Vintage Notions Book Club: Summer Beauty

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Give smiles if you have nothing else. Give encouragement, good cheer.

Make beauty come to you through your desire to express it.

Your thoughts, deeds, motives, acts, industries, and desires–

all can express beauty if beauty is in the heart; all can give happiness if

love is the carrying vehicle.

July’s chapter is all about summer beauty, both inside and out. In the above quote, Mary Brooks Picken once again reminds us that simplicity in living and giving, and a kind and cheerful disposition make for a beautiful life. In this hectic day to day world, sometimes this is hard to remember. We get bombarded by blogs and magazines telling us that we can be happy, if you have this or buy that. We need the wisdom of Mary Brooks Picken to know that stuff isn’t going to make us happy; only inner contentment and kindness are the vehicle for happiness.

Beauty Vs. Personality

This month the Department of Good Looks talks to us about Beauty vs. Personality. Most women feel the pressure to achieve a level of physical attractiveness. We diet, whiten our teeth, dye our hair and even have plastic surgery to achieve what is, mostly, an unattainable ideal. But what is that worth if we don’t have the personality to back that up? This article reminds us that a beautiful woman without intelligence, wit, and warmth is only a pretty picture. So the next time you are feeling unattractive, don’t just run out and buy a new lipstick or new shoes…try hitting up the bookstore, or working on an interesting hobby, that way you are working on both your inner and outer beauty.

“Nothing in the world has ever been beautiful merely on the surface. Beautiful women hold their preeminence through a single unchanging possession–an inexhaustible, rich store of vitality.”

All feminine America seems suddenly to have realized that the wearing of trousers is conducive to greater freedom, and so to greater joy.

The Woman’s Institute, aside from giving helpful advice about sewing and home life, also encouraged it’s subscribers to use their sewing skills as a business. In July’s chapter we read an excerpt from 1929’s Fashion Service that gave it’s readers advice about sewing Beach Pajamas for customers.

Beach Pajamas made their way into women’s wardrobes in the 1920’s, as women realized that trousers gave them greater freedom of movement. As their name suggests, they first showed up as styles for beach, but quickly also morphed into loungewear for the home. They could be made in a casual cotton or rayon for outdoor settings, or more glamorous fabrics like silk for the boudoir.Beach pajamas were one of the first true non-corseted outfits that was deemed suitable to wear in public.

Coco Chanel started designing beach pajamas in the early 1920’s and France picked up the trend quickly. By 1929 Pajamas were a popular style in American as well. Of course, once women experienced the comfort of a no-corset, trouser combination, they never gave it up. We can thank Coco Chanel and the pioneering beach goers of the 1920’s for the comfortable clothes we are wearing today. I only wish that our loungewear and beach-combing clothes were as glamorous today! Seeing the vintage images of ladies in Beach Pajamas makes me really want to up my game this summer. Shorts and a tank top seem so dull in comparison, don’t they?Check out some great examples of beach pajamas below, and see the above image in Vintage Notions!

Comment and Win!

The pajama styles of the 1920’s inspired me in designing some of Indygo Junction’s loungewear patterns. The Klassic Kimono, Asian Night PJ’s and BoudoirÂ Basics, all of which would be luxurious to lounge around in! Comment below to win this glamorous pattern pack. Winner will be selected Monday, July 22nd. (Comments posted until midnight, Sunday, July 21st will be entered to win & a winner will be selected at random from those comments).