Those Winter Years

THEY SAY THAT A PERSON WITHOUT A PAST has no future. Having only had one winter in my past, I look to the many years of winters past for inspiration, particularly ones halfway through the last century.

At a glance, it's easy to see how much more informal in dress the world has grown to be. I try it on some days, that old-world elegance of a long coat with dainty heels, but it slows me down significantly on the daily commute, leaving me shivering much more than I would in more practical clothing.

There's one photo above, of men on a tree, clad in sturdy boots, pants and shorter coats. The image says it: menswear provides its wearers much more agility than mid-century womenswear did. Not that we would actually need to climb a tree on any given day, but in ensembles borrowed from the boys, if we had to, we probably could.

And yet, how much lovelier do the ladies look!?

Winter fashion from the 50s, 60s and 70s. All images from www.gettyimages.com