One thing I love about writing a novel set in the mid-twentieth century is researching the characters’ clothes. Currently, I’m having fun dressing my main character’s mother. She’s a self-absorbed character who feels overwhelmed by her large number of children, so her clothes are one of her few methods of self-expression. Here are two of the outfits I chose for her. The time period is early to mid 1940s.
The following outfit is one that she wore to a doctor’s appointment: the navy polka dot dress on the right, but with a different hat than the one shown on the pattern. I see her wearing a saucer hat like the one shown, but in navy with a white bow at the back.
The outfit below is one she wore to church in the summer. It’s a sleeker style because by 1944, fashions were trying to accommodate the need to use less fabric because of the war. The shoes I chose are made of fabric, not leather, for the same reason. White gloves not black. And her shoes are the red sling-back pumps with pom-pom bow in the lower left corner.
Ruth Hull Chatlien 