Glam! 50s Style

Saturday, October 05, 2013 | Labels: Fashion and Beauty, Hair, Sewing

I was looking for a way to get a cute Dorothy Dandridge looking hairstyle, but to no avail. The only tutorial that I could find had a glitch that deleted the part where you roll your hair! :-( But it does show how to style the curls so I decided to include the link.

Anyhow, I decided to look for Marilyn Monroe instead and came up with the perfect video series. It is a two part series. The first part is a very detailed tutorial on rolling your hair with pin curls and pillow rollers. The second part is how to style the curls using brushes, clips, and wave clips. And in the grand tradition of the 50s, of course the tutorial includes gobs of strong hold hair spray!

Now I won't be using this exact method for styling my natural African American hair, but I will use this tutorial to keep my press and curl. I will be doing something similar to this Dorothy Dandridge hair and make up tutorial. You can get the same effect, by spiral curling your hair and then pin curling it in the same way. I have done that with much success. When you spiral curl your hair, curl the pieces in alternating directions.

Here is another cute one from Style from Grace! It is a quick retro do! And just because she is awesome, she decided to create a video glossary detailing each of the rolling techniques that she uses! I love her blog and her YouTube channel. Her tutorials are so clearly explained! Definitely have to go back through her videos and posts!

And just to complete the look, I will be making several dresses (hopefully) to go with these hairstyles. They are very work-friendly for teachers.

I have my Walkaway Dress!

I also have these little cuties: Butterick 5556 and Butterick 5850.

And here are some free 50s dress patterns. I hope to draft a sloper and then add design details as most of the bodices are fairly fitted. Franken-pattern is also an option.

Just be forewarned, big skirts mean big yardage. Most of these will require 5 or more yards for me. I will be using sheets, lol, unless it is a special occasion.

I just wish I had the time to play with this and get it right! When I do, I will be sure to post the picture!

UPDATE: Check out a post about another Dorothy Dandridge iconic dress