THE LOOK FANTASTIC 1952

mainbocher

the dinner dress 

day-length with an intricacy of straps that makes a great point of good chest and shoulders - silk lame brocaded with golden threads. Jewels, van cleef and arpels

the dinner suit

jean patchett in mainbocher's gray cut velvet dinner suit. the jacket buttons to fit like a bolero, the strap of the bodice is mounted with a big bow of pale gray mousseline de soie.

this is the way givenchy grows roses

"everywhere one looks in paris there are those roses - sometimes in tapestry, once in ivory, often of beads - heaped on shoulders, hidden in petticoats and, particularly, when used by givenchy, flamboyantly romantic."

above - king sized, planted above a black velvet dress. the stole rises above bare shoulders like a ruff - the woman's arms plunge through great rosy handcuffs.

suzy parker in givenchy's deep red roses. a bolero of a thousand chiffon petals piled above a strip of black wool. darker than the roses, and velvet, the back-of-the-head turban.

the fifties party face

"brush your hair upwards for the lifted look it gives. make your eyes with pencil lines slanting towards the temples. make your mouth to tilt high in the corners. this is the season that shows in your face."

the italian haircut

on the rock shores of ishia and capri, the film studios of rome - another shape. studied but with great naturalness, front and sides full and wavy, high behind the ears but gripping the back of the head, well down the neck with feathery, nibbled ends. the head looks bigger, the hair never moves. 

... eyes on the fifties at devodotcom