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Our blog features our picks of the freshest vintage items, member news and articles. We have also created a growing series of articles on some classic designers.
The Vintage Fashion Guild™ (VFG) is an international organization dedicated to the promotion and preservation of vintage fashion.
The Vintage Fashion Guild™ (VFG) is an international community of people with expertise in vintage fashion. VFG members enjoy a wealth of resources, avenues for promoting their shops and specialties, and camaraderie with others who share a common interest and passion.
Today’s featured seller is Karin and you can visit her shop willynillyart on Etsy ( www.etsy.com/shop/willynillyart ). Karin also has another Etsy shop, willynillyvintage ( www.etsy.com/shop/willynillyvintage ).
1. When did you first get interested in vintage fashion & why?
I can’t put a finger on it, it just progressed from one thing to the next. As a kid, I loved old movies, especially period ones with lavish costumes. As a teen, on my first visit to London, my mother took me to a vintage shop where she’d bought vintage costume jewelry for her collection before. I hadn’t realized that such a magical place could exist, where one could see 1920s flapper dresses hanging on the wall. After that we started to go to flea markets together. I had just discovered vinyl LPs, was a massive Beatles fan and loved anything 1960s. Besides that I also collected Barbie dolls (and still do today) and was learning a lot about the vintage dolls and their fabulous fashions. A few years later, my best friend introduced me to thrifting, and I was soon looking for vintage clothes at every thrift shop we visited. It was fun, inexpensive and I found clothes I liked and that nobody else had. So I started to learn more, bought books about fashion, went to exhibitions etc. The more I wore vintage, the more I wanted to learn about it.
2. Do you regularly wear vintage?
Yes – almost every day. I’ve learned to look more for every day wearable vintage over the years, and not just glamorous evening and cocktail fashions, which fascinated me most in the beginning. 40s and 50s suit jackets, vintage silk scarves, cotton summer dresses and vintage brooches make up the best part of my everyday vintage.
3. Do you have a Holy Grail?
A dress by Madeleine Vionnet – preferably from the 30s, when she was using bright velvets and unusual color combinations. A pair of pearl and sequin-encrusted Roger Vivier for Dior evening shoes.
4. If you could visit the atelier of any fashion designer (dead or alive), who would it be?
Christian Lacroix. I just love his lavish, imaginative designs and his use of color. I saw his exhibition a few years ago at the Musée des Arts Decoratifs in Paris, where he showed his own designs with vintage and historical ones that were his inspirations. One of the best exhibitions I’ve ever seen, and not one thing in it that I didn’t love.
5. What do you see as the future of vintage?
Its popularity will endure, I’m sure. Things will become vintage that I wouldn’t consider vintage yet – I guess that will be a funny feeling.
6. What is your favorite item in your shop?
Probably this dress pattern:
Such a simple and easy-wearing dress, just what I like! And I love the drawing as well.
Here are a few more items from Karin’s shops:
Vintage 1950s Dirndl Dress Pattern B34 Ringier Patterns g 10216
Vintage 60s Collarless Blouse Pattern B34 Ringier Patterns g 42596
1960s Party Dress Mod Cocktail Dress M
Vintage Brooch and Earrings 1930s Enamelled Costume Jewelry Flower Bouquet Demi Parure