Vintage Look: 1950's Navy Rayon Dress- Styled two ways!

This vintage 1950's dress needed some seams repaired and a droopy hem fixed. And since then I have been waiting to wear her! Navy blue is such a versatile color that I couldn't decide which direction to go with it. I adore red with navy and so I paired it with a favorite of my great-granny's hats. The hat is a navy straw with velvet roses and strands of netting that end in rhinestones.

 This dress had belt-loops but no belt. A rummage in the attic turned up a 1980's does 40's snap-on belt that I wore back in school, twenty-some-odd (cough, cough!!) years ago. No, I don't get rid of stuff very easily. Hey, I loved it then and just realized I love it now! In the picture below I tried a different belt but didn't like it.

 I did an overnight "wet set" on my hair with the old sponge rollers my moma used to torture me with, I mean, make me pretty with, when I was little. Being a grown-up doesn't make them any more comfortable to sleep on! But I am really trying to figure out this vintage hair thing, so I endured.

Don't gloves just somehow make anything look more lady-like? I'm pretty certain we should start a hat and glove revolution, ladies. Except that it would cause mass mayhem, at least around me. You don't have to worry about me texting and driving, but I'd probably run off the road trying to look at your amazing hat as you went by...

The Hushpuppy mary-janes are a couple years old, the belt is from the 80's, the gloves were my Great-aunt Jessie's, and the hat was Granny's.

But I really love another of great granny's hats with the dress. Funny, but all the hats I got from her are black or navy, expect for a single fantastic red one with felt leaves and rhinestones. I'm saving that for the perfect outfit... Instead, I chose one of hers that is a velvet navy studded with huge rhinestones of all different sizes.

I wore a different pair of Jesse's gloves, these are longer and have the beautiful rushing down the sides. Sammy like...

I wore the other belt with my grey t-strap heels. This belt was from Goodwill and I got it even though it was way too big. It's not often you find the right width belt and in a nice, solid color. I just cut the extra off the end and poked a new hole with an ice pick. I call the picture below, "Oh, look, more cobwebs," because that was exactly what I was thinking as I looked behind the rocker.

I could never choose between the two hats, especially since they were both granny's. But I am sad that I couldn't figure out how to wear the great veil on this one. It was long enough to go past my nose, but small enough that it pulled tight up under my nose like I was using it to keep my snout from drooping down my face. And if I pushed it higher to my forehead, it made a weird little pouf that looked like it should be filled with some heavily teased and hairsprayed 80's bangs. I would love to get to be all mysterious and veiled, but this was much more comical than comely.

Which set of accessories do you like best with this dress? I wear hats quite a bit, but haven't ever worn gloves out in public. Fancy gloves that is- I wear winter gloves, and even have a pair of hedgehog mittens a dear friend gave me (thank you, Wendy-bird!). But what do you think about just going to town wearing gloves? Maybe I could gather a group of gals and we could wear them out somewhere, say, Barnes and Noble? A saucy act of feminine bravado and perusing good books without intent to buy...Sound like a winning combo to me ;)