RIVERSIDE: Residents’ fashion forever frozen in the ’50s – Press
January 3, 2015 by admin
Filed under Lingerie Events
RIVERSIDE: Residents’ fashion forever frozen in the ’50s
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TOUCHSTONES OF ’50S STYLE
Looking to pick up some ’50s items for your wardrobe? Here are some things to look for:
Dresses and skirts: Worn best over a stiff petticoat, hemlines stopped at the knee. Swing dresses and circle skirts (which made a perfect circle when women sat down) were fun to twirl in. Waistline was a major issue. Some women loved the slinky-fitting Dior dresses, while others preferred the sack frocks with no waistlines. Pleats, large waistline bows, plaid, floral prints, polka dots, stripes, Asian-themed prints, wide collars, puffy shoulders and long, flowing evening dresses prevailed throughout the decade.
Pants: Capri and cigarette pants were common. The latter had high waists, side or back zippers, flat fronts, wide waistbands (3 inches) and full hips and were slim fitting through the legs. They ended just above the ankle.
Fabrics: Satin, silk, rayon blends and cotton made up the pieces. Bouffant petticoats appeared from the mid-’50s on. Red was popular.
Coats: Most were long, typically made of camelhair, wool, velour, fleece, tweed, and fur or cashmere, often decorated with large buttons, belts or fur collars. 1950s coats and jackets usually were color coordinated with the rest of a woman’s ensemble.
Accessories: Gloves; stiletto heels, moccasins, wedges, penny loafers, saddle shoes, ballet shoes, sandals and slippers; handbags made of gold lame, wicker, leather, crocodile, alligator, turtle or snakeskin. As the decade progressed, designers created Lucite boxes that doubled as purses.
Sources: retrowaste.com; vintagedancers.com
WHERE THEY SHOP FOR AUTHENTIC ’50S CLOTHES AND FURNISHINGS
Mission Galleria: 3700 Main St., Riverside, 951-276-8000
Forget Me Not Antiques: 3774 Elizabeth St., 951- 779-1441
Treasures N Junk: 215 S. San Antonio Ave., Ontario, 909- 983-3300
Rose Bowl Flea Market: every second Sunday, 1001 Rose Bowl Drive, Pasadena, 323-560-7469
Expos: Vintage clothing and textile shows in Burbank, Brea and San Francisco
As they settle into the new year, two Riverside women with distinctive styles won’t be poring over predictions for hot trends in fashion or furnishings.
Instead, their gaze is fixed firmly on the past, well before the comfort of sweats and flip-flops made dressing down the norm.
Erica Rayshel and Amy Howard, who are both 42, live in 1920s homes and chase 1950s clothing and accessories online and at antiques stores, estate sales and textiles shows. It’s really their quest for nostalgia, to recapture some of the glamour and elegance of fitted, full, twirling skirts and beaded cardigans.
Howard, a newbie collector whose husband built a storage unit to contain her 100 dresses, skirts, sweaters and handbags, considers Rayshel her mentor. But unlike her, Howard mixes up ’50s pieces with her jeans and Converse sneakers. As a homemaker and mother of a 12-year-old son with special needs, “running around in vintage clothes and shoes all the time like Erica isn’t practical for me,” Howard said.
Intrigued by each garment’s history, Howard said: “I’m wearing something that’s been around for 60 or 70 years. Somebody loved it. I wonder how they wore it and where they wore it.”
When she’s out with Rayshel, both in full ‘50s regalia, Howard loves the lingering glances, appraisals and questions. “I always like to be the center of attention,” she said.
Rayshel is unfazed by looky-loos. She doesn’t dwell in Eisenhower-era clothes to court curiosity, but is accustomed to stares. “It isn’t a costume; it’s who I am,” she said.
She has stepped back in time since age 18 when she bought her first ‘50s beaded sweater for $5 at an estate sale. Today she owns that post-World War II decade, paying as much as $200 for a genuine, high-quality ‘50s dress. “Even knockoff dresses can cost $100,” she said.
But reproductions just aren’t Rayshel. She has meticulously arranged her closets with more than 1,000 authentic items on hangars, shoe racks or in labeled boxes. Her tightly packed-in treasures include cosmetics, lingerie, maternity clothes, sleepwear, hats, gloves, belts, jewelry, shoes and children’s clothing for her 5-year-old daughter, Ava Rayshel Szabo.
“Mommy looks so pretty,” said Ava, who happily dresses in retro clothing to complement her mom. “It makes me want to wear skirts and dresses.”
Rayshel fingers the heavy cotton or rayon blend circle skirts she so admires, each imprinted with colorful, unusual patterns, including tiny Egyptians on one, graphic pops on another. “It’s about the aesthetics,” she said. “They are works of wearable art. They don’t make clothing like that today with interesting, novelty prints.”
She ascribes her love of art and art history to her “extremely progressive” parents, Riversiders Barry and JoAnn Rayshel, who introduced her and brother Sean to museums all over the country.
“Erica’s love of vintage reflects her exposure to different cultural periods,” said JoAnn Rayshel.
As an English and anthropology major at UC Riverside, Erica Rayshel saw her ‘50s fixation deepen. The fabrics, cuts and designs suited her: wearing the clothes felt like a homecoming. “I’m too curvy to do the ‘20s and ‘40s looks that are tight at the hips,” she said. “I have an hourglass figure.”
At college, she scrapped plans to be a museum curator or art historian when she fell in love with teaching. “And I could wear what I wanted,” she said, laughing.
After working at Rubidoux High School and then at her alma mater, Ramona High, she’s now teaching at Summit View Independent Study School in Riverside. During those two decades, Rayshel has awed and delighted students with her unique style – what she calls “classic,” not the “cliched” clothes associated with greasers, beatniks or the ‘50s car culture.
Rayshel embraces Audrey Hepburn-esque chic, clean, geometric lines, rhinestone and beaded embellishments and platform shoes. She snubs tight capri pants, poodle skirts, saddle shoes, bandanas and pin-curled locks. She wears little eye makeup and red lipstick. She scrapes her long red hair back in a ‘50ish ponytail with a scarf, and and her curled bangs sit high on her forehead.
“This is who I am,” she declared. “You have to feel it, own it, or it’s not you.”
Her long learning curve into buying and wearing vintage garb has yielded some hard lessons. Rayshel doesn’t go dancing in dressy ‘50s duds: too fragile. She’s an expert seamstress: every item comes in need of repairs. And yes, she prefers 21st century lingerie, cosmetics, children’s shoes and sunglasses. “Some things are made better now,” she said.
Which is perhaps why Rayshel prefers living in 2015, despite her reverence for ‘50s couture, not its culture. The cars and music don’t really resonate with her. “I couldn’t have gotten a loan for a home then, which I own, and I couldn’t have owned a credit card,” she said. “The irony is, I would have hated the ‘50s.”
Contact the writer: llucas@pe.com or 951-368-9559
