Suit Yourself

Some good examples of the earlier women's suits.

In honor of my sweet Father, I am doing a post dedicated to suits. He was a man of many suits and was completely dedicated to wearing a proper suit as often and as beautifully as possible. He was a monumental influence on me and my sense and love of fashion.

Marlene Dietrich, yes please!

For me, the quintessential period for the women's suit was the 1940's. Jean Arthur is the perfect model!

Gorgeous!

No one could wear a suit as well as Lauren Bacall.

Um, words cannot express my desire to own this entire ensemble! 

Even the 70's suit is better than the 80's one below!

Yikes!!!

As I started thinking about and looking for good pictures of women in suits, I sadly realized that suits used to be a major staple in a women's wardrobe, an unfortunately, they no longer are. I think the frightening suits of the 80's were sort of the last of them. (Perhaps because they were so horrendous they killed off the entire trend altogether! ) I distinctly remember, when I was young, that women needed a proper "suit" to complete their trousseau. 

This is a great gritty photo of Mila Jovovich! The suit is perfect!

Another plaid suit. Drool!

Cate Blanchett is simply divine! 

I love this suit on Emily Blunt. It's pretty perfect!

I feel it is very sad that this wardrobe expectation has gone away! Hopefully you will feel the same when you have perused these photos. 

My Dad being a twinner with Cary Grant. I love you Daddy!

It's a Mod, Mod World

I'm not crazy about these clothes, but I thought it was funny that they used the Guy Fawkes mask.

In honor of Guy Fawkes Day (November 5th), I am doing a post focused solely on British, Mod fashion. Of course the most memorable occurrence of British fashion came in the 60's with the advent of the British Invasion in music. 

Awesome boots and hair and clothes!

Lulu was the quintessential female British invader.

Unconventional amazingness!

Another great Lulu picture!

Another huge image maker from the British Invasion. This is possibly my favorite picture of Twiggy!

Knee socks. Yes please!

Capes, plaids and tweeds!

I was probably only 8 or 9 when I discovered this movement, and it had a huge affect on me for years to come. Well, it has actually never really lost it's awesomeness in my book. Something about it's graphicness, it's boldness and even sassiness makes me happy. If I could get away with it, I would wear mini skirts and go-go boots every day. 

Black and white, one of my favorite fashion statements! Especially when there are checks involved!

I was completely immersed into the Ska scene when I was a teenager. The British, Mod perspective was central to the Ska outlook. This is Dance Hall Crashers, a wonderful band from that time!

More Ska bliss!

I also love how this idea of a British Invasion continually re-appears and re-invents itself in fashion! It's kind of my favorite! Thank you Fashion Gods! And Happy Guy Fawkes Day!!!

I love it all, but I am drooling over that jacket!

Bowler hat and brown plaid!

Burberry!

I love the hat!

Twiggy eyelashes to the extreme!

I love these colors and, again, checks!!!

Halloween Fashion

It's getting closer to that very exciting time of year when children - AND adults - get to dress up in jolly costumes! I think it's generally well known that Halloween has always been popular in America, even though it was a 'celtic' holiday borrowed, or taken over from the Scottish and Irish folks. I think till quite recently, though, people made their own costumes. The result was often fabulous, and often frightening. So I just wanted to take a closer look at Halloween 'fashion'.

I'm not sure if this was from a book or magazine. Even though the dress reflects the fashion of the time (1920's probably) its bold colour sets it a little apart. 

This one is a little earlier, from the early 1900s. I love that her dress has stars and a moon, and she's wearing an owl in her hair! 

Again, this dress reflects 1910s fashion, but has a costumey 'oriental' feeling to it. 

In the 1910s and the 1920s, Dennison's, the paper company, started coming out with an annual "Bogey" book which made party decoration ideas and costume ideas, all to be made from paper! These are very charming and beautiful, and I think their suggestions were quite widely used. I saw an old scrap book of my grandmother's from the 1920s and she'd glued in a little scrap of a paper costume someone wore to her Halloween party!

From a Dennison's book. I especially love the bat and spider ones!

Stunning! 

This reminds me of that post card - look at all the things on her skirt, and I love that stiff little cat on her shoulder!

This was in a recent magazine, but reminds me of the Dennison's costumes.

I love these fashionable witch costumes! Which colour do you prefer?

Jolly, bizarre costumes in real life, probably from the 1920s.

Another group of creative Halloween revellers! 

Lets Makeup

Just a few awesome examples of Halloween makeup!

It may be a bit of a stretch, but I am going to use the advent of Halloween to do a post about makeup. I mean, some people end up doing some crazy-amazing things with makeup for their costumes. But aside from all that, I am going to choose to stick with the fashion, accessory side of makeup.

I'm not sure if this is more Egyptian or 60's, but either way, it's awesome!

Queen Elizabeth took makeup to a whole new level.

I love the powdered face and rosy cheeks!

I am sure makeup goes back as far as the cave woman (because it's such a necessity, in my opinion), but the Egyptians come to mind when I think about early, awesome makeup. The point is, women have been wearing it for thousands of years. It has changed and evolved to what is now a massive and thriving industry.

To me, the 20's and 30's was an great period for makeup. Clara Bow really epitomized the flapper look with the heavy eyeliner and pouty lips.

A great early picture of Joan Crawford applying heavy lipstick.

I always think of the 20's as being synonymous with the compact.

My Mother grew up with Tangee lipstick (which is surprisingly still sold today).

Look at those penciled eyebrows and that beauty mark! Jean Harlow could really rock this look!

More penciled eyebrows and I love the smokey eyes!

Myrna Loy looking very sultry in her smokey makeup.

I must say that I get very frustrated and sad when I hear people talking trash about makeup. Many claim that it belittles women, that women use makeup only because society (or men) expect them to. For me, makeup is a form of self-expression. I dabble in art and I can honestly say that playing with colors and textures with my makeup is not too different than playing with oil paints on a pallet or on canvas. Yes, I want people to think I look good, but the person I put makeup on for is mostly me, myself and I. It makes me feel powerful and confident.

Bette Davis in more smokey eyes. "She's got Bette Davis eyes."

I completely love this old school tutorial on how to do cat eyes!

Rita Hayworth and red lipstick.

Audrey Hepburn probably had the best eyebrows of all time!

This makeup is almost perfect in every way!

So, whatever you think about makeup, have a look at some wonderful things that can be done with this wonderful medium!

One of the most iconic icons when it comes to makeup.

This is a great tutorial on how to do Twiggy makeup!

I love this old Woolworth's ad! Which one are you?

I'm not gonna lie, this ad is completely frightening!  But she has great 70's makeup!

And..... enter the 80's, baby blue eyeshadow. Thank you Blondie!

The 80's (and Cindi Lauper) showed us that there are no limits when it comes to makeup!

I kind of skipped to today (the 90's and 00's were pretty boring). This is a wonderful current Mac ad!

I love it when celebrities get adventurous with style and makeup.  Emma Watson always looks amazing!

Fantastic Urban Decay (my favorite)!

Emmy Rossum looks amazing with this dramatic cat eye makeup!

Some more great smoky eyes here on Amanda Seyfried.