Now, this has got to be the most interesting story you have read all week, all month, all year.
My husband found it online at the Daily Mail…
Time Warp Wives: Meet the women who really do live in the past
By Diana Appleyard
Last updated at 10:06 AM on 08th August 2008
The credit crunch, a knife crime epidemic – no wonder so many of us are sick of the 21st century. Most of use just grumble, but some women have taken radical action to escape what they see as the soulless grind of modern life. Meet the “Time Warp Wives”, who believe that life, especially marriage, was far more straightforward in the 30s, 40s and 50s… Click thru to their site for the whole story.
BUT MEANWHILE:
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{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow, very strange.
50s woman has the funnest stuff and most colorful photos.
If I was going to live like I was back in the 50s, I sure would pick a better hairdo.
Wow. I can’t quite imagine having that much time on my hands…and doing that with it. Interesting.
OK, this may get me kicked off the site and might be, mmmm politicaly incorrect…but…that’s pretty hot. Oh yeah, I said it! Hot! No no no, I don’t want to live in the 50’s either (a co-worker just asked me that a week ago!) but I DO have the Leave It To Beaver lifestyle fantasy. But it is just the fantastical parts that I am drawn to. I love the Bettie Page sorta look of these lovely ladies.
If I was to have anything like an “atomic family” lifestyle it would be me all tarted up putting the roast on the table while my wife was walking in through the front door bringing home the bacon!
BTW, just so there’s no confusion, I’m a guy, a straight guy. A straight guy who collects (among other things) vintage hostes aprons.
LOL!!! Well y’all need to see my Halloween outfit from last year! I was a 50’s bombshell for sure. If any of you gals (or..I don’t know… chriss?) want to try out the look, there is a great book called The Vintage Face that shows you how to do the make-up and hair from the 40’s through the 60’s. Verrry cool. And don’t feel bad chriss… I do all my own drywall. We’re all secure here!
This was a fun read..and people thought I was nuts cause I didn’t want a granite countertop.
I do wear my ‘pinney’ in the kitchen. Our neighborhood is still very 50s…many of the women do not work and a visit to their house always involves bringing baked goods.
Re comment #5
Back when I was living in Boston in the mid-80s, I went to a Halloween party where one of the attendees was dressed as a housewife from a 1950s B&W television show; he had died his housedress black and white; wore a black wig; painted his face, arms and legs in shades of gray; and carried a vintage canister vacuum cleaner also painted in grayscale. It was one of the best costumes I’ve ever seen.
Wow! That’s pretty interesting. I say whatever floats your boat. Great pictures.
I see so much of this nostalgia 50’s lifestyle in the Rockabilly subculture and I truly don’t get it. I joke I’m only in it for the cars, the furniture and the clothes. Don’t these women realize that if they had lived in the 50’s, their lives would have been little more than being baby makers? I am happy to report I enjoy being able to have a career, own a credit card, receive education, use birth control, etc etc..
Yes, we get that thats all we would be if we lived in the 50s, thats why we appreciate (some of us) living in our modern day. However there are the good parts of the 50s that we long for such as good neighbors, etiquette, looking well put together, focus on the family, patriotism and simplicity (moreso than today).
I dont think that there is anything wrong with taking the things that you see as good from days gone by and incorporating them into your life now. Im also not sure why other people are so critical or mocking of the way we live our life. I mean really, does it affect you? Does it really have such a huge impact on your life that you have to try to make us feel odd, make us feel badly or make comments that question our intelligence (such as the comment above…”Don’t these women realize that if they had lived in the 50’s, their lives would have been little more than being baby makers?” ).
The Retro Housewife
Jenny
Hi Jenny, thank you for your comment. It made me stop and think and I even re-edited my original post. It also made me recall the one main rule of the blog: No one is to be made to feel bad for their choices. (Short of criminal / ethical misdeeds of course!)
Send me photos of your kitchen and I will do a story! pam at retrorenovation dot com.
Midcentury women as “little more than being baby makers”?!!? Please. My own mother and grandmother were midcentury housewives and are some of the most accomplished women I know. Believe it or not, running a household has always been a full time job and is a valid and reputable career choice in and of itself. I know women with families today who tell me they don’t know how to cook, or even sew on a button back on a shirt. They tell me they just throw out their clothes if they lose a button. And they feed their kids almost exclusively on fast or preprocessed food. No wonder everyone’s fat, malnourished and deeply in debt these days! Yes, there are some very good things from the past that absolutely should be reincorporated into our present day lives. Nothing odd about that. I applaud the “retro housewives”!
Hi Ginny and all, the number-one rule of the blog is that no one is to be made to feel bad for their choices. I want this to be a place of peace and mutual support. Looking back perhaps I should have closed this story to comments altogether because it was likely to solicit at least initial surprised reactions because it is so unexpected and in such a colorful way. Can I try to end a controversy before one really begins by saying both sides are right. There were great things about having our moms stay home with us. But it’s great now for women to have a full range of career choices to choose from. Many thanks to everyone in advance for keeping this discussion on peaceful grounds.
I know this is a older post but on the first photo what is the gizmo above the stove??
Hi Sherri,
I have no idea! I think I might re-post this photo and have a guessing contest. Note, these folks are all British, as I recall. For example, those are famous vintage English Rose steel cabinets.
I believe that either a broiler or toaster above the stove in the first picture.
Im interested in the book”the vintage face”also since im a hairstylist & love books too!So i will be looking for that & thanks for answering Pam!
Don’t wanna live there but wouldn’t mind a visit to go shopping.