Rome: Fountains, Coins, and Dresses

The Dress:
I'm in the midst of some very important research. You see, I have a very favorite movie. I once saw it some years ago with a dear friend. My sister and I had a delightful weekly appointment watching classic movies with her once a week. One movie she could not find to rent was Three Coins in the Fountain, a breathtaking film from the early 1950s - the first movie shot in Cinemascope! She saw it when it first came out and wanted to see again. My sister and I bought it for her soon approaching birthday and there we sat one night, reveling in the glamour and charm of Rome, Italy, 1954.

Roman Holiday first captured my heart for Italy. But after seeing this movie, I was a goner.

Two (three?) things that have stuck with me since I watched that movie are Frances' character and eye frames, and the entire female cast's wardrobe. Oh, and the incredible Italian homes and countryside. (I knew it was three things.)

Since I can't recreate the city of Rome in my house (yet! Are my parenthetical comments annoying you like they are annoying me?), I decided to pick out a dress from their wardrobe to recreate.

My first inspiration is Anita's dress worn when she accompanied Gorgio to the countryside. Here are a couple of shots, courtesy of SnapNDrag's helpful utility:

I have to be honest, Anita is not my favorite character. Miss Frances is my favorite: a bookish intellectual who wears thick black eyeglass frames and is a secretary for a world famous author - who she has also been in love with for 15 years - and wears very chic, refined dresses. That's my kind of girl, minus the unrequited love.

I plan on using this pattern from Decades of Style. The back is not the same (see above picture of Anita from back view), so I will have the challenge of modifying that portion of the dress. I am also unsure if I can wear polka dots well. I may skip the dots and do something else in such a lovely shade of ocher yellow.

Decades of Style: Siren Sundress (1948)

Finally, here are a few vintage blogs I recently discovered and have been enjoying:

The Frog's Eyebrows [a great blog from a darling vintage-ite located in Vancouver, BC.]

Happy Thoughts, Darling [a delicious blog devoted to classic cinema]

Lisa Freemont Pages [mostly vintage beauty, hair and makeup tutorials, photos, and advice. Wonderful!]

Further news:
I haven't posted many photos yet because I have to purchase an SD card adapter for my laptop. But more posts with photos and will be coming as soon as it arrives in the post. I have some delicious photos of the souffle I made recently. YUM!

My parents were to arrive in July for a visit. However, they are considering postponing it until October. This may delay me using my new blog design, as I have planned to use some photos of Flora for the banner. So... we'll see if I do that, or put it up and modify it once I get photos. (I do not trust the mail to deliver my great-grandmother's priceless, circa 1920 wedding photos.)