susan earlam ~ horror author

Welcome to another instalment of Vintage Girl Essentials. I’m looking today at high waisted trousers which pioneers of fashion such as Gabrielle Chanel started wearing in the late 1920’s. They became more mainstream in the 1940’s which is where most of us know the style from.

I’m currently reading “Me- Stories of my Life” by Katharine Hepburn. It’s a great book, you actually feel as is she’s talking to you about her life. Well worth a read if you are a fan of hers.

I’ve admired Katharine Hepburn for as long as I can remember. Watching films at home with my mum as a child, she always stood out a mile from all the other actresses of the time, she was the kind of woman I wanted to be. Strong, ballsy, quick humoured, doesn’t suffer fools gladly- yet still clearly a woman.

This was of course somewhat down to the parts she played, but being a small child I wouldn’t have always understood the intricacies of a character. What I fell for with KH was what she projected through the screen with her posture, her speech and of course her clothes.

Katharine paved the way for stronger female actors and Lauren Bacall came along a few years later and yet again she is one of my personal favourites for all the reasons I love KH. I think Bacall has another dimension of a sultry side to her that Hepburn doesn’t show.

But as you can see the high waisted trousers! Slightly different in fit on the leg, but both, as with Vivian Leigh below who is wearing a much wider leg, the trousers still show off the female figure as they nip you in at your narrowest point- the waist.

 So for working a vintage look from anywhere from the 1920’s to the 1960’s the high waisted trouser is a garment that you can wear many different ways.

British vintage repro brand Heyday are offering a discount code for 15% off their range of high waisted trousers for Old Fashioned Susie readers until the end of the month (April 2013)

If you want to take them up on this offer then just use the code SUSIE13 when checking out on the site. Take a look at the high waisted trousers currently in their repro range.