"The question in every woman's mind just now is, "What is going to happen about Dior's 'H' line and his even new 'A' line, and how much will they affect styles out here? As yet no one knows the answer. The matter is controversial. Italian designers, who now occupy so important a place in the fashion world, continue to stress the bosom and keep the waist in its normal position. Many of the top American and London coutouriers, on the other hand, favour the lengthened torso line which shifts the focus of attention from the bust and waist to the hips."

Australian Home Journal, April 1955

Vogue Patterns, 1955

Vogue Knitting, 1955

*NEW* Stitchcraft 1955

*NEW* Vanity Fair, 1955

Australian Home Journal, 1956

Simplicity magazine, 1956

Rockmans catalogue, Winter 1956

*NEW* Vanity Fair, 1956

Stitchcraft, 1956

*NEW* Vogue Pattern Book, 1956

New Idea, 1957

(Fifties fashion at its most glamorous and most feminine. This dress was designed by Victor Stiebel who "made some of the prettiest dresses Princess Margaret wore on her recent East African tour".)

Australian Home Journal, 1957

Lana Lobell catalogue, 1957

*NEW* Vanity Fair, 1957

Stitchcraft, 1957

*NEW* Vogue Pattern Book, 1957

"If a psycho-analyst said "Legs" to you, you'd instinctively reply "Nylons", wouldn't you? So would any other woman in this stocking-conscious age... Incidentally, did you know the average girl wears out 20 pairs of stockings a year?"

"About Your Bust - How vital are "vital statistics?" It doesn't take a Quiz Kid to answer a question like that in the year nineteen hundred and fifty-eight, does it? One only has to look at Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield, Diana Dors and the Italian film stars to get the answer."

Australian Home Journal, February 1958

*NEW* Australian Home Journal, 1958

New Idea, 1958

Stitchcraft, 1958

Vogue pattern, 1958

Rockmans catalogue, Summer 1958-1959

"Waists Win Their Way Back - Yes, the trend which made itself evident at the beginning of the Autumn-Winter season really entrenches itself for the coming months. The "sad sacks" have vanished from the fashion scene, so while the relaxed look still claims a place - and quite a strong one - in your Spring-Summer wardrobe, you can show off your waist to full advantage if you want to."

Australian Home Journal, August 1959

Australian Home Journal, 1959

New Idea, 1959

Stitchcraft, 1959

"But what did I, out of Acton, know about the state of heels, the length of hems? In Paris Yves Saint Laurent had raised hemlines, though everyone else's stayed mid-calf, and had brought out some ridiculous puffed skirts, and Chanel kept producing the same dull old suits, that much I knew: and you would see girls around with beehive hair-dos, high scratchy edifices which made them look scared and nervous - but fashion was just not my scene."

Fay Weldon Auto Da Fay

Vogue, 1959

Simplicity Magazine, 1959

*NEW* Vogue Pattern Book, 1959

*NEW* - Vanity Fair, 1959

"My mother worried about - what else? - my clothes. Lately, I'd developed such weird habits. I wouldn't wear nylon stockings. I said I hated suspender belts. They were like harnesses, and I wasn't a horse. So there I was, eighteen and either bare-legged or wearing socks if I was very cold. My mother thought this shocking. She'd worn a corset, never mind a suspender belt, since she was sixteen and considered this an inseparable part of being a woman - it proved you were a woman when you got to the corset wearing stage. It appalled her to see me at eighteen wearing my silly socks and flat shoes. That was another thing. I wouldn't wear proper court shoes or any shoe with a high heel. Other girls couldn't wait to get into high heels, they were a coming-of-age rite, but I loathed them."

Margaret Forster Hidden Lives