The Winter Formal was held at the Dane Estate, a beautiful 1891 mansion in Chestnut Hill. The dark wood and carved moldings were a perfect balance to the pretty holiday decorations.
The library was also perfect for dancing, and as two of the event sponsors were swing dance studios, we did!
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| guests in the library |
In addition to dancing, there was a lovely dinner and a showing of It's A Wonderful Life on an original 1940s army movie projector. It was so cool! I'm not a huge fan of the movie, but watching the reels (including pauses to change them out) in a room full of other people reacting definitely added to the viewing.
The year for the evening was 1946, which is the year It's A Wonderful Life premiered. All of the event attendees looked great, and being surrounded by people in lovely 40s and 50s clothes was really fun. The organizers also did a great job building the atmosphere--little touches like hiding the iPod of dance music behind a vintage radio made the evening magical.
I was hoping to have a new dress done, but I got distracted...oops. So I wore the Butterick 4790 one-piece dress (which is the coolest pattern) I made a couple of years ago, and it was actually pretty perfect. The fabric has a tiny holly berry print, and there is a jingle-bell shaped decorative button on the front closure. I also (FINALLY) managed to get victory rolls that looked the way I wanted, so of the entire outfit I was most proud of my hair. The back is decorated with a sprig of (fake) holly and a blingy snowflake hairpin.
I also wore my 1940s mink cape, which has the iconic square 40s shoulders and is snuggly warm. (I would never buy new fur, but used vintage stuff I have no problem with.)
It was a lovely evening celebrating the best part of winter (snow, vintage holiday goodness, and warm evenings with friends). Now all I need is to sing some carols!
This was such a great event! I arrived late but got there just in time for dinner. I was the one in the yellow dress. :) Wish we could have stayed longer for the dancing. So glad you took all these pictures, they are fantastic. Love your dress too. The holly in your hair was a really nice touch.
ReplyDelete-Emily
Emily's Vintage Visions
Oh my goodness, you looked so perfectly 40s! Did you make your dress?
DeleteAnd thanks! I bought the holly a couple of years ago for a hair wreath (for 1860s), and I love having excuses to use the leftovers.
I'll be posting some of the pictures to the event page on facebook soon, so feel free to grab them :)
Thanks! Yes, I made the dress from a 1940s pattern and used fabric I already had in the stash. It was a lot of fun to put together. I didn't take many pictures but will attempt to upload what I have and post them on my blog sometime this week.
Delete-Emily
Wow, what a lovely venue. It looks like there were no ropes to keep you from using the furniture, etc. Sounds very immersive. You looked great! You'll have to do a victory roll tutorial some day.
ReplyDeleteQuinn
Love this!! It looks like you had a simply fabulous time, and everyone dressed up in their holiday finery must have been breathtaking.
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