Where can I find reasonably detailed reference images of smart everyday women's clothes from the 1940s, 50s and early 60s?
After bemoaning the state of modern women's workwear for years, I've decided to draw my office wardrobe influences from the past. Specifically, the block of time bordered roughly by
His Girl Friday and
Mad Men. (Yes, I know.) To do this, I need images from the time to "clip" for reference and inspiration, but I can't figure out where to look -- searching specifically for costume images yields too few results, searching generally for the time periods yields too many.
Where should I look to get a good idea of what the woman in the street wore? I am not looking for haute couture or Hollywood glamour (although I'd welcome recommendations for good frock porn films) -- more along the lines of what a
Sartorialist of the time might have photographed. I make clothes and am learning to draft my own patterns, so the more detailed the images the better.
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http://www.metmuseum.org/works_of_art/collection_database/the_costume_institute/listview.aspx?page=1&sort=1&sortdir=asc&keyword=1940s&fp=1&dd1=8&dd2=0&vw=1
posted by dfriedman at 1:56 PM on October 28, 2009