Well, do you? I can tell you. The reason this dress looks so absolutely, mindbogglingly, astoundingly beautiful is because the waist is twenty-four goddamn inches. It's enough to make a girl take up tightlacing. I'm gonna buy a four-poster bed to hang on to while an obliging person pulls mightily on my whalebone undergarments. Sheesh. Who needs functioning internal organs, anyway? Highly overrated. I already give blood; it's not quite such a big jump to a kidney or something.
Anyway, if you already HAVE a 24-inch waist (and are older than 12, because this dress is labeled GROWNUPS ONLY) don't tell me (I might cry). Instead, click on the link and buy this beaut for only $78! The very conscientious Vintage Martini site states that there's some strain on the back seams — but that's what you should expect. When you have a dress this pretty with a 24 inch waist, there will be people trying it on too enthusiastically and too hopefully. (This is why I carry a tape measure, folks. Measure something before you try it on; it saves your ego and — more important — the dress.)
A Dress A Day 
I’m so ganking this photo for inspiration. I love the fabric strip technique on the waist and peplum. Thanks for posting this one!–Lydia
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Heh, I just bought a waist cincher to wear under my recently purchased wiggle-type dress, but even so restrained my waist isn’t even near 24 inches. I’m hoping the other measurements on this dress are proportionately small because this garment is too beautiful to be an instrument of torture.
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Vintage Martini has fabulous clothing and patterns. Thanks for the link!
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I may have to send this link to a friend of mine who not only collects and wears dresses like this, but would probably fit into it, drat her.
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Being skinny is just as genetic as being as you call “normal.” Please don’t make fun of those who are a smaller size – it hurts.
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This dress has measurements of 34-24-34. which is a ratio of .70, slightly smaller than the more usual .75, which would be about 26-34. To give you an idea of what modern ratios are, it’s suggested that women today keep their ratio under .8 — which would be 27 inches for 34 inch hips. Women used to be smaller, and so a lot of vintage is comparatively tiny, but waist-hip ratios have hovered around .72-.75, with smaller ratios being achieved by restrictive undergarments: girdles, shapers, cinchers, etc.I’m sorry that the above commenter felt that she was being made fun of, that was certainly not the intention. If you’re naturally this shape, good for you, go buy this dress! However, please, please, if anyone is going to moan and take it personally every time I lament that I (and the vast majority of modern women) can’t fit into an especially pretty vintage specimen, please keep it to yourself, or better yet, stop reading. I figure that if your feelings are hurt, even unintentionally, why would you keep coming around? I won’t be hurt if you stop.
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Erin — how do you calculate your ‘ratio’? I think that even at my skinniest I’ve always had a comparatively big waist!
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The ratio is the measurement of the smallest part of the waist divided by the measurement of the largest part of the hips. I’m not sure where I first heard about this (but I read a lot of science mags). Here’s a link about body measurement in general, intended for physician training: http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/cslc/materials/pclm04/pclm04.html
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What a very useful link! And yes, even when thin I have a .77 ratio.
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