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.

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:

Vintage Advertising (Archived Blog posts)
Vintage Photos 1920s-1960s (Archived posts)
Vintage Fashions 1920s-1960s

Liz 🙂

Disclosure: Some of the links on my blog from Etsy are Affiliate Links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase

(Updated Post: March 2024)

The Easter Parade is an event consisting of a festive strolling procession on Easter Sunday with participates usually wearing their best Easter finery that normally consisted of the best of modern clothes and hats of that time.

Easter Parade-Toronto’s Oldest Tradition that is really all about the Hats!

History of the Easter Parade in Toronto

Toronto’s Easter Parade is one of its oldest Traditions, starting in the early 1900’s along the waterfront at Sunnyside Park.

Fashion was very important and in an article written on April 26th, 1914 in the Toronto World Newspaper an amusing headline appeared…. Are women of Toronto behind New Yorkers in style? The accompanying caption (for the pic below) reads: “The fashion show on Fifth Avenue, Easter Sunday – in the foreground a mandarin jacket of ruffled taffeta, straight-brimmed hat, trimmed with wing rows – a brocaded crepe coat is shown in centre.”

New York Easter Parade-1914

1914 Vintage Photo of the New York Easter Parade

Image courtesy of Toronto Archives

Yes the women in this New York picture looking amazingly fashionable but were the Toronto women that far behind in fashion? Not really!

Easter weekend in Toronto can be cold, which may account for why the Easter parades in our city were perhaps a bit more humble than New York’s 5th Avenue event (not 100% sure though). The photograph below from 1924 shows Toronto flappers in their Easter finery parading along the Sunnyside boardwalk in their warm jackets (Toronto Archives). I think they look pretty amazing even WITH their jackets on.

1920s Vintage Photo from the Toronto Easter Parade. 1924 shows Toronto flappers in their Easter finery parading along the Sunnyside boardwalk in their warm 1920s coats.

In 1922 an amusement park opened up at Sunnyside park and the Easter Parade became a more structured event, complete with sponsors and prizes.

1920s Vintage Photo of women in 1920s clothing walking down the Sunnyside Park boardwalk in Toronto, Canada -1922

But by the early 1950’s the amusement park had shut down and with it went the Sunnyside Easter Parade. However the parade was not gone for ever and it was reborn on Bloor Street till about the middle of the 1960’s where it then moved East to the Beaches and has remained there ever since. Very cool!

Now before we move onto the next section, lets see some more vintage 1920s images from the Easter Parade on April 17th, 1927 (I love my photos!).

1920s Toronto Easter Parade Image showcasing 1920s Fashion. April 1927

Source: Toronto Archives

I’m here all day long for this STUNNING 1920s image of 2 ladies in their own version of a men’s 1920s Tuxedo. Men’s fashion for women is so on trend for any year!

STUNNING 1920s image of 2 ladies in their own version of a men's 1920s Tuxedo at the Toronto Easter Parade.

Source: Toronto Archives

Eeek! I don’t think this couple could get any better looking in this 1920s Photo.

1920s photo of a stylish 1920s man and woman strolling in the Toronto Easter Parade. 1920s Fashions on Display

Source: Toronto Archives

Never mind the hats! Can we talk about these 2 women’s 1920s jackets? So Beautiful!

1920s Photo of 2 women in 1920s Jackets and 1920s hats at the Toronto Easter Parade

Source: Toronto Archives

Toronto was clearly very stylish in the 1920s. Yooza!

Source: Toronto Archives

There is the history of the Toronto Easter Parade but now onto the most important part of the parade…the hats!

So what does one wear on their head to the “Easter Parade”?

Vintage Shopping: I have created an Etsy Collection of Vintage Hats that would be perfect for Easter or any occasion. It is updated monthly.

(NOTE: These hats WERE available at time of posting / or update. Please use these as inspirations if sold out and make sure to visit Etsy as they are updated daily with loads of new vintage hats & other vintage items).

Disclosure: Some of the links on my blog from Etsy are Affiliate Links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

The Vintage Hats

Straw hats are so lovely for Spring and Summer, I have a couple different kinds and I love them. Here is a 1950s platter / straw hat with pretty flowers. The label reads: “Karen Isabel Original”