Monday, December 16, 2013

You are Now in Bedford Falls

It snowed this weekend! Actual, accumulating powder! I'm not a fan of the cold, but I LOVE the first snow of the season. (Although it helps that I don't have a driveway to shovel or a car to manage...) I was able to fully embrace the snow this weekend with some good old-fashioned mid-century Christmas cheer, including attending the Greater Boston Vintage Society Winter Formal. It was a lovely evening!























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!

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!

5 comments:

  1. 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.
    -Emily

    Emily's Vintage Visions

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    1. Oh my goodness, you looked so perfectly 40s! Did you make your dress?
      And 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 :)

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    2. 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.
      -Emily

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  2. 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.

    Quinn

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  3. 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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