Photo Friday: Dresspiration Edition

Good morning! And what a morning-- the Zombies official page shared a link to yesterday's blog post on Facebook! It was like hearing my name on the news. If you're a fan and you're not an OFFICIAL fan on FB, pop over and see my 15 minutes of fame over at their real-live page. I am tickled pink!

So sorry to be late at posting-- I spent most of my waking hours today trying to wrestle a piece of patio furniture from a Michael Taylor estate sale into my car with Eartha. Exciting, right? The poor girl innocently came estate sale shopping with me, not knowing that she would be pressed into furniture moving service, made to stand in the cold for some time as we negotiated the piece into one and then the other of our cars, and accidentally forced to drive on the interstate...but I have to say, it looks great in its new home on my patio! Thank you for being a friend, Eartha Kitsch! No, seriously, I won't make you drive on the interstate again. :)

At any rate, we had fun, but what kind of a week would it be at She Was a Bird if I didn't show you somebody-else's-family-photos to get you forties' clothes inspired for the weekend? A lousy one, that's what! Let's get to it:

The above photo was the immediate draw to this user's Flickr account...because OH MY GOODNESS, LOOK AT THOSE COATS. I want them. I want them bad. The entire ensembles are really something, actually-- from the girl on the left's sunglasses and gloves, to the girl on the right's ankle strap heels and beribboned hair, these women look adorable. Do you see their escort's saddle shoes? The anklestrap wearer is Enez, the user's mother. I dug through the set a little further to find out what else we could about this dark haired beauty.

Pearls! How understated and pretty. Do you see how perfect her hair curls? If it wasn't for my lilly-livered constitution, I would cut off my elbow-length hair right now and go in for a permanent or at least a clever vintage rolling pattern. When I did have hair this short, however, it never looked this well-maintained.

These two are red-blooded Americans (from NYC, I think), but don't they look like British royalty of the time in these photos? I think it's the ties and the button down jackets, and the man's pale sports-jacket/dark vest combo, but whatever it is, I love it. The gent on the right is Enez's husband, Bud. Whatever happened to good, strong nicknames like Bud, by the way? I'm a big fan of naming your kid Henry or William or Lawrence or what have you, and then calling him whatever you want-- Link, Chet, Cash...something else that would look better on a 45 label than a business card. But it seems more of the reverse is done nowadays, where the poor kid's birth certificate actually reads "Skip". What is with that?

We do appreciate a man in uniform, and here's Bud in just his dress uniform shirt and then again in his jacket, on the right. See the oversized buttons on Enez's red coat, and the American flag in the background? I wonder what the occasion was that they had their photo taken in color. Maybe the baby in that awesome, Cadillac of a perambulator is the reason for it. At any rate, this side by side shows they look good as a couple in both color AND black and white.

THIS LAST ONE IS MY FAVORITE. Does it not look like something straight out of Fried Green Tomatoes (one of the highest compliments I can pay a vintage photo, as I have been absolutely obsessed with that movie since childhood)? Look at Enez's print dress, red lipstick, and short cropped hair! See her mother's ribbon-tied brooch and stylish, drop waisted dress! See her dad's straw boater and proud expression as he poses with his "girls"! I seriously love this.

I really loved a comment I got the other day from Jessica Cangiano over at Chronically Vintage about pulling inspiration from vintage photos of everyday forties' and vintage wear for contemporary every day vintage wear today-- if I may quote, "I am constantly inspired by the fashions sported in real world vintage photos. In fact, I'd say that's long been where I gain more of my yesteryear outfit inspiration from than any other source." I couldn't agree more if I'd said it myself!

What do you think? Which Enez outfit leaves you with the most "dresspiration"? How often do you look at vintage photos to see the REAL version of what people in the forties' and beyond wore on an every day basis? Let's talk!

Thanks everybody for reading and giving me a reason to keep committing all these heggledy peggledy thoughts to the blog. I hope you have a great weekend, and I'll see you all back here Monday! Til then!