A look in the calendar informed me it's the nameday for Erna (a pretty unusual name in Czechia), which makes this the perfect day to post about Erna Ženíšková's wardrobe in Děvčata, nedejte se! (1937).
It's a 1930s film with shenanigans: Here, a single mother starting in a new job temporarily deposits her baby with her no-good former partner who is so no-good that he immediately puts his own baby daughter in his neighbour's room to get rid of her, and skips town. Said neighbour is a good-hearted teacher who is just about to head out to his new job at a girls' boarding school, also in a different town... and because he's good-hearted, he won't leave the accidentally acquired baby behind. Hijinks ensue. The baby acquires a schoolful of young "mothers"; the teacher acquires a young admirer, but then also, ultimately, a prospective wife to go with the baby. The baby acquires a father and her mother acquires a far more responsible if rather scatterbrained prospective husband.
The whole film's now legally free on YouTube, courtesy of the Czech National Film Archive. It was already previously there temorarily during lockdowns, in what I understand was probably some sort of lockdowns measure?, which is how a couple years ago I found out that I LOVE what Erna Ženíšková was wearing there.
And that I want that dress.
My understanding of what's going on here is that there's a centre front seam. There are darts going down from the shoulders, hiding behind the collar here - shoulder darts seem to be the standard solution at this point in time. The bottom of the bodice appears to be bloused. There's definitely a waist seam. I'm not sure if there are or aren't darts in the skirt. The dress has a side opening on the right, where the belt closes with two shank buttons.
The skirt appears to be fairly narrow but not too restrictive, although my screengrabs fail to convey that properly. Maybe bias-cut?
And the collar exists only in the front.
The sleeve heads have only a slight puff, and there are darts there.
Plus there's that thin line of white at the sleeves that, in an understated way, ties it all together.
It's like an upgraded Little Black Dress, and I love it. I do wonder if the white parts might be made interchangeable, snapping in, so that it's a proper LBD that you can change the look of with accessories?
It looks very similar - though it's not identical - to this vintage pattern, which gives me those interchangeable accessories ideas:
Erna's also wearing a sweater in the film! This is, in fact, her first appearance.
Actually I think it's a cardigan... there appears to be an overlap at the hem here...
I don't really see any obvious buttons and buttonholes in my screengrabs, though. Not enough detail. :-(
In any case it's quite fitted, shaped largely by being ribbed, and I think the basic construction could just as easily be applied to a sweater. And I love that it goes a bit further down the hips than many other 1930s knits. A practical garment for an active person!
The skirt she wears in this first scene is another thing I'd love to recreate - it appears to be a simple flared gored number.
Not sure if this is the same skirt or a different one:
I think that might be another knitted jumper? With a lacy collar.
And that's all there is from her! I also love the storytelling in her clothes - I showed it out of order, but she starts out with the very simple cardigan-and-skirt combo, as someone almost at the end of her rope. Later on, already getting on her own two feet with a new job, she has more confidence which shows in the more spiffy, put-together number - we can perhaps imagine she bought that lacy collar to spice up her existing outfits. Then, when she goes to the school to find her daughter, she's obviously put on her very best clothes to present herself in the best possible light.
Erna wasn't a big name actress, in fact I think she wasn't an actress at all - her sister Marie was. And in this film the big-name actress was Adina Mandlová, who's in a greater part of the film. But Erna is "the endgame". :D She was the mother of the baby who got cast, and in the end she got cast in the role of the struggling single mother herself.
It's entirely possible that the clothes she's wearing in the film are her own... What struck me about them, and what I fell in love with, is the fact they're quite understated and practical. Not the usual 1930s film heroine look. These are 1930s clothes I can picture myself wearing!!!
(Well... aside from the greater number of buttons. Koumpounophobia.)
Obviously I don't have Erna's willowy figure; but a big part of what I find alluring about these clothes is that with the appropriate adjustments for fit and proportions they'd probably look good on just about anyone.
Plus I love, love, love her everyday-person hairstyles!
And her winning smile that also won over our good-hearted hero.
Seriously, though, that dress. I have a very very dark navy lightweight worsted wool earmarked for it. It's happening! I don't know when, but it's happening.
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