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Home / What to Collect

Time Warp Wives

Pam Kueber - Updated: January 13, 2020

Retro Renovation stopped publishing in 2021; these stories remain for historical information, as potential continued resources, and for archival purposes.

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:

  • 10 reasons I’m glad I don’t live in the 50s.

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What to Collect

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19 comments

Comments

  1. jennifer says

    December 23, 2008 at 11:23 pm

    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

  2. bombshell says

    August 18, 2008 at 2:41 am

    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..

  3. thedinolounge says

    August 12, 2008 at 1:21 pm

    Wow! That’s pretty interesting. I say whatever floats your boat. Great pictures.

  4. thomwatson says

    August 11, 2008 at 7:51 pm

    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.

  5. olive22 says

    August 10, 2008 at 1:18 pm

    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.

  6. karmi_woolfe says

    August 10, 2008 at 2:32 am

    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!

  7. chriss says

    August 9, 2008 at 10:15 pm

    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.

  8. Shawna says

    August 9, 2008 at 2:57 pm

    Wow. I can’t quite imagine having that much time on my hands…and doing that with it. Interesting.

  9. Sumac Sue says

    August 9, 2008 at 1:44 pm

    If I was going to live like I was back in the 50s, I sure would pick a better hairdo.

  10. maddy123 says

    August 9, 2008 at 11:56 am

    Wow, very strange.

    50s woman has the funnest stuff and most colorful photos.

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