1950s Dresses - The Swish Without the Pouf

The popularity of 1950s full skirted dresses has been on the wane for the last few months, but I now find that they are coming back in a big way with one significant difference.  Women who wear this style now prefer to wear their full skirted dresses without crinolines.  They want the swish of a full skirt without the fullness of a petticoat. 

For that reason, I will be photographing 1950s dresses both ways for you so you can see how they look when worn with and without that slip.  This 1950s Suzy Perette dress is a great example of how a 50s dress can look great no matter how you choose to wear it.  

Here's another example of how the look changes with a crinoline and without.

What is your preference when wearing 50s dresses?  With or without?

Crinoline Petticoats, 1951

In August of 1951, Life magazine did a small article about the latest crinoline petticoats a woman needed to wear under the new full skirted fashions.  The magazine featured fashions by Anne Fogarty and showed the crinolines she used for her fashion shows to give the latest bell shaped skirts the oomph they needed.  I thought you might like to see those crinolines.

A quilted cotton dress worn over a black turtleneck sweater and with strappy sandals.

That heavy quilted fabric required a ruffled cotton petticoat or two.  Over the petticoat, the model wears a very stiff lacquered net slip with a wide horsehair braid hem.  The lacquered net crinoline provides the support needed for the heavy quilted fabric of the dress.

3 lighter weight dresses by Fogarty are shown with layers of petticoats underneath.

Prepping for a fashion show, the models don multiple ruffled cotton petticoats to wear under full skirted dresses.  In the foreground, you can see how stiff those lacquered net slips are.  They stand up on their own!

All photos by Nina Leen for Life Magazine, August 13, 1951.