December to Remember: Dapper Don

Here's a treat for the hep cat in your life! This suave 50's gray felt Fedora from Alley Cats Vintage is sure to top any wish lists this year.

In Hollywood movies of the 1940s, characters often wore a fedora, particularly when playing private detectives, gangsters, or other "tough guy" roles. A trench coat was frequently part of the costume, a notable example being Humphrey Bogart's character in Casablanca or The Maltese Falcon. The fedora is closely associated with film noir characters. Wikipedia

December: Corsets and Crinolines

With the world of vintage branching out and more and more sellers starting their own websites, we loved the idea of showing off some of our members beautiful websites and equally gorgeous stock. Each month we're going to dedicate a post showcasing some of our favorite finds from these sites. We're also going to feature a seller from each venue - Website, Auction Site and Online Mall Site - on the sidebar for the month.

We have so many wonderful sellers as part of the Vintage Fashion Guild and you can visit all of their sites here.

This month we're featuring longtime VFG member Corsets and Crinolines. Collectible vintage clothing from bustles, boots and bodices to petticoats and photographs. Corsets and Crinolines brings you the best hand picked vintage clothing you can find!

First up is this irresistibly adorable 50's poodle cardigan sweater. A very rare and collectible 1950's heavy weight homemade knitted wool cardigan with TWO black POODLES on it! The poodle was THE dog of the 50's so why not pair up one of your rock 'n roll circle skirts with this quintessential original 1950's garment?

And of course with a website titled Corsets and Crinolines, there are a ton of those to go around!

Like these lovely 50's new old stock Belgian floral pattern corsets. These tearose pink floral brocade boned corsets by Thowe come in a variety of sizes. These are New-Old shop stock and come with their original corset laces. The corsets fasten with hooks at the left side.

For the crinoline part - there's this very full orange number with the edges bound in stiff cotton twill bias tape. The bottom layer is made from orange nylon chiffon to stop your stockings from getting scratched up. The orange cotton hip yoke and has elasticated waist and the original cardboard paper tag sewn inside.

Also take a peek at our featured eBay seller Vintage Clothes-Line and our featured online Mall seller, Fuzzylizzie Vintage at Babylon Mall, in addition to Corsets and Cinolines. All three will be featured on the sidebar for the entire month of December.

Featured Members of the Week 11.23.07

Featured VFG Members for Week of 11-23-07

New Moon Vintage

New Moon Vintage .."New Moon Vintage specializes in quality vintage clothing spanning the Victorian era to the 1970's. Our clothing ranges from couture designer to everyday affordable casual styles. Check out our coordinating vintage accessories including jewelry, handbags and hats. Our aim is to offer unique timeless pieces that you will appreciate for many years to come. Customer service, good communication and personal attention is very important to us....."





Northstar Vintage




Northstar Vintage .. "It started in 1976 with a $1.00 a bag 4th of July rummage sale in Standish, Maine. My sister and I hit a mother lode of 50's gowns, and we were the most glamorous girls on the lake. Or so we thought.

Ever since that summer, I have been addicted to the hunt and smitten by the look and feel of vintage clothes. For nearly 30 years I have scoured thrift stores, waited out all-day auctions, excavated the back rooms of antique stores for the black crepe 50's dresses, oversized 60's leather jackets, Deco revival nylon shirts, sharp vintage hat,s and big sparkly rhinestone pieces that I love to wear."

"Sadly I had to leave a lot of things behind, because I couldn't wear them and didn't quite know what to do with them. Until I discovered the internet, and then eBay, in 1998."

"Living in Northern New England, where no one has thrown out a single item, ever, I am lucky to have access to some of the more elusive vintage items. I still come across such hard to find items as day dresses from the 30's; 40's sportswear; pre 70's men's clothing; unworn new old stock pieces; and vintage in larger, wearable sizes.

Most of my items are from the 40's through the 70's though I have become increasingly fond of 80's fashion and take the occasional foray into contemporary designer wear."

"I still get a buzz from finding something beautiful because I can pass on that experience to my buyers. I work hard at finding and listing incredible, eclectic, wearable vintage clothing, but it's complete customer satisfaction this is my ultimate goal. Every time a buyer opens a package from NorthStar Vintage I want them to experience the same excitement that I felt over 30 years ago when I found my first vintage piece...."






Past Perfect Vintage Clothing




Past Perfect Vintage Clothing.."Past Perfect features quality Antique, Collectible and Vintage clothing from the Victorian and Edwardian eras as well as the 1920s through the 1960s. We also feature designer pieces from the 1950s - 1970s, while we focus on wonderful design lines, textures and treatments. Come see us for vintage hats, dresses, shoes, accessories and even the occasional men's clothing!...."

MySpace Fashion

VFG is the Featured Profile on MySpace Fashion :)

Check it out!

http://www.myspace.com/fashion

September: Damn Good Vintage

With the world of vintage branching out and more and more sellers starting their own websites, we loved the idea of showing off some of our members beautiful websites and equally gorgeous stock. Each month we're going to dedicate a post showcasing some of our favorite finds from these sites. We're also going to feature a seller from each venue - Website, Auction Site and Online Mall Site - on the sidebar for the month.

We have so many wonderful sellers as part of the Vintage Fashion Guild and you can visit all of their sites here.

This month we're featuring Damn Good Vintage. And trust us, the name says it all!

September is the beginning of Fall and time to break out the sweaters and light jackets!

DGV has a nice selection of sweaters including this beautiful floral angora blend one from the 60's. It's perfect for Fall but I could also see it doing double duty in early spring. Vibrant and rich in color, this is a beauty.

Although it may seem a bit early to think about coats, it's best to shop now while the pickings are bountiful. Wait until that first frost and you could be out of luck. With the trapeze look so hot this Fall and Winter - this coat is a seriously must have. Dramatic and unique with fur cuffs and a warm goldenrod color it's the epitome of style. And what a bonus, there's a matching skirt available for sale as well!

And now onto the shoes. Definitely a great bunch to choose from, but I fell in love with these mod black and ivory plaid low heels. They're the style of a flat with just a little bit of a lift. Perfect for a dressed up affair in black & gold satin and lurex but would still work perfectly with jeans and sexy top. And that bow just tops it off. If these were in my size I'd scoop them up in a second!

To round out the stellar choices from this month's seller I had to include this seriously cool 50's sexy secretary dress in the color of the moment - navy has definite military inspired styling. This dress is so completely right now that I'm half shocked it didn't come off a Fall 2007 designer runway. So prim and proper, it's sexy!

Be sure to check out the sidebar for links to Damn Good Vintage as well as Glamoursurf (also at glamoursurf.com), our auction site seller for September and Poppy's Vintage Clothing (also found on ebay as poppyvintageclothing) representing our online mall seller.

Featured VFG Members

The Vintage Fashion Guild home page has begun featuring a trio of its top-notch members on a monthly basis. This month its 50sfashions, Anna Newman Vintage and longtime founding member aVenir Fashions.

Within minutes, I found items to die for from all three sellers! From this on-trend 70's paisley print patio maxi hostess dress at aVenir Fashions Main Street Vintage shop, to this 40's/50's poolside blue bombshell swimsuit from 50sfashions on eBay, to this awesome pattern for 60's embellished totes and hats at Anna Newman's BootyVintage.etsy.com (pictured).

Spell with flickr

Spell your name with photos! Letters from new and vintage signs and the like are put together with the power of computer and Erik Kastner created this fun and entertaining way to spell anything you want using a myriad of letters and fonts.

Yeah, you know you want to check it out.

Shrimpton Loves Us

VFG received a lovely note from Cherie of Shrimpton Couture praising our ever popular Label Resource. Plus, a mention on her blog.

Hi -

Just a note to let you know I used your site as a reference today on my blog! I did lift one of your descriptions word for word but contributed you and added your link.

It is a great resource - thanks for the great work you do on it!

Cheers
Cherie Federau
President
Shrimpton Couture

Sometimes I just like to post nice things. :)

VIDCAT: Fashion Media Archives

Thanks to VFG member cactusandcattails for giving us the heads-up on VIDCAT TV!

VIDCAT is a New York based video production and distribution company specializing in fashion and beauty. Our video archives include fashion runway shows (1980s-present), backstage footage, designer interviews and vintage fashion newsreels from the 1950s-60s.

They're a priceless site and a good way to spend a day in front of the computer watching videos and not feel guilty. It's research! ;)

Mod or Fraud?

Thanks to thevintagepeddler for pointing us in the direction of this fun little quiz from Modesty Panel.

Remember the good old days when Modern Style ruled? Well, it does again!

The items date from 1948 to this year's Fall line. You decide. Is it Mod or Retro?

Play now!

Fashions of a Bygone Era

Here's a VFG Bookmark Alert for you! There's a wonderful little community over at livejournal called Fashions of a Bygone Era.

This community is dedicated to posting vintage fashion photography. So if you enjoy pretty fashions that are making a reoccurance in today's high fashion magazines, or you just like the aesthetics of vintage photography, this looks like the place for you!

VFG Timeline

The VFG Timeline has been re-vamped with fantastic new photos, a new layout, and bigger print! Hours of knowledge & fun awaits you.

Go back in time to the 1800's and fast forward decade by decade to the 1960's with this amazing piece. Photos of fashion from every style imaginable with priceless dating and historic information hard to find elsewhere on the web. Get ready to be impressed!

Special thanks to VFG members Hollis Jenkins-Evans and Jonathan Walford for their work on this extensive history.