Interesting blog about 1950s fashion model sizes

I just read this earlier! They are very similar in shape and stature to me - but the waists! I would have to corset unhealthily to resemble those waist measurements. Anyone of my height who did it through eating etc. (or lack of) would faint..
 
Very interesting, thank you, Jonathan!

I also clicked through to "So What Size WAS Marilyn Monroe?"
It lists measurements and bra size for several "vintage" celebrities. What I'm not understanding is how someone can have a bust of 36" AND a bra size of 36D (Bettie Page) or a bust of 38" AND a bra size of 38D (Jane Russell). The number part of the bra size is the measurement UNDER the bust. The cup size (letter) is determined by how many more inches the true bust size differs from the under-bust measurement.
So... if Jane Russell had a 38" true bust measurement and wore a D cup, her bra size would actually be a 34D.
Clear as mud, LOL?!
 
I read that one too and was amazed at the 19" waist. I got my waist to 24" with a 50s corselet, but that wasn't comfortable... So I'd rather go with a few inches more :). But when I look at current clothes, everything is just hip-hugging and nobody seems to have a waist anymore at all it seems to me sometimes - which doesn't suit me.
 
My mom had a 22" waist before I came along. She's blamed me ever since, LOL. "You done had a baby, Ms. Scah-lett..."

The weirdest thing I've noticed is that even "high-waist" modern trousers and panties don't reach the actual waist! And no, I don't have a particular tall rise. They're still at least 2" below the waist. I think we've (well, not us here at the VFG, of course) collectively forgotten where our waistline is! Most people I speak with who don't wear vintage can't stand the feeling of a waistband at their actual waistline (if they even know where that is). The opposite is true for me. I don't like that modern "everything is falling down" way of dressing.
 
Liza, I am so with you! I enjoyed the hip-hugging stuff for a while and while it seemed to fit when it first turned up, but I'm off it now. I grew up with high-waisted jeans (plus I cinched my waist as tight as I could with a belt...) and never quite went off them thanks to the vintage jeans I had at the same time. Ok, it can go two centimeters or so lower if it's well cut like my capris I wear in summer but generally I too hate it when everything seems to be hanging out or slipping out of waistbands and waistbands sit so low you risk showing stuff you don't want to show. Plus - these styles mostly don't fit my body either. Either they're too tight at the hips or they gape at the waist...
 
I just wonder how these women had such small waists then but still looked so healthy and how women who have 26-30" waists who are of similar height also look healthy now. My daughter is 9 years old. She isn't even 5' tall yet, she has a 23" waist, and is a lean bean.
 
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