Mrs. Tyron's exceedingly glamorous day

You know those times when you're squarely in the mood for glamour even though you don't have anything more exciting than a day, say, of the usual 9-5 grind, or housework, or running errands around town to do? Oui?

Well, today (as I continue to battle my through the flu that struck me last week) just happens to be one of those for days for me. It's the kind of morning when I wake up and I wish I had an opera, movie premier, grand ball, or other wildly elegant, upscale event to attend.

As there isn't an opera house around these parts of hundreds of miles, I'm not an actress, grand balls are few and far between, and I haven't received any gilded invitations in the mail lately, I doubt I'll be dusting off my fanciest gown before the sun sets tonight.

No worries though, when moods like this strike, I find that one of the best thing to do is flip through some of my favourite vintage images of enchantingly glamorous women and live vicariously through their chic adventures.

By far one of the most entertaining groups of vintage glamour shots I've ever encountered is that which (well known Vogue) photographer John Rawlings took for the February 1947 edition of Harper's Bazaar magazine .

Through a series of four dozen images we see a very (just check out some of the prices mentioned - they'd be steep by today's standards!) well-to-do woman named Mrs. Tyron arrive home from a long day of shopping and then proceed to go through the many steps required to get ready for a gorgeous and very glamorous evening out with her husband.

These photos and their accompanying captions really speak for themselves and what an interesting, stylish tale they tell!

{All images above are from Flickr. Please click on an image to be taken to its respective Flickr page.}

The old adage that looking beautiful is hard work certainly seems to ring true for our harried Mrs. Tyron! In the end though, despite nearly – gasp! - wearing a similar dress as her friend, she (even though we know everything she just went) makes it all look so easy and natural – as though she just rolled out of bed looking like a million dollars.

And after all, isn't that the exact perception that glamour is supposed to give off, no matter if one is just popping out to the market or if they’ve been invited to an evening spent at the President's Ball?