Vintage tuxedos, 1950s Mexican circle skirts and a 1920s mannequin hat display are among the many items that have just been listed by members of the Vintage Fashion Guild. One clickable image from each member participating in the “Fresh Vintage” thread is shown below. Or click HERE to see many more new true vintage listings.
Vienna is not where I bought my first item of vintage clothing, but it’s where I got into thrifting and secondhand-shop hunting. I had a friend there; we started as pen friends at ages 8 and 9, and by the time we had both left school, I started visiting her on holidays. We spent our days going to museums, art exhibitions, and thrift shops. We had a plan for every day, making sure we took in all the shops along the way. My friend was working as a secretary and needed an appropriate (read: conservative) wardrobe for that, which was nothing like what she was wearing privately. She did not want to spend a fortune on her work wardrobe, and thrift shops were her solution. I tagged along, just buying pretty things (mostly vintage evening wear) because I liked them. We had a lot of fun, sometimes even trying the same things—which usually meant it didn’t fit either of us.
That first time we went thrifting is now more than 20 years ago, and we still do it, though without elaborate plans. We just go along as we like, and if we can’t make all of them, we’ll do it the next time. Over the years, I got more into vintage and buying more everyday wearable things, and now it has become a lifestyle for me—not buying anything new if I don’t absolutely have to (yes, I buy “normal” secondhand clothing, too). And my friend’s wardrobe nowadays is also mostly made up of secondhand clothes, although less vintage than mine.
{…}The Vintage Fashion Guild Forum is the place where VFG Trade Members and Registered Guests meet to discuss all things vintage fashion. Anyone can sign up as a guest. (If you are interested in becoming a Trade Member, please see Apply for Membership.)
The forums were started in 2004, two years after the VFG was founded. Since then, the most popular of all the forum headings has been Vintage Fashion – Ask Questions Get Answers. That is the place to get and give help with dating, cleaning, and identifying vintage fashion.
There, everything is asked, from What is this? (they were ladies cufflinks), to What shoes should I wear with my 1970s vintage wedding dress? (she liked the boot idea), to Is this a genuine 1950s Dior? (it was). You might not get an answer, but more often than not you will.
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Vintage Gucci scarves, a 1940s bombshell dress, a 1950s Miss Elliette cocktail dress and an antique art nouveau scarab brooch are the among the many authentic vintage items just listed this week by members of the Vintage Fashion Guild. To see more “fresh vintage” click on HERE . Below is one item from each contributing member and each image is clickable for more detailed information.
Vintage coral jewelry, little black dresses, gowns and sewing patterns are among the many items offered in this week’s “Fresh Vintage” thread HERE . Below is one image from every participating VFG member. Each image is “clickable” for more information on that piece, or go to the “HERE” link and see many more new listings of authentic vintage clothing and accessories.
This week’s “fresh vintage” includes vintage Hawaiian shirts, 60’s turban hats, 1940’s sewing patterns and
vintage men’s silk robes. Below is one image from every participating VFG member. Each image is “clickable” for more information, and you can go HERE to see all the new items listed by members of the Vintage Fashion Guild.
Burda Moden (or Burda Style as it’s called today) may not be as well known everywhere in the world—certainly in North America its rivals like Simplicity, Butterick and McCall’s are better known—but in Europe, and especially in German-speaking countries, the name Burda has long been synonymous with sewing patterns and making one’s own clothes. And it has long since outstayed its competitors like Beyer (which started several decades before), Neue Mode and Ullstein.
So how and where did it start? Burda’s origins are in the small city of Offenburg in Germany—not one of the big metropolises like Frankfurt, Munich or Berlin. And with one woman: Aenne Burda. She was married to Franz Burda, the owner of a printing business. He regularly had affairs, and when Aenne found out he had financed a small fashion publication for one of his mistresses, she knew what she wanted. She was 40 years old then, a mother of three boys, and had been looking for something to do. That something had to be an endeavor where her husband couldn’t tell her what to do. In exchange for not asking for a divorce, she asked for this publishing business to be given over to her.
In October 1949, Aenne Burda published her first fashion magazine, Favorit Moden. In January 1950 it appeared for the first time under the name Burda Moden, with two sheets of sewing patterns included. Aenne had always appreciated fashion and the finer things in life, knowing she wanted to better herself from the circumstances in which she had grown up (though she admitted she herself never sewed!). This is what she wanted to give her readers: a chance to dress well, even if money was tight, by making their own clothes.
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Antique Chinese robes, vintage tuxedos and 1950s dresses are among the many authentic vintage items you will find just listed by members of the Vintage Fashion Guild. New items can be seen HERE in the VFG forums. Below is one item from each member participating in the “Fresh Vintage” program. Every image is clickable to get more information.
A 50’s poodle skirt, a 60’s Hawaiian barkcloth dress, a 70’s blue velvet bridesmaid dress and an 80’s body-con cocktail dress are among the many great vintage pieces turning up on the Fresh Vintage thread HERE in the Vintage Fashion Guild forum. One item from each contributing member is shown below, and you can click on the image for more shopping details.
VFG member Claire Shaeffer is a highly respected teacher and researcher of sewing techniques, particularly couture sewing. She is also a prolific writer, with many influential books to her credit.
Claire was a recent guest on Sewing with Threads, the Threads magazine podcast. See her (yes, see her—the podcast is recorded in video form) talk about her over two thousand-item couture collection, which includes pieces by Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent, Dior, Schiaparelli, Balmain, and Balenciaga. She also shares some of her other favorite things—no hesitation in naming her favorite fabric!
Claire has a way of making even advanced sewing seem doable for the home sewer, and she shares her philosophy that the ability to sew gives a person independence. She says, “If you are a person who makes garments, you can create whatever you want. You can’t make an expensive automobile, but you can make a very expensive dress at a fraction of the cost.”
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Vintage 1950s clip-on bow ties and 50s mens woolen shirts are among the “fresh vintage” listings HERE this week on the forums. And women shoppers can find a dead stock 1950s wedding dress or a 50s purple velvet skirt set to attend that wedding. On this blog one example from each contributing member of the Vintage Fashion Guild is shown and the images are clickable for more details.
This pretty linen clutch purse has a big carved shell button on one side. There is no maker’s label in the bag, but it does have the National Recovery Act Ladies Hand Bag Code Authority label, which dates it to 1933-35.
What’s inside is a small time capsule: A mirror, hairpins, a blotting paper, 2 hat repair tickets, a milliner’s card, two store cards with furniture and drapery notes jotted on their backs, one flower shop receipt and a pretty extravagant bar tab. The dates are all 1940 and ’41.
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For a fine selection of quality “true” vintage clothing and accessories, visit the “Fresh Vintage” thread HERE at the Vintage Fashion Guild’s forums. Below is one clickable item from each member listing in the forum.
A vintage 1960s Oleg Cassini cocktail dress, scatter pins from the 1940s and a 1980’s novelty tiger print mens shirt are among the many items listed this week by members of the Vintage Fashion Guild. The “Fresh Vintage” can be seen HERE . One item from each contributing member is shown below. Click on the images for details.
This week members of the Vintage Fashion Guild have listed vintage dresses from the 1930s through the 1950s along with lots of vintage patterns, hats, shoes and accessories. To see them all, look HERE. Below is one clickable image from each member participating in the weekly “Fresh Vintage” thread on the public forums.
Maternity wear isn’t new, although it has evolved greatly in the past 150 years. There were pregnancy undergarments as far back as the 1810s, and maternity sewing patterns sold by the last decade of the 19th century. Many women, though, altered the clothes in their closet rather than purchase or make something new.
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1920’s purses to 1960s dresses, there’s loads of fresh true vintage HERE on the Vintage Fashion Guild’s forums. Here are highlights from each contributing member. If you click on the image you can see more details about each item.
(Who hasn’t?)
There are many tips for helping you to determine the era of your item. You can consult the VFG article Quick Tips for Dating Vintage and you are always welcome to visit our forums to ask for assistance.
Another tip is to go from the fabric perspective. Do you know the fiber used for the fabric of your vintage article of clothing? Here’s a helpful summary of how to burn test small swatches from an inconspicuous place on your item to determine the fiber.
Natural fibers (cotton, wool, silk and linen) have all been used to make fabric for a very long time. For instance, the domestication of wild sheep took place sometime before 6,000 B.C.E., and the earliest wool fleece and fibers positively identified date from about 4,000 B.C.E.
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For a wonderful selection of quality vintage clothing and accessories, visit the “Fresh Vintage” thread HERE at the Vintage Fashion Guild’s forums. This week’s vintage treasures range from early 1900 sunglasses and an early hand sewn lace blouse to a novelty dress by Vera Neumann with a fish print and a 1994 original Rolling Stones T shirt. Below is one clickable item from each member listing in the forum.
This week 1990 vintage Dior earrings, 1860 antique cage crinolines and 1930s silk pajamas are among the most recent listings by members of the Vintage Fashion Guild. Check out the many listings HERE on the “Fresh Vintage” thread in the public forums. One item from each participating member is shown below and you can click on each image for more information.
