My True Vintage Dress Debut!

I have been waiting for so long to share this post with you, mainly because I’ve been waiting for the sunshine! After the glorious weather we have had this last week, I managed to dress up and take some photos (or rather Ross took the photos!).

If you’ve been around for a while, you will vaguely remember my trip the Judy’s Vintage Fair last year, where I found and fell in love with a true 1940’s dress. It was looking sad and worn on the hanger and as I tried it on I saw it had a few holes in the lace and had been patched up (badly) with bright red thread. It really had seen better days, but it had such potential and it fit me like a glove, I just had to have it.

Then, at the end of last year, Ross and I took a trip to Camden in London, while also visiting Splendid Stitches, to revamp my poor, worn out dress. The owner, Nanna, was fantastic and talked through the dress with me and what she would be able to fix and amend for me, within my budget. She did such a wonderful job and really knew her history on the fabrics and garments – I highly recommend visiting her!

She mailed me back the dress, as I don’t live close enough to collect it in person and I was so pleased. The lace was so fragile that the holes couldn’t be mended, so Nanna advised to accept them as part of the character of the dress and actually, they aren’t very noticeable. But she did reinforce the seams, remove the awful red cotton a previous owner had tried to mend it with, and pressed the dress for me.

I wanted to be as ‘authentic’ as possible for the dress’ first ‘outing’, which is something I’ve never actively tried before and 1940’s isn’t my go-to look! I bought some hair combs  to try, as apart from victory rolls, I don’t know many 40’s hair styles that suit my long, layered hair. I did a simple set with a 1 inch curling iron, to create waves rather than curls and pulled the top sections back to create a faux roll look (which I do a fair bit and am comfortable with!).
I found the loveliest embroidered 1960’s gloves on eBay, which I know aren’t from the decade I was aiming for, but they are beautiful and in my size!

Unfortunately, my photographer(!) was facing me towards the sun, so I’m not so happy with my expression in some of these pictures, but anyway, here is my ‘Norman’s original’ dress!

 

Dress – true vintage    Gloves – true vintage    Shoes – Chloe & Chase

 

 

 

You can see a few holes here, if you look close enough!

 

Perhaps I will find another vintage beauty while out in the USA! Also, does anyone have any knowledge on the brand ‘A Norman’s Original’? I’d love to know more!
Do you own any true vintage items?