Vintage Waitress Outfits

[texasgirl]

So I did a search and didn't see anything on this. But let me know if I missed anything.

The Bonnie & Clyde Festival is approaching and I am trying to put together my outfits. Bonnie was a waitress when she met Clyde. Here's a photo of her back then.

So I was trying to find a source for some reproduction waitress uniforms. So far all I've found is this one. Not so sure about it. Has anyone else come across anything like this?

http://www.traveltrunk.com/2000/waitress17.htm

I do have a solid black long sleeve dress. I thought maybe I could make a white collar somehow and find an apron and hat?

Just thought I'd see if anyone had any brilliant ideas

 

[Miss Sis]

I've done the waitress thing - although from a British POV. I made a plain black dress from black calico from an original 30s pattern and made up the hat, apron and collar myself.

I used the Army and Navy catalogue to check the dress was suitable as they had a few pages of domestic uniform, including all the different styles of aprons, collars and cuffs. I'm sure Sears must have had something similar for American styles?

My friend who joined me late in the day on getting her outfit together just used a plain black wool dress and I made the apron and collar for her too, but slightly scaled down as she is alot shorter than me.

If you like I can scan the pattern and the catalogue? Just give me till tomorrow to dig it all out.

Here's a pic. I'm the taller of the two.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Here's a pic. I'm the taller of the two.

That's very close to what the standard American waitress look of the late twenties/early '30s would have been: very close, in turn, to what household maids would have worn. Black uniforms predominated, with white spread or middy collars, and white aprons.

The fashion for pastel-colored waitress garb was mostly a 1940s innovation, and even then you'd find black and white at conservative metropolitan lunchroom chains like Schrafft's or Child's. The more colorful looks were found at independent diners and cafes.

 

[Miss Sis]

Our outfits were basically inspired by the great British 'Nippy', or Lyons Corner Tea House waitresses. Very distinctive and well loved by the British public.

Sadly, Lyons Corner Tea House's are no longer with us. I wish they were.

 

[texasgirl]

That's great! Love it! If it's a pretty simple pattern, I could maybe figure it out?

Well here's the black dress I have that I got from Sunny. It's a wool jersey.

Oh, this will be fun in the 90 degree weather we will probably have that day! But maybe I could add to it.

 

["Skeet" McD]

Dear TG...wish I could be of more immediate help, but within the last couple of weeks TCM screened a number of pre-Hayes code movies from the vaults...as part of a promotion for the new DVD set:

http://www.tcm.com/2009/forbiddenHollywood/index.jsp

One of the films, Other Men's Women (1931), is filmed obviously off-the-lot at a real southern California RR yard and concerns RR men and...the women who love them. Several of them are waitresses at iconic EAT joints...and their uniforms are shown at considerable length. This is the only screen capture I could find online; it shows one of the waitresses...but off-duty, sadly:
http://gallery.me.com/finiancircle#100014/othermen4

I do have it on DVR, and could try to take some screen shots if you think it might be useful to you. Honestly, though...it and Wild Boys of the Road are pretty much worth the price of admission for folks "like us:" lots of almost documentary-style clothing and setting stuff.

Drop me a PM if you'd like me to try to get you some pics...

"Skeet"

 

[texasgirl]

Thanks for the offer Skeet! I'll let you know.

I guess I should also mention this will be one of 6 outfits I need for the day. So I'll probably be wearing it for about 10 minutes. So I don't want to spend a lot of money for just this one thing. With that being said, I also want to try to get as accurate as I can.

Also, here is a hat an apron I had found- thoughts?

 

[Miss Sis]

Since you won't be wearing the outfit for very long, go for the dress you have. I would still make the apron etc. It's very easy as they are essentially rectangles for the apron and ties and the hat would also be simple to mock up in paper for a pattern. If you have a dress pattern for a large collar that really helps get the shape right. Make sure it covers the collar you have on the dress or it might look odd.

Here's the pics I used as reference. The first is Maids' and Nurses' Dresses from the 1935-36 Army and Navy catalogue - all very English. Our event was based in 1937 so it was fine for that. Unfortunately we don't have an earlier year of the catalogue than this at the moment:

Then the aprons etc. The one in the middle at the bottom was what I had in mind even before I found the pic!

Finally, the dress pattern I used to make my plain black dress. I did make it with a plain black collar incase I used it for something else and made a separate white collar to cover. It's a very nice style which one day I will make again in a different fabric.

Hope this is useful - or at least interesting to you.

 

[texasgirl]

SUPER helpful Miss Sis- thanks so much!

 

[texasgirl]

I tried to sort all my pictures in categories and it has made them all disappear- ugh. Anyway, I took a picture this weekend of the outfit and I think it came out pretty good.

 

[goldwyn girl]

Looks great and I love those shoes.

 

[JennyLou]

The outfit looks great! Well done.

 

[retrogirl1941]

Here is my 40's version:

I already had a sheer black dress and I was'nt certain I was going to use the outfit again so I just made the cap and used a vintage hostess apron.

Samantha

 

[texasgirl]

Thanks JennyLou!

GG-thanks- those are Remix shoes- Savoy- my sweet husband got them for me

Samantha, that looks great!