Is it perhaps a big hair competition between a younger and an older woman? If so, the younger woman won with the biggest beehive. As perhaps suits their ages, though, the older woman’s smooth updo looks refined compared the other’s concoction, with its fluffy high curls.
According the blog Glamour Daze, the beehive hairdo was first featured in a hair style magazine in early 1960. For many, it became the style of the decade. While I tried to raise the height of my hair in high school, and plastered it with hair spray, it was too short to match any of the creations of some of my fellow students.
Given the skirt lengths of young and old, we can easily place the photo in the early sixties, when dresses were short but not yet above the knees. The young woman wears a sheath dress with short sleeves. Is that a penguin print? Her mother (I’m just guessing) wears the trusty shirtwaist style, still quite popular at that time. And what about the other two? One is dressed for the kitchen, apron included. The other wears a black sheath looks and ready to go out. What did the little dog make of it all?
What a story this photo conjures!
The photo begs to become a short story, such as “The Penguin Dress”.
Wondering if the young woman’s mother is to the far right, or is it her grandmother or great aunt? Perhaps they are going out, but where?
I loved the beehive look, although only remember its last years. Have a fragment of memory of my aunt wearing a beehive in which there was quite a lot of air and being fascinated with it. In front it included small rolls like flat snails. Was familiar with my mother’s clouds of hairspray for her pageboy, so at least knew what kept it in place.
Thank you for a happy walk down memory lane. Always enjoy your posts.
Natalie
The younger woman reminds me of some Vogue Pattern Book covers from the era, where the hair took up a hefty proportion of the photograph.