Be your own Valentine this week, and find that perfect vintage fashion item for yourself. We have a great assortment of fresh vintage this week, from a deco-era mine cut diamond ring to a Emilio Pucci half slip. Click on any of these items for details, and be sure to see all the other fresh finds HERE in our forums.
Looking for recently listed authentic vintage fashion? Check out the VFG’s Fresh Vintage every Thursday. VFG members provide detailed listings with all measurements and excellent photographs too. Click on any photo for more information, and be sure to stop by our forums to see all the rest of the exceptional Fresh Vintage HERE.
What’s new pussycats? Well, these are new—new in the shops of our trusted VFG seller members. Click on any photo for more information, and be sure to stop by our forums to see all the rest of the Fresh Vintage HERE.
You’ve come to the right place to find the most recently listed authentic vintage clothing and accessories online. Members of the Vintage Fashion Guild share their newest finds, everything from a 1960s leather mini dress to a mine-cut diamond and rubies ring; from 1940s sewing patterns to 1990s Karl Lagerfeld. You can click on any of these to find the item listed for sale, and be sure to see all the other fresh picks HERE.
Hank and Audrey’s Corral was a very short-lived shop owned by Hank Williams and his first wife, Audrey, in Nashville, Tennessee. They intended to sell Nudie suits and rival the shop two doors down, owned by Hank’s friend and mentor, Earnest Tubb.
The Corral opened June 16, 1951, and closed in either ’52 (their divorce) or ’53 (Hank’s death). They sold to tourists and recorded a radio show at the shop, just as Earnest Tubb did. Audrey fancied herself a singer, but she was really a savvy businesswoman and great at steering Hank’s career. They divorced in 1952, and the shop closed after most shares were sold to a third party.
An ad for the shop’s opening from The Tennessean, June 16, 1951
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This just in! Fresh Vintage from our seller-members, dresses, shirts, coats, patterns and accessories, 1940s through 1990s, labeled and unlabeled. You can find out more about each of the items shown here by clicking on it. And be sure to see all the fresh finds in our forums HERE.
Interested in new listings of authentic vintage clothing and accessories? Members of the
Vintage Fashion Guild share their most recent vintage offerings in our Fresh Vintage feature. You can click on any of these items for more information, and see all the “new” (you know what we mean!) vintage HERE.
Happy New Year! Let 2022 be the year you wear/carry/pin vintage fashion for the first time, or if you are are already clued in, may it be the year you wear it more!
Our seller-members showcase their new listings every week in our Fresh Vintage thread.
This week’s finds are HERE and there’s a sampling below. You can click on these to find out more about each item.
The holidays are a wonderful time to wear vintage clothing!
This is the place to find some recent listings by members of the Vintage Fashion Guild. You can click on any of these for more information, and see all the new listings HERE.
Just released: A fascinating and lesser known story of how a beloved (and necessary) accessory was taxed as a luxury item, and the impact this had on fashion history.
In this micro-history by VFG member Wendy Dager, you’ll learn that on April 1, 1944, the American people were subject to a federal excise tax that encompassed a large number of items the US government had deemed luxuries. Among them were handbags, a necessity that cost consumers an additional 20% of their retail value. Twenty years of FET had an enormous impact on much more than the pocketbook. An early form of today’s “pink tax,” it was placed on numerous women-centric items, including jewelry, furs and face creams. This tax affected industries, feminism, politics and journalism, and forever altered the designs of mid-century purses, which remain a fashion staple.
A writer of everything from children’s educational programming to humorous mystery novels, Daeger is curator of the online handbag museum The Vintage Purse Museum. You can find her “Pain in the Purse” blog, with bonus photos and information to go with the book HERE.
You can purchase Wendy Dager’s book Pain in The Purse: The Tax That Changed Handbag History on AmazonAs an Amazon Associate the VFG earns from qualifying purchases.
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You’ve come to the right place to find the most recent authentic vintage clothing and accessories online. Members of the Vintage Fashion Guild share their newest listings, some of which have everything to do with the time of year. You can click on any of these to find the item listed for sale, and be sure to see all the other fresh picks HERE.
In the VFG forum you can ask and answer questions, share your vintage treasures, read, learn or just hang out.
You can also visit a workshop. I want to tell you about what might be called a very-spread-out workshop in the forum. It’s called Fabric Fridays, and, just as the name implies, the posts occur on most Fridays. So far we’ve had subjects such as “Determining the fiber of a fabric”, “The origin and characteristics of wool” and even “Spider silk”!
Swing by any time, not just Friday—the posts stay up. We welcome questions and comments!
For an example, last Friday we talked about chinchilla cloth:
Chinchilla cloth can be a confusing name for a fabric, given that it contains no chinchilla fur or fur fiber. That’s right, not a single hair from the cute little furry rodent is used for this fabric. A friend of mine speculated that it is called chinchilla cloth because chinchillas would rather you wear it than their fur! The real reason for the name? Read on…
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Shopping vintage for New Year’s Eve? Members of the Vintage Fashion Guild
have new vintage for all occasions. Please see all that’s new HERE.
During the Black Friday/Cyber Monday rush, don’t forget the great vintage clothing and accessories being offered by VFG members, each a small business owner. Each item is offered with honesty, knowledge and love. These are a few of the fresh picks, go to our forums to see more HERE.
See the vintage gems (literally and figuratively) in-store this week! This is just a sample—find more of our members’ new-to-shop vintage items by visiting our forums HERE.
The latest in a long list of fascinating Label Resource entries is Taj of India. Many thanks to VFG member Jennifer Binns (Hollie Point) for her research and writing.
Taj of India was a popular 1960s footwear brand that boasted a novel appearance and an equally unique origin. The shoes featured hand-loomed silk uppers, golden Mylar soles, bold pink interiors, brass heels, and slightly upturned toes. Taj shoes were intended for indoor wear and were marketed as glamorous slippers for at-home entertaining. Faie Joyce, the former vice president of Joyce of California, a well-known accessories label, was the general manager and head designer.
The brand Joyce developed, which arrived in stores in early 1961, was owned by Products of India, a business led by John D. Rockefeller 3rd. Rockefeller and his partners were motivated by more than profit. Products of India was established in 1959 as part of a larger cold-war era effort to develop consumer goods in India that would be palatable to American buyers. It was set up for the express purpose of creating a reliable export market for manufacturers in India while increasing the region’s industrial capabilities and promoting goodwill between the US and India. In short, it sought to expand the reach of capitalism in an area of the globe that was believed to be vulnerable to communism.
Thus, in keeping with the company’s political and philanthropic goals, Taj of India shoes were promoted to the American public as an altruistic means of fostering cultural exchange with a potential political ally while providing individuals who purchased them with an effortless method to help bolster the standard of living in India. However, despite their Indian-influenced aesthetics, the only part of the shoes that were manufactured in India was the fabric that composed the upper. The shoes were designed by Joyce, an American, The brass heels were made in Italy, and the finished products were constructed in New York.
The shoes were considered a luxury item and carried a high retail price tag. In addition to the US they were sold in international fashion centers such as Paris and London. The slippers sold well but Products of India ultimately failed to achieve its goal of providing aid to India via commercial ventures and the company was dissolved in 1967. However, the Taj of India brand changed hands in 1966 and for a few years the shoes continued to be made and sold under the name Taj Tajerie. Arnold Scassi designed for the label briefly in early 1970 but the company ceased production later that year.
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A 1950s cashmere coat with tags, a 1930s Coro duette brooch, a Dior necktie, a Schiaparelli coat…have we piqued your interest? It’s Fresh Vintage time again, and you can see it all HERE.
Fresh authentic vintage is here! You can click on any of these items for more details, and be sure to see all the fresh vintage in our seller-members’ shops HERE.
What’s in season this week? It appears that our Fresh Vintage is transitioning from the seasonal colors of autumn into winter red and black, along with great vintage items to give and to make. You can click on any of these items for more info, and be sure to see all the other great vintage new in our shops HERE.
Shopping for gemstone jewelry in the modern world can be a bewildering prospect. The market has no real governing body to enforce uniform standards for describing the origins, possible treatments and/or enhancements of gems, and the marketplace is creative in its invention of euphemisms to describe them in the most favorable light possible. What exactly is a “lab grown” ruby? Is a synthetic sapphire the same as a “simulated” sapphire? What is a “mystic topaz?” A “treated” gemstone? Let’s clear some of this up!
Natural gemstones are those that were taken directly from the earth or its waters, and formed without human intervention. These may or not be treated or enhanced.
