1952 Dress Styles – snapped by Life’s Nina Leen –

1950s fashion report for Glamourdaze

It’s spring and Life magazines Nina Leen is out snapping the latest snappy styles for women on the streets, avenues and museums of Washington DC.

Among the Capitals 115,000 government girls shirt waists are almost a required uniform. Here a group of Pentagon secretaries wearing them.

Among the women of Washington society the ball gown is almost a uniform, with evening dress required for party going or giving three or four nights a week.

In the National Gallery, the Capital’s greatest repository of art, Sheila Kilgore wears a flower-piled hat ( John Frederics), which is now back in style, with finely pleated wool cocktail dress (Pauline Trigere).

White Wool Fleece is a popular sportswear fabric now made into a dressy fitted coat for spring street wear ( Ben Zuckerman). It is worn with a small veiled angora hat ( John Frederics) by Gene Skora.

Shiela Kilgore again here wearing a Princess coat dress with checked stiff, ridged silk lined red taffeta. It has jewelled buttons, and half belt in back ( Mollie Parnis). Perched on Sheila’s fashionable poodle hairdo is a pile of poppies and daisies ( Mr John)

Nursemaids cap of buttercups has black streamers down the back ( Hattie Carnegie), and this tops a black Carnegie suit worn by the lovely Eleanor Owens. Behind her hangs Manet‘s The Old Musician !

Tight top of lightweight wool princess dress is zipped up the back, has a separate waist cinch underneath it. The dress has a five yard hem, is edged with linen bands at the high neck and on the pockets ( Ceil Chapman).

And now a forecast for summer – with this cotton twill cocktail suit with velvet collar and brass buttons ( Jane Derby) modelled here by the stunning Mrs William E Stone.

That’s all !