The Artist: 1920s style roars back

If you've seen this delightful film, you too have been mesmerized: cloches, drop-waisted dresses, t-straps, lush wrap coats.

You know the advice, "If you wore it the first time around, don't wear it the second." I doubt many of us were young women in the 1920s, so we can adopt as much as we like of this era.

Flapper dresses were on the runway for spring 2012; perhaps echoes of a prosperous decade hearten an impecunious world. At least we don't have Prohibition. ("Not that we noticed, really", my mother said, glossing over the evening the cops raided the casino.)

She was a flapper in the roaring '20s of Chicago. After nine years of courtship her father finally permitted the marriage. (They loved her Bill, but he had to establish himself first, and my mother was only 14 when they met.)

Here, her satin wedding blouse, first worn on October 7, 1931. In the height of the Depression, weddings were sensible; she wore it with an ecru and brown tweed suit, forgoing a wedding  gown.

Her sister and brother-in-law were the witnesses; the flower girl was Oona O'Neill, who grew up to marry Charlie Chaplin at seventeen. 

Look at the sleeve detail, the covered buttons and gathered cuff! This was high-end ready to wear, bought at Marshall Field's.

The silent-film nostalgia of soft chiffon, wrap coats, pearl buttons, and the dawn of knitwear for women: why not yearn for these clothes? There, romance met refinement, hand finishing was not confined to couture, fur did not incite fury.

The 2012 reincarnations:

Victor Osborne's velour cloche (featured in the New York Times), $200, shows how modern meets minimalist, and would work with a blazer or easy coat.

Vionnet's silk-twill dress would have graced the deck of the Queen Mary, and  the revival is every bit as alluring. ($2,000 at net-a-porter.)

Also very '20's, Tory Burch's hammered-silk Darya dress, the one I would pick for a spring wedding or simply to feel pretty, worn with long strands of pearls. ($450 from net-a-porter.)

A nautical sweater, but worn with soft, wide-legged knit jersey pants, as Chanel favoured, not with jeans. Markus Lupfker's has sequined stripes, reminding us of an era before synthetics. ($420 at net-a-porter.)

Shoes: soft, un-technical, retro. For casual wear, the Esquival perforated brogues are the cat's pajamas. ($665 at net-a-porter.)

Peppy Miller danced her heart out in character shoes. You can, too: Capezio still make the Manhattan Character Shoe, in 1 1/2 and two inch heights. (A steal  at $67.50 at Zappos.)

The price for this Spring '12  deco-design Etro dress (shown on the runway) is not something I'd venture, let alone afford, but look for this and other '20's-era styles to be translated into more accessible price points by the summer.

'20's inspired pieces are cut with ease and grace. I could see wearing this Balenciaga silk stripe-front top as a nod to the early century. Though it evokes Sonia Delaunay, it also looks entirely modern–that is the artistry of the house. ($1,235 at Barney's.)

"Can't I get this in a budget version?", you might wonder. Sure, stalk vintage shops, or, if you can sew, run up a shift in a '20s print. But, as we pass eight decades from the originals, authentic pieces from the era are rare. Perhaps you have a relative who has saved precious memories. 

I can no longer fit into my mother's blouse (which I recall wearing only once, to a wedding), and it shows its age, but I will always keep it in memory of the woman she was on that day and the hopes the young couple shared, even in a time of such difficulty.