A few years ago I attended a cool Rockabilly event in Toronto called “Bop & Bowl” where we “bopped” to good Rockabilly music and “bowled” at the bowling alley…clearly lol! Anyways this event got me thinking about what I should of worn at the Bowling alley that day. So while looking online for inspiration, I stumbled upon some really fun photos of “Bowling alley fun” AND “Bowling alley dress” that I thought I would share with you.


Note: See a full post I did on “Vintage Bowling Advertising


1940’s & 1950’s Bowling

Vintage Advertising & Vintage Photos

How adorable is this 1950s Seven-Up vintage ad featuring a teenager couple on a date together at the bowling alley.

1950s Vintage Advertising for 7up pop / soda featuring two teenagers on a date at the bowling alley in 1950s fashions.

1950’s Schlitz Beer Ad featuring a couple at the bowling alley and the wife is helping her husband drink his beer while he prepares to bowl.

1950s Vintage Ad / 1950s Bowling Advertisement for Schlitz beer featuring an illustration of a 1950s wife helping her husband drink a beer while he holds a bowling ball at the bowling alley.

Source: Alamy

1951 bowling history and instructional manual from the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company. Topics include:  bowling etiquette, dress and proper stance.

1950s Vintage Bowling Booklet from 1951-bowling history and instructional manual from the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company

Source: Etsy – MrsWhiteTwig

OMG! Look at how divine these 1940s women look?? The last two ladies on the right are outstanding with their hair and makeup and look at their perfect nails! I would love to know what their nails looked like AFTER they finished though. ha!

1940s vintage bowling image of 4 women with stunning 1940s hairstyles holding bowling balls in 1940s fashions.

PHOTO credit: “Advocate Mag.com” & Lauren Muncy

This is my vision of how the Bowling party will look like 🙂 Late 1940s/ Early 1950s photo of young women throwing their bowling ball down the lane at the same time.

Vintage late 1940s / Early 1950s image of women bowling.

Fun with the family at the Bowling Alley circa 1950s. The little girl with the cute dress and hair totally makes this picture.

1950s vintage photo of a family 1950s fashions at the bowling alley.

Photo Credit: Joe Herring Jr

1950s vintage photo of a woman scoring a bowling game.

I love her look, if I could wear shorts well I would totally take this 1950s look but for now it just might have to be the top.

1950s vintage photo of a woman scoring a bowling game in 1950s fashion.

Photo Credit: Joe Herring Jr

I just love everything about this photo of 4 women in the motion of bowling in the 1940s!

1940s vintage photo of women bowling in 1940s fashions.

The two 1940s images below are the looks I think I will go with for my “Bowling Look”. Bit of this here and bit of that there and done (cute bow in the first ladies vintage hairstyle)!

1940s vintage photo of a woman in 1940s fashion and 1940s hairstyle throwing a bowling ball down the lane.
1940s vintage pinup image of a girl bowling in a 1940s fashion illustation.

Now for the image of all images to close off this blog post…1940s women at the bowling alley in matching skirts with shorts & blouses getting ready to bowl (or already bowling as per the pretty woman on the right). SUPER 1940s Fashion Inspiration!

1940s photo of 940s women in matching skirts with shorts & blouses getting ready to bowl (or already bowling as per the pretty woman on the right). SUPER 1940s Fashion Inspiration!

Question Time: Are you a bowler? 10 pin or 5? Share any thoughts in the comment section below.

Happy bowling everyone!

FURTHER READING:

Liz 🙂

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