While in Chicago, C. and I popped by a vintage shop on Lincoln Ave, and of course my eye was drawn to this very red dress that my mom (and probably most mothers of people my age) had likely worn during my early childhood. Since I have a soft spot for all things that my mom wore at one point, I tried it on (it was on sale) and it fit pretty well. The waist even hit in the right spot. It's a softer polyester, and there is a little bit of staining, but it's pretty slight. This may not be obvious in the picture but the skirt is a wrap cascading style.
I was curious about this style of dress. It seemed a bit reminiscent of a 1940s style dress I've seen in vintage dress patterns (although they usually have a slightly below the knee hem). I found this pattern and it does seem to have a resemblance. I have seen a number of 1980s/late 1970s items on Etsy and Ebay that also seem to have a 1940s or 1930s style. Was this an actual trend back then? Vintage mavens, have any clue?
For some reason, I wanted to go 1950s with styling this, hence the cardigan, hair scarf and the brown oxfords. I am not teaching today, but I am going in to attend a panel discussion for a colleague's book (the same awesome colleague who gave me a positive evaluation on my teaching). Not only to support him, but also because I offered it to my students as an extra credit. (Somehow all my generosity will not stop a few cranky ratemyprofessor.com evals from popping up at the end of the semester. Eh, my recalcitrant students will appreciate my efforts after they've been working a few years).
Dress: vintage shop, Lincoln Square (Chicago)
Belt: thrifted
Oxfords: Tahari via ebay
Microfishnets: Daffy's
Scarf: swapped
