“It’s new fashion to look old fashioned.” I pulled this quote from a my space video that was taken from an old 1948 film by Simplicity sewing patterns. This home economics film is 59 years old!! (I love such nostalgia.) It provides sewing instructions on how to make a dress.

If you check this video out you may consider it corny but I overlook that part and listen to the basic info. I found this through Mrs. Happy Housewife.
I wish our modern day lifestyle could return to the simplicity and wholesomeness of yesteryear. The dress patterns they have in this video would enhance the figures of women today. The film offers several good tips in how to dress feminine. They said there should be a noticeable contrast between the shoulders and the waist. This is great for making a woman look good.
Today television and Hollywood stress cleavage and tight jeans to show attractiveness in a woman. This is not necessary for a woman to show off her figure. In fact, on the show What Not To Wear, they say women should not dress so revealing (which can become unappealing) but “that some things should be left to the imagination.” Presentation is important.
Modesty does not have to be ugly. Attractiveness does not have to be flaunting. Form fitting lines, darts, thin belts, delicate materials and lace are catagorized as feminine and pretty but are not overly revealing. A woman can look nice in a form fitting pencil skirt to the knee. It is not necessary to add some trashiness to attractiveness by wearing a long jean skirt that has a slit in the front that leads half way up the thigh so that others will notice you.
When I substitute at the high school, I rarely see a teenage girl in a dress (I can’t even think of even one instance right now!!) They’re young and have just gotten a cute womanly figure. I’m not saying they should wear a dress shown in the film, I’m just saying, oh, how I wish they would dress sharp, look respectable and still be admired for their cute figure. When I sub I intentionally try to dress like an executive secretary so that I look professional, give the girls an example of how to look nice and I simply just enjoy dressing up! 🙂
When I work on my assembly line job, it seems 99% of the women wear generic (unisex) untucked t-shirts and jeans. On our job, we work with screw guns, steel and insulation. Our job is not an environment to dress up in but in general our society has gotten more relaxed in dress. Most women I work with don’t even go to church, thus, they are not trained in how to look sharp in a dress. They haven’t even figured the several different colors that would enhance their hair and skin color. Most women at work average around the ages of 30-40 but seem to know little about looking nice. Our society has also become more overweight than in the 1948 film so this discourages dressing nice also. And today, good posture is not emphasized like then.
As I watched the video, I told my husband I have a great talent for sewing and I know the best classic fashions that could make our daughter Ginny look sharp. She could dress like a real beauty queen (like Miss Oklahoma). but right now, we don’t have the finances to do such a thing. I would need a sewing machine, a room or space to sew in, extra money to buy material and sewing notions and the extra time to make the clothes.
Here’s the video:
Pattern For Smartness
http://lads.myspace.com/videos/vplayer.swf
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