The Fashion of 1955: Montgomery Ward Spring/Summer Catalog from 1955

[@WithLoveKristina]

Big thing I forgot to mention! A vintage misses size 20 is approx a size 12-14 now. I have several dresses from this era marked 20 and they fit me as a dress size 14ish myself ❤️ (as long as the skirt is flared, that is)

[@almostheavenhomestead1680]

they changed the sizes after the 80s... I wore size 5 jeans in high school in 84 and now I fit in 3 and sometimes 1????? sewing patterns are the only thing with true sizes anymore. I'm a 14 in sewing patterns usually.. sometimes a 16 depending on which brand. it's alll different now. Also people were not as plus as they are now. diets were different and no GMO foods or "lowfat" stuff that just does the opposite of what it says. and girdles. lol.

[@zeusathena26]

@@almostheavenhomestead1680 yeah, my grandmother wouldn't go anywhere with out her girdle on. She wore it under her housecoat! She had 8 kids though. 😁

[@almostheavenhomestead1680]

@@zeusathena26 i miss girdles and how we used to dress everyone looks like a bum or a streetwalker anymore

[@VectorRabbit]

@@almostheavenhomestead1680 We don't really do "hating other people's bodies and fashion choices" here. ;)

[@almostheavenhomestead1680]

@@VectorRabbit no one is hating.

[@DJ-mu3ev]

Yes. I would love a catalog series, especially the furniture, kitchen stuff, and decor. Such a fun video.

[@angelakalmer1852]

We have the same taste & size. Could you do a tutorial on how to sew? I would love to learn how to sew! You're awesome! Keep it up! I love you channel!

[@jessieborrell1856]

I love looking through these catalogs! So much fun

[@WithLoveKristina]

Aren't they dreamy?

[@ljhw8076]

This is soo me looking at 40s - 50s fashion! I want that! 😆. Also the set up is fine. I always say, work with what you have, until you get what you want.🤗

[@carolmccormick1628]

I enjoyed the catalogue. Please do more of the videos.

[@c_j_ak]

I love vintage clothes. 😊💕

[@DWhoLover]

This is so much fun. Thank you for sharing it with us.

[@kkricket1968]

The dresses and shoes were so beautiful in that catalog. I thoroughly enjoyed this video.

[@brendas.7335]

Loved this video SO much!! I could watch this every day for sewing ideas! So much fun!! The children’s section would be great as well. 50’s kids clothes are so adorable! 😁

[@slothburglar]

"It's just going to be me going through all these pages saying "I want that"". That's.... why I'm here.

[@tinalehr3481]

I have a photo on my wall of my mother in a dress similar to these. She told me the picture was taken after I was born. She looked so beautiful in that dress. Always has been my favorite photo of her.

[@watsonmelon6575]

All the dresses are simply so dreamy!

[@roseystroup]

I love this episode. It is so cool you got a Montgomery catalog

[@laceyjane4285]

The red scarf, strawberries and red lilstick looks beautiful on you. ❤

[@chelsea-t]

I wish clothes were made now like back then!! By measuring our body then making the clothes to fit, not trying to make our bodies fit into a certain size! 💖 So many beautiful pieces! I love the swimsuits!

[@dandanjordan]

Agreed

[@ashenwalls3558]

I'm just binging your videos today while sewing some tap pants undies, and it's like a friend in my house chit chatting at me. Top tier sewing day content!

[@ktrayan1]

There are sooooo many dresses to choose from!

[@VictoriasRoses]

I absolutely LOVE this video. If you go through other categories even men and children's. I would love it. I agree about the slips and undergarments. I finally found a good slip on Walmart of all places that is not shapewear. I think that a lot of the things in this catalog were probably made in the USA. Not anymore are they made here, so we do not have these fashions available as much just basic is what we get. I live in Oregon so I love this catalog is from here.

[@VictoriasRoses]

Yes do a series. I love it!

[@apace903]

Very enjoyable. My Mom wore the long leg panties, long line girdles, and Grandmom wore the oxford tie shoes. Grandma had white for summer, black for the rest of the year. Flat for everyday and some with small heel for dressup. Oh, Grandma wore corsetts all her life. Thank you fir another fun video😊

[@laurieloomis7845]

Hi! Ya, I was in High School then. Graduated in 61. Ok, the white dress, I had one almost like it . Bought it at Penny's for about $7.00. The material was white with a slight brocade. I ended up cutting the water stains off it years later and I made a balero type little jacket and I still have it. Actually wore it to church about a yr. ago. Also , we wore those dresses yes, but in winter it was mostly tight skirts and sweaters, white oxfords and ponytails. Laurie from Idaho

[@KatieRae_AmidCrisis]

So enjoy 'guided tours' thru vintage catalogues like this. I'm a Brit, and it always makes me wonder what mail-order offerings there were in the UK, at the same point in history.

[@thatvintagehousewife1308]

I loved this video, so much fun getting to see the catalogue! I would love to see the homeware section in another video. I really need to get back into sewing again, too... I have a reasonable "collection" (ahem, hoard) of fabric just waiting for me to actually do something with it all 😂 it can be hard to find the time/focus to sit down and sew when you have littles, too!

[@LiaBunny93]

My mom was a seamstress, and she was born in 55. All of these dresses are so beautiful!

[@bethanypetersen7005]

I'd love to see the kids and toys sections. So interesting, thank you 😊

[@barbarakaywhite5166]

Thank you for sharing this catalog it was so fun I gat a fabric haul now I know what style to make

[@oldeuropeanfashionmagazines]

Thank you for showing this wonderful magazine. I so love to swipe through this catalogues. I have some old one from the 50s from Germany and will show them on my KZbin account.

[@LiaBunny93]

Awh, love Laci Fay!

[@rachelledellinger174]

Yaaaaaaay! Love love love lacy! Love you both!

[@melissaledonne9027]

I used to love the Christmas catalog.

[@ktrayan1]

I am now dreaming of myself gardening in those house dresses 😂😂 I AM putting snaps on a dress I just made tho! Fancy for modern wear but definitely casual for the 50s hehe.

[@Sabatuar]

I have that top nightgown in the bottom left three in pink. It's honestly nice enough to wear as a sundress with a slip underneath.

[@johnmills34YT]

I feel the same as you, just give me all the dresses!! Love this video!

[@merrilynblackmore6962]

I remember looking through those catalogs saying… I want this and this and I really really want that. I always loved the clothes.

[@racheg5421]

15:00 I love the white patterned dress bottom right corner 😮

[@ginam8474]

I enjoyed watching you and what you were pointing at all at the same time. It was fabulous! Not weird at all….don’t fuss. Love these catalogs. Good job.

[@aquaaurora2747]

12:09 a year later but ~your reminder to sew more~ ^^ I also would just drool and be "oOOooOoh I want thaaaat" on many pages. I wish cloths/fabric (frankly everything- technology and tools too) today would last long enough to be repurposed/refitted/reused like in the past, things were made to last better than.

[@EverySingleDollar]

Great video. I loved looking at all the prints in the catalogue. Half sizes were like our modern day petite sizes. 18 1/2 menas Petite 18. For sizes in the 50s just subtract 6 to get a modern day size. Size 12 in the 50s is a modern size 6.

[@SB_McCollum]

@35:00 those long line girdles remind me of the kind of things older ladies (like my grandmother) were wearing at that time. They had first come in like that in the 1920s and they just never changed their personal preference. I think my grandmother still wore dresses made after the 1930s fashions at the latest. (She was born in 1896.) Watch some of the oldest B&W sitcoms of the 50s and 60s and there will be some older women characters who are still anchoring their look in their 20s and 30s, which is fairly common even today.

[@roxannlegg750]

This was lovely to see such normal sizes in an old catalogue. I have an early 1960's french lace coffee coloured dress, silk underlined in pale coffee, its bust is a 56" and waist is 42" waist. Even better, its low backed style, with a metal zipper at the back, and has a huge amount of ease built into it to increase the bust and waist by another 6" if required. It was locally made by the Myer Emporium, and is my prized possession. I actually wonder if it was the MOTB dress as it came with a sister dress, allmost identical in style, same fabrics, and slightly smaller in proportions, but it sold before I could snatch that one too.

[@susangridley8354]

Oh, yes please do some sewing videos. I quit smoking and am struggling now with accepting the pounds that took the place of nicotine.😬 Your positivity around loving the size you are is so helpful for me right now. I have vintage patterns in my new size but can't bring myself to make anything that big. I need inspiration! 🥺

[@yetta1944]

House dresses were made different back then. 2022 could never! Where's the order form? 👗😍

[@keaghank]

OMG do it all! That sneak peek of the kitchen/home looks especially amazing!

[@ktrayan1]

I love your earrings.

[@debbiecowger4422]

Yes! More, please!

[@rosemarygreen2001]

You can still shop at Montgomery Ward through their catalog. I believe all the physical stores have closed. I bought my new microwave from them.

[@debbiewhitelock1552]

LOVE this just getting into the vintage fashion, please share more of this catalogue it is so interesting 😊

[@sallyeve4044]

So interesting, the year I was born!

[@TheVintageGuidebook]

LOVED this!

[@chezamoonangelaiemma497]

Wow beautiful outfits 😍

[@therewillbecatswithgwenhwyfar]

I was born in Renton and grew up in Vancouver and Kitsap county! I’m in NH now!

[@WithLoveKristina]

I was born in Olalla!

[@therewillbecatswithgwenhwyfar]

@@WithLoveKristina I graduated from SKHS! LOL. Class of 1987!

[@jesskgarner5772]

Lord I want everything! Sigh. You gotta find an Amish store for slips! They have all the best slips at really reasonable prices. But I’m over in PA so I don’t know if that exists near you.

[@LottieSue]

So glad I found you, I'm really enjoying your content/personality. I do have a question and perhaps you've done a video on this (?), but what do you do wear when it's really winterly cold weather? How do you keep your legs warm if you wear dresses all the time?

[@ziggybaker3446]

I don't wear dresses, so I'm very inexperienced with things like this, but how do you know what size you'd need? Did you strictly go by bust size? What if your waist was larger than the size for the bust? Did you then go by waist size and just have it tailored to fit the top??? Everything is so hourglass shaped, but not everyone comes proportioned like that. Personally, I have such a difficult time with dresses because of my proportions so I never wear them and instead would always opt for a blouse and skirt, but so many of these are beautiful I feel left out hahaha

[@thejaneymac6385]

You look so pretty ❤️

[@angelakalmer1852]

I wish I could share a picture with you. I just checked out 1950 vintage style clothes on Amazon. A black polka dotted dress with white fringe at the bottom with strawberries on it for only $33.95 for XXL (size 20 - 22). I hope you'll take a look at it.

[@SewWhatSeamsLegit]

The dress you took a picture of that you like, gertie has a tutorial on KZbin of the same dress on how to make it.

[@Xxxxxx19-p1c]

When I was a kid my dad would plop a Monkey Wards catalog in my lap in November, and voila! How did Santa know what I wanted for Christmas?!

[@WithLoveKristina]

Haha we do this but with Walmart and Target catalogs 😂

[@sewvintagebysunraedoll]

I could always make you a pair of vintage shorts, my patterns go up to an 57 in. Wide hip 🙌🏻 Let me know! They are pretty easy to make 💋 especially the basic Bermuda length ones.

[@italianbaby]

Hi love your channel and Laci fay's. question, Laci hasn't posted in 2 months, is she ok? thanks.

[@WithLoveKristina]

She is! She’s doing well, just had some work changes that have taken away her ability to film.

[@italianbaby]

@@WithLoveKristina thanks for the quick reply, have a wonderful day.

[@racheg5421]

I would love to buy a dress like these if anyone knows of a good site to buy from? 😊

[@gohawks3571]

Yay! Celebrate real life👍👍👍 I thought you guys knew each other in person; didn't at least one of you give the other clothes? I guess you can ship stuff, just slightly surprised. I am happy you got to see each other!☺️ Do you mind if I whine a bit? Because I am really tired of the liposuction commercials😡 It came here, when I was just watching/reading that someone got fit, and my sweet cleaning lady & housewife who was just delivering a beautiful baby. I hate you very much, Sonabella!!!! If something causes me to use this kinda service (I don't see why), I will NOT be using your stupid services. Just because I was watching a pregnant lady. Geez, jerks!!!! Thank you for reading my rant😉 Sorry, just is pissing me off. I am definitely a plus girl😉

[@ktrayan1]

Has anyone ever seen a picture of their great grandmother from the 50s? Born around the 1910s? lol mine are all plus sized!

[@make_it_aesthetic]

All this has taught me is that you can do a hella lot with a single silhouette.

[@ktrayan1]

No people really don’t know about slips! They’re actually the only vintage garments I own because I can’t find nice ones modern made!

[@anacolon7709]

I AM SO GLAD 4 U THAT U GOT 2 MEET UP WIT LACY FAE.U R SO LUCKY.I WISH I KOULD MEET U AN HER IN PERSON.I WOOD B SO HAPPY NOTHIN LIKE THAT EVER EVER HAPPENS 4 ME.I JUST HOPE B4 I PASS AWAY I KAN MEET MY FAVORITE PPL

[@zeusathena26]

My grandmother got life insurance through Montgomery Ward. They died before she did. She lived to be 98, born in 21. The insurance was bought by another company.

[@melissacarney4645]

Montgomery ward is still around. Not quite the dress selection though.

[@Swiss1974]

You should make them according to people’s sizes and sell them. It’s hard to find nice tasteful dresses.