes, and tennis shorts. This continued into the 1980s.

These cool photos were found by Steven Martin that show what fashion styles of young women looked like in the 1970s.

See more»

“Let Us Make You Fat” – An Odd Advertisement From 1912

This is an odd advertisement that wouldn’t play well today. Below the image of the man and woman snickering about the skinny people behind them.

Sargol Company Flesh Builder advertisement in the Washington Times – May 12th, 1912.

“This is a generous offer to every thin man or woman reader of The Times. We positively guarantee to increase your weight to your own satisfaction or no pay, Think this over–think what it means. At our own risk, we offer to put 10, 15, yes, 20 pounds of good solid “stay there” flesh on your bones, to fill out the follows in cheeks, neck or bust, to get rid of that “peaked” look, to rejuvenate and revitalize your whole body until it tingles with vibrant energy; to do this without drastic diet, “tonics,” severe physical culture “stunts,” detention from business or any irksome requirements–if we fail it costs you nothing.

“We particularly wish to hear from the excessively thin, those who know the humiliation and embarrassment which only skinny people have to suffer in silence. We want to send a free 50-cent package of our new discover to the people who are called “slats” and “bean poles,” to bony women, whose clothes never look “anyhow,” no matter how expensively dressed, to the skinny men who fail to gain social or business recognition on account of their starved appearance. We care not whether you have been thin from birth, whether you have lost flesh through sickness, how many flesh builders you have experimented with. We take the risk and assume it cheerfully. If we can not put pounds and pounds of healthy flesh on your frame we don’t want your money.

“The new treatment increases the red corpuscles in the blood, strengthens the nerves and puts the digestive tract into such shape that your food is assimilated and turned into good, solid, healthy flesh instead of passing through the system undigested and unassimilated. It is a thoroughly scientific principle this Sargol, and builds up the thin, weak and debilitated without any nauseous doing. In many conditions it is better than cod liver oil and certainly is much pleasanter to take.

“Send for the 50-cent box today. Convince us by your prompt acceptance of this offer that you are writing in good faith and really desire to gain in weight. The 50-cent package which we will send you free will be an eye-opener to you. We send it that you may see the simple, harmless nature of our new discovery, how easy it is to take, how you gain flesh privately without knowledge of friends or family until you astonish them by the prompt and unmistakable results.

“We could not publish this offer in The Times if we were not prepared to live up to it. It is only the astounding results of our new method of treatment that make such an offer and such a guarantee possible on our part. So cut off the coupon today and mail it at once to The Sargol Company, 51-S Herald Bldg., Binghampton, N. Y., and please inclose 10c with your letter to help pay distribution expenses. Take our word, you’ll never regret it.”

(via Ghosts of DC)

Model Wearing Slit Sunglasses With Message, 1968

Nikki, with the expressive eyes, March 29, 1968.

(Photos by Doreen Spooner)

40 Glamorous Portraits of Classic Beauties Taken by Melbourne Spurr

Melbourne Spurr (1888–1964) was an American photographer known for Hollywood celebrity portraits. He arrived in Hollywood around 1917 and worked for the noted photographer Fred Hartsook taking portraits of the early stars.

Classic beauties taken by Melbourne Spurr in the early 20th century

Spurr photographed Mary Pickford while working at the Hartsook studio and so impressed her that she personally helped launch his career as a Hollywood portrait photographer. By the mid-1920s, he was one of the premier celebrity portraitists in the world.

By this time, though, the major movie studios were mandating that their stars could only be photographed by their own photographers. Spurr chose to keep his own studio, and was eventually shut out in favor of men like George Hurrell, Clarence Sinclair Bull, Eugene Robert Richee and others who worked for the big motion picture studios.

Spurr shined in Hollywood for one glorious decade - the “Roaring 20s” - but then moved on to photographing other notables like US presidents, artists, authors and dancers. These glamorous photos are part of his work that Melbourne Spurr took portraits of classic beauties in the early 20th century.

Alice Terry

Alice White

Alla Nazimova

Ann Forrest

Anna Q. Nilsson

See more»

Crazy Sixties Sunglasses: Oversized and Dark Shades Were the Height of Fashion

We all know the 1960s were a bit strange; they were experimental and a time when people were pushing the boundaries and looking towards the future. That meant a lot of strange, un-wearable fashion emerged, and sunglasses and glasses didn’t escape the trend.

The 1960s were an Iconic Age dominated by strong black and white shapes and a newfound sense of futurism. High fashion became synonymous with oversized bug-eye glasses. Jackie Kennedy Onassis was a huge fan of the bug-eye look and was frequently photographed wearing the supersized black frames; as was Audrey Hepburn. Their popularity and influential styles had a major effect on women at that time and helped to solidify this look as chic and very 1960s.

See more»

A Collection of 45 Vintage Covers of Jet Magazine in the 1950s

Founded in November 1951 by John H. Johnson of the Johnson Publishing Company in Chicago, Illinois, Jet is an American weekly digital magazine focusing on news, culture, and entertainment related to the African-American community. The magazine was billed as “The Weekly Negro News Magazine”.

Jet magazine covers in the 1950s

Jet chronicled the civil rights movement from its earliest years, including the murder of Emmett Till, the Montgomery bus boycott, and the activities of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

Jet was printed from November 1, 1951, in digest-sized format in all or mostly black-and-white until its December 27, 1999, issue. In 2009, Jet expanded one of the weekly issues to a double issue published once each month. Johnson Publishing Company struggled with the same loss of circulation and advertising as other magazines and newspapers in the digital age, and the final print issue of Jet was published on June 23, 2014, continuing solely as a digital magazine app.

In 2016, Johnson Publishing sold Jet and its sister publication Ebony to private equity firm Clear View Group. As of the date of sale, the publishing company is known as Ebony Media Corporation.

Here below is a set of 45 covers of Jet magazine in the 1950s.

Actress Acquanetta, Hollywood's Jungle Girl, Jet Magazine, February 14, 1952

Can Bojangle's Widow, Elaine Robinson, Make a Comeback?, Jet Magazine, May 1, 1952

Hollywood Starlet Mauri Lynn Gets Role in New Movie, Jet Magazine, May 22, 1952

Urylee Leonardos, Broadway's Most-Jinxed Performer, Jet Magazine, September 25, 1952

Vera Francis, Typical of Hollywood Black Beauties, Jet Magazine, June 5, 1952

See more»

Extraordinary Vintage Portraits of American Women at the Turn of the 20th Century

This collection of photographs, shot by photographer James Arthur at the studio of Arthur & Philbric in Detroit, Michigan.

James Arthur was born on May 27, 1855 in Montreal. His parents were both immigrants from Scotland who were financially well off. Arthur attended prestigious private schools where it is implied that he developed the artistic eye that would influence his photographic work that followed. Following his father’s death, Arthur began working as a photographer with the well known J. and J. W. Notman studio.

He came to Detroit in 1881 and went to work with photographer J. E. Watson. In 1883 he became senior partner in the firm of Arthur & Philbric and they remained in business together for eight years. He then became sole proprietor of a firm called Arthur Studios.

Research also yielded information about Philbric. Most notable is that Philbric was a woman. Her name was Helen M. Philbric and her name appears in Michigan business directories as Arthur’s partner between 1884 and 1893.

On January 12, 1912, James Arthur died a successful and prominent photographer in his Detroit home. Ten years after his death, in a book detailing the early history of Detroit, Arthur was described as one the foremost photographers in the United States.

See more»