Monday, May 31, 2010

Memorial Day


Happy Memorial Day to all my fellow Americans!! I hope everyone enjoyed their Monday off of work, if you were among the lucky ones who were able to have a day away from the daily grind! I just want to take this chance to say a heartfelt thank you to all the U.S. servicemen around the world who are fighting or fought for this country. I am VERY proud to be an American!!!! Thanks for making our country a little safer!

Since today was all about honoring Americans, I took the chance to wear a more "patriotic" outfit. I got the white and the blue, but I am missing the red. Oh well! I do, however, have on my WWII sweethearts pin that has my name on it. I can't even tell you how excited I was to find one of these with my name on it, since Emily wasn't really among the popular names during that era. A little tip, just search "vintage (your name)" on eBay or etsy or where ever else you look for vintage online. That's how I found my pin, and for a major steal too.... $20 with shipping and handling!!! Love when that happens!!

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I just want to close this post by commenting on something I read online today about us "bigger" vintage gals. I was really sad (and a bit shocked) to see a lot of hostility from other vintage loving girls who are, let's face it, skinny (IMO). I don't normally share my opinions on controversially topics because that's not what this blog is all about. I do, however, want to weigh in on this because I feel as a community, all of us who love vintage should stick together and be supportive of one another no matter if you are a size 2 or a size 22. It broke my heart to see other girls making some pretty potentially hurtful comments about bigger girls. All I want to say here is us girls with a bigger than 29 inch waist want to enjoy wearing a piece of history just as girls with smaller waists do, even if the hunt is just a bit harder for us. I really hope you can take this for what it's worth: a call to share the love! :)

Emily


Late 40s House Dress: Mother Fletchers

40s Heels: Estate Sale

Sweetheart Pin: eBay

17 comments:

MarieBayArea said...

first of all, had to change my screen name to mariebayarea from just marie, as there are a few maries out there.
more importantly, this dress is fabulous on you. i had to literally force myself to stop buying vintage navy dresses with white polka dots. i have quite a few now. it's just a print i'm naturally drawn to.
and even more importantly, some people are so ridiculous about larger size women. i'm on the small/medium side (rachel ray and i wear the same dress size if that helps with a visual, although she's much cuter than me and a way better cook. but i digress). my friends come in all shapes and sizes, hair colors, skin colors, etc. i care about their inner qualities more than what they're wearing or what size they are. there are just some very superficial, silly people out there. your style is amazing. you enjoy vintage fashion. and from your writing, you come across as warm, intelligent, thoughtful, generous, fun, and big-hearted. i read a post the other day on another fashion blog, sparked by beyonce's current music video, and a question came up, regarding whether it was subversive for women of color to wear vintage? i suppose some people have a hang-up about women of color wearing vintage. and i was like, weren't lena horne and eartha kitt women of color who lived during some of my favorite vintage fashion eras? obviously, there were fashonable women of color during those eras who enjoyed clothes too, so why the heck would it be subversive for women of color to pay tribute to those fashion eras now? which leads me to ask, weren't there non-skinny women living in those eras as well who enjoyed fashion and clothes? obviously! anyway, my point is, do what you love and wear what you love. and don't take the ignorance of others personally. their silliness, lack of democracy and inclusiveness reflect their own hang ups and where they are and/or aren't in terms of their own self-development and spriritual/emotional growth. and obviously those types of people aren't far along on that continuum. basically, they have a lot of growing and developing to do. i feel compassion for them though, because we're all developing and growing at our own pace after all.

Emily said...

Marie: Thanks for the lovely compliments and the support!! I think it's a shame that some people feel that way about women of color wearing vintage. You are totally right about Lena Horne and Eartha Kitt; Horne had some pretty amazing style!! Have you ever seen the made for TV movie about Dorothy Dandridge? Halle Berry plays Dandridge and she makes vintage look brilliant!!! It's one of my favorite period films.

Anyways, I am glad that what I said didn't rub you the wrong way. I just wanted to show my support for women of all shapes and sizes! As a side note: do you have a blog? When I click your name, I am directed to nothing. I would love to read your blog if you have one!!! :)

Q's Daydream said...

That dress is fabulous on you! I wore only blue and white today and forgot the red too, hehe.

I know the discussion you're talking about. I hope I didn't say anything to hurt you! I think all woman are beautiful and should be treated that way. You look lovely in all of your vintage and honestly I've NEVER thought of you as being a bigger girl! Forget the girls who made those nasty comments!
Also, I'm a smaller girl now but when I was younger, 9-14 I was always one of the bigger girls. I got teased for being fat and I felt bad about myself a lot of the time. My Mom was wonderful though and made me feel great! I have these old pictures of my modeling vintage dresses and they make me smile so big now when I see them, haha!

BaronessVonVintage said...

LOVE this dress on you. The color, length, silhouette, everything! That pin sounds like a once in a lifetime find! WONDERFUL!

You know, this is the second not so pleasant blog topic I've come across...the first one involved a couple of my blog acquaintances who were criticized for having blogs (and styles) that were too beautiful, too perfect, too envy-inducing. A bunch of commenters chimed in that they were so jealous that they had to not visit those blogs anymore. Now we have bloggers being incredibly tactless regarding sizing?! GIve me a break?! The one thing I can say, if it is any consolation, is that I have one lovely, tall, and incredibly thin lady who follows my blog and her constant lament in posts is that she wishes she had curves to fill out her clothing the way other vintage loving ladies do. In fact, I worried at one point she was offended when another blogger mentioned that she wished this one knitwear magazine using vintage patterns had used more "vintage" proportioned models. This slender lady wrote, "Please, Baroness, give us skinny girls hope that we can look good in this vintage, too." Long story short, while I suppose there is another subgroup of vintage loving bloggers that really revere the coltish, waif look and like to mix high fashion with vintage, there is also a HUGE community of diehard vintage lovers filled with people who believe vintage clothing looks just as stunning (if not more stunning) on ladies with beautiful voluptuous figures. People need to stop applying the completely distorted and toxic modern notions of female beauty onto vintage fashion (esp. of the 30s, 40s, and 50s) and need to live and let live. Unfortunately, sometimes insecurity, pettiness, competitiveness, and envy seem to be devouring modern women's lives, resulting in not so nice female-female interactions. Good for you for posting on this tough, but important issue. Maybe by airing this problem out here, we can help discourage this hurtful, pointless behaviour.

Anonymous said...

Hey woman, it's Amanda.. No idea how to comment on here without a blogger ID, so I will be anonymous.. muhahhaha... ;)

All I have to say is that I am lucky I didn't see said conversation, or I am sure I would rip some bitches a second asshole. SERIOUSLY. This is 2010 and the average size female in America is a size 16!! There is something to be said about health in extreme cases, but a little meat on the bones is fine and dandy. In addition, really and honestly, who cares what these people think? They are probably miserable with themselves and their pathetic little lives and that's the only reason why they take the time to make a conversation bashing bigger women. Right? At the end of the day, it's not my business what other people think of me, and I am just going to go along doing my thing whether I am 130 pounds or 250 pounds.

Have a wonderful day!!

Brittany_Va-VoomVintage said...

I love your dress! I wish I could find a vintage pin with my name on it but I dont think there were many Brittany's in the 40's!
I just made a post about that conversation that you were referring to and I pose a challenge to all vintage bloggers to love themselves and love others....
http://vavoomvintage.blogspot.com/2010/06/challenge-love-yourself-love-others.html

Emily said...

Q: I was really offended by what you said, it was just sort of the overall feeling so many of the commentors had. I am fortunate enough to have two vintage clothing stores in my area that have a great selection of plus sized vintage clothing. And, as a modern day size 12, that's the only section I can shop in. It is totally true that many people back in the day where smaller, but I find it interesting that many of the average women I see in vintage photos were not always the slenderest. Thank you for your support!! That's what this post was all about!

Oh, and I would love to see your outfit from yesterday. Funny how we both forgot the red!! :)

Baroness: It was certainly a one in a lifetime find!! It was one of those things I could have justified spending a whole week's pay on!! :)

The only reason I posted what I did was because I was genuinely shocked. One of the reasons I love blogging is because I have found so many other lovely women who enjoy what I do, which isn't always the easiest to come by. That's why I couldn't believe that some girls could have the attitude that they did. But, I am glad that there is a lot of suport out there. I am really surprised at the supportive response I have gotten on this post!

Amanda: You crack me up!! I don't care anymore what was said, I was just so appalled when I first was reading it all. I just wanted to show my support for the whole vintage blogging community, both big and small.

As a side note, you must tell me how your day of vintage shopping went while the boys were doing their thing with the chickens!

Brittany: I just ready your post and I think I might need to get on this challenge!! Such a great idea to put something good into all of this, even it was just a small conversation! Oh, and I will keep a look out for a pin with your name, you never know.... :)

Emily said...

Q: I mean to say I was NOT offended by what you said!!!! So sorry!!!!!! Totally should have proof read that better!!

Anonymous said...

Me again.....I am totally posting pics of my cottage cheese legs to make some prissy broads cringe.

and be like.. WHAT?!?! HAVEN'T YOU SEEN A FAT PERSON BEFORE. YOU NEED TO GET OUT MORE..

lol. I kid, I will be good.

Antiquing was fabulous! We found this HUGE place in the middle of nowhere with a whole room full of clothes! We thought it was all vintage, some was, some wasn't. I got four dresses each under 10.00, and 30 percent off. One of them was only 1.50!! Brit found a teal radio for her kitchen for only 10.00, and it works!

Amy said...

My my my.........you gals sure know how to spice things up!

Take it from me.....any person who makes a negative comment about someone else (whatever the topic), is

A. Unhappy with themselves, and
B. Not worth getting upset over.

Remember ladies, never let them see you sweat. Smile serenely and move on.

Well, enough advice from this old gal. I think you are all fabulous!

Love,
M

MarieBayArea said...

hi there emily, in response to your question, no, i don't have a blog. i just started following some vintage fashion blogs recently. you bloggers are so sweet and have a great sense of style. constant inspiration. thank you very much!!

Rosie said...

Emily, I don't care what "size" you are, you make every vintage dress look lovely!

I'm sorry to say I could not find your apron dress pattern at the shop, but I will be on the look out.

Thank you for your kind words re: my dog Kelsey. :)

rosie

Unknown said...

I agree with you Emily, vintage gals need to stick together. No matter what we look like we all love vintage, help one another out. Beautiful outfit too and the pin!

Kir said...

Gosh, I didn't even realize there were prejudices like that here too. That's sad. I love vintage and though my waist is 26" I still have trouble finding stuff that's not too small sometimes. Those vintage girls were tiny. Atleast the ones that seem to have dresses still around.
Honestly I never thought of you as a bigger girl. In pictures you don't look much bigger than me. I think you look gorgeous. Sometimes I really wish I was more curvy to fill out the vintage clothes. I'm a little bit curvy but not hugely and I'm rather jealous of you curvier ladies. You girls look fabulous.

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