Mid-Week Inspiration: The Beret

I love berets! They are classic, French, and have been stylish through the years! I need to wear them more often.

 Clara Bow looking adorable! 

Classic 1940's. So French and pretty. 

Marilyn Monroe ready for work. 

Jean Harlow makes the beret glamorous!

The stunning Faye Dunaway as Bonnie in Bonnie & Clyde

Madonna looking Frenchie tough.

One of my favorite pics of Christy Turlington. So pretty! 

Do you wear berets? Which look is your favorite? 

For inspiration any day of the week follow me on Pinterest. 

Fashionable History: The Bullet Bra

Did I ever tell you that I got the What Katie Did Bullet Bra that was On My Wish List? Well, I did plus a whole lot more! I got the Harlow Bra in Vintage Peach and I love it. It's pictured above with the complete set. I did get the padding too as recommended for my 32B's. This cone is a real cone so I need all of the help that I can get! I love it with my vintage dresses that were, quite frankly designed with this type of lingerie in mind. 

All of this fun, got me wondering about the history of the bullet bra so I did a little research: 

The Bullet Bra originated in the 40's. Since it was Wartime, the name makes sense. Brassiere makers were experimenting with different kind of stitching  and insets to give us girls a lift. Underwires won't be used for a couple decades later. 

A great example of creative stitching and shapes used to give an uplifted cone shape. My Harlow Bra is a near replica! 

Marilyn made the Bullet Bra popular in the 50's. Pin-ups and girl next door types a like loved the shape it gave them under sweaters. They were called "Sweater Girls". 

In the 60's the popularity wained as underwires were used and a more natural and smaller shape was desired. Madonna and Jean Paul Gaultier brought it back in the early 90's where she wore the extreme cones as outerwear. 

If you're like me, you may have a hard time finding an authentic vintage one in your size. The modern manufacturer What Katie Did makes new ones as well as other retro inspired lingerie and swimwear to ease your hunt! I love this two tone one called the Marlene. It's next on my list! 

Retro Looks In The Modern World: Get Into the Groove

As much as the modern fashion world looks forward it also continually looks back in time. Here we explore Retro Looks in the Modern World

I like my vintage to be from years before I was born. It's hard for me to think of 80's fashions from my teenage years as vintage...but it is. Here is an editorial featuring Madisyn Ritland as Madonna from her Desperately Seeking Susan era. Still one of my favorite movies, I couldn't pass up this tribute to the Material Girl and all of the nostalgia it brings me.
Photographed by Ellen Von Unwerth.

Source: fashiongonerogue.com

Fashionable History: Red Lipstick

I love red lipstick! Now that the season is changing into fall, I am ready to exchange my lip gloss for the fuller look of bright red lips. Wearing red lipstick can signify many different kinds of pouts. Depending on your attitude red lips can portray strength or demure femininity; Old Hollywood Glamour or punk rock; smokin' hot bombshell or dolly clown. In today's market there are so many choices and shades but applying color to one's lips is nothing new. Women have been altering their lip color to be more feminine and sexy since Egyptian times. Egyptian Queens carried lip staining kits around with them with color made from henna and crushed beetles. Elizabethan ladies wore pale faces with lips painted red from a poisonous mercuric sulfide. And Victorian women used red crepe paper to stain their modest lips. It took the make-up company Guerlain to introduce the first wax based lipstick in a refillable tube in 1870 that catapulted lipstick as we know it, into the mainstream.

The first Guerlain bullet lipstick; Ne M'Oubliez Pas (Forget Me Not)

Rita Hayworth in a 1940's Max Factor red lipstick ad.

Marilyn Monroe in matching red lips and nails. Classic!

Even funny ladies wear red. Lucille Ball also in matching lips and nails.

Madonna's favorite red shade in the 80's was MAC Russian Red. Still a top seller.

Gwen Stefani mixes punk rock with Old Hollywood Glamour and is hardly ever seen without her red lips.

The return to Old Hollywood Glamour. Dita Von Teese wears red lipstick impeccably.

Mid-Week Inspiration: Chanel's Gun Shoes

Worn by Madonna at her screening of Filth and Wisdom last Monday night in New York. These black satin platforms, from Chanel's 2009 resort collection, have guns for heels!

Very Femme Fatale!