Given that the 1950s was the decade when Rosa Parks wasn’t allowed to sit where she wanted and it was deemed a-ok to smoke and drink during pregnancy, you might think that there is little to be gained by going back in time.

Katrina Holte disagrees. The 30-year-old Oregonian has caused a stir online, after her decision to give up work and live life as a fifties housewife spread across social media.

After becoming disillusioned with her career in a payroll department, Holte decided to turn back the clock, packing it all in and committing to live life like a pre-civil rights homemaker. In order to make the experience as authentic as possible, she wears era accurate clothing and cooks food that wouldn’t look out of place on Doris Day’s dinner table. The fact that she captures the whole experience on Instagram is, presumably, a minor hiccup in the otherwise impenetrable fantasy.

Though Holte has said that much of her time is taken up cooking and cleaning, she has also revealed herself to be something of an entrepreneur. Her new vocation has allowed her to create her own business as a seamstress, where she sells her own dress designs. According to Holte’s website:

“With hand-sewn details and high quality fabrics, our dresses are made individually in the U.S.A. to create beautiful gowns which will last for years to come. These garments capture the charm and femininity of a time when sumptuous dresses were preserved with care and carefully stored on padded satin hangers until an invitation arrived for the next dance or dinner party…”

The desire to return to a time when the horrors of World War Two were still fresh in the memory might strike some as baffling. However, there’s more to Holte than the psychology of a frustrated time traveller. As she explained in a recent Instagram post:

“I feel like times are moving so fast that we forget there are so many fabulous stories of women who came before us, even just in the last century. I love to research the stories and lives that might otherwise be forgotten and take inspiration for the future!”

Maybe the idea isn’t totally as troubling as it seems at first glance.

Given that the 1950s was the decade when Rosa Parks wasn’t allowed to sit where she wanted and it was deemed a-ok to smoke and drink during pregnancy, you might think that there is little to be gained by going back in time.

Katrina Holte disagrees. The 30-year-old Oregonian has caused a stir online, after her decision to give up work and live life as a fifties housewife spread across social media.

After becoming disillusioned with her career in a payroll department, Holte decided to turn back the clock, packing it all in and committing to live life like a pre-civil rights homemaker. In order to make the experience as authentic as possible, she wears era accurate clothing and cooks food that wouldn’t look out of place on Doris Day’s dinner table. The fact that she captures the whole experience on Instagram is, presumably, a minor hiccup in the otherwise impenetrable fantasy.

Though Holte has said that much of her time is taken up cooking and cleaning, she has also revealed herself to be something of an entrepreneur. Her new vocation has allowed her to create her own business as a seamstress, where she sells her own dress designs. According to Holte’s website:

“With hand-sewn details and high quality fabrics, our dresses are made individually in the U.S.A. to create beautiful gowns which will last for years to come. These garments capture the charm and femininity of a time when sumptuous dresses were preserved with care and carefully stored on padded satin hangers until an invitation arrived for the next dance or dinner party…”

The desire to return to a time when the horrors of World War Two were still fresh in the memory might strike some as baffling. However, there’s more to Holte than the psychology of a frustrated time traveller. As she explained in a recent Instagram post:

“I feel like times are moving so fast that we forget there are so many fabulous stories of women who came before us, even just in the last century. I love to research the stories and lives that might otherwise be forgotten and take inspiration for the future!”

Maybe the idea isn’t totally as troubling as it seems at first glance.