Today I'm going to take a step back to the decade of the 1950s - one of my favorite era's for fashion.  This decade was defined by extremely smart and elegant women's clothes with an emphasis on detailed tailoring coupled with soft, feminine silhouettes.  The clothes of this period focused on the hourglass silhouette with longer, fuller skirts which emphasized the waist.  While older women opted for pencil skirts, younger women wore the flamboyant poodle skirts!  Impeccable grooming and a highly tailored look were of the utmost importance.  Pleated skirts were also very popular (now back in trend), which gave a boost to the neat, tailored look.  Hemlines usually ended just at the knee or a little below it.

A lot of variety was also seen in women's shirts and blouses, especially in the neckline, sleeves and cut.  Shawl collars, round collars, halter necklines and soft short collars were very popular as they softened and flattered the shoulders.  Blouses with short sleeves, puff sleeves, and kimono sleeves were very popular, as were soft draping and monogramming.

Pants and shorts were usually reserved for very casual occasions like picnics.  Culottes, capri pants and pleated shorts were acceptable fashion clothing, as were tapered pants and suits.

The accessory of this era was.....the glove!!  A lady sans gloves in this decade was not a lady!!  Gloves of all sizes - short wrist length ones, medium elbow length ones, and the long beyond-the-elbow ones were worn by many ladies and they usually had several pairs of them!  The other big accessory was the scarf - and not just to cover the head!  You'd be astounded at the ways women chose to use the scarf back then, wearing them as belts, wrapping them as halter tops, as headbands or to tie pony tails!  Oh yes, these women liked making statements during this time of the fashion revolution!  Girdles were, more than often, inseparable to women's dresses, and the mink stole (I know, gasp!) were coveted and worn with evening dresses.

All of the above fashion trends have been glamorized by Hollywood and immortalized by the silver screen goddesses like Elizabeth Taylor, Gace Kelly and Lana Turner, and most recently made a come-back by the AMC hit show Mad Men, which has been a showcase for these amazing fashions once again.

Here are some of the looks of the 1950s decade, a time when women really looked like women...