Dior's New Look

The post-war world of the 1940s called for something new and exciting to happen for fashion.  Women were tired of looking like uniformed civilians in their war-rationed fabric suits and were longing for something feminine and beautiful, something different and new to put on.

Over in Paris, a designer by the name of Christian Dior was designing what women wanted.  Almost mocking the ideals of rationing, he was using bolts of fabric to create full, elegant dresses that would hit the runways and be dubbed as, "The New Look," for fashionistas everywhere.

The dresses in The New Look were meant to accentuate a women's natural shape and curves.  Each one had sloping shoulders, a tiny waist, and full bust and hips.  Dior wanted to idealize a woman's body, as well as draw on past eras of femininity, such as the Victoria Era, to give charm and grace to his designs.

However, Dior used his own little tricks to really give the look some flare.  The dresses had shoulder pads to create sloping shoulders, a "waspie" corset to create a thin waist, push up bra cups to accentuate the bust, and a padded petticoat to give the wearer full hips.  His dresses could practically stand up on their own with all the boning and padding he added to them to make them have this shape.  Women who were trying to get the look, but couldn't afford the design were encouraged to sew a "waist-liner" (a strip of muslim with boning sewn into it) into their dresses.

Though his designs were popular with celebrities and socialites and copied and produced for the all-American housewife, the dominance of The New Look in fashion ended shortly after Dior's death in 1957.  One could blame the complexity and restrictiveness of the layers and corsets for the end of the look, but the changing ideals of women and fashion probably had a lot to do with it, as well.  No matter the reason, the basic idea and silhouette of the look continues to show its face in fashion, constantly being replicated in design with each passing decade.

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Identifying Vintage: Tags, Part 2

Now that we've covered the basics of the design on the tag in determining its vintage authenticity, let's dive in a little deeper to look at the other tag components generally attached to a garment such as a union tag, the style/lot number tag, and clothing care tag.

Clothing unions were very prevelant in the United States from the early 1900s up until the 1980s when massproduction of clothing sent a lot of jobs oversees to be produced for less.  Not saying that this exportation of jobs wasn't done before the 80s, but this was one of the largest shifts in production to happen up until that time.  Before this, however the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union or ILGWU was one of the most powerful and prevelant unions in the country, and you can see many of their tags on your vintage garments in the form of a white, square tag with a circle design, generally in a shade of blue with red.  If you find this tag on your garment, you can use this guide or this guide to help determine the garment's age.

Some things to note about union tags:  the ILGWU joined the CIO in 1937, the AFL in 1940, and the CIO and AFL merged in the mid-50s forming the AFL-CIO.  Today, the ILGWU is known as UNITE, which formed in 1995.  Tags will reflect these changes.

Once again in our modern world, computers and technology make keeping track of things very easy.  In our vintage world, this wasn't so much the case, so manufacturers had to come up with an easy and efficient way to keep track of which style of what garments were going where.  Enter the Lot and Style number and tag to a piece of clothing.  The lot number is the number attached to a group going to a store, generally done by the size.  The style number is the number for the piece's design.
For example, let's say a production of blue, bellbottom jeans were going to be sent to Macy's, Sears Roebuck & Co, and Montgomery Wards.  They all want size 10 of the jeans.  The style number for the jeans is #708015.  So, they would get articles that read, "Lot Size 10 / Style: 708015," which would be put into their inventory and the manufacturers.  Basically, the number just helped with the assembly line production and distribution of the garment.

Today, style numbers are still on most tags, especially higher-end brands.  This is helped with the return process, as most style numbers are checked against the tags to make sure the correct garment is being returned.

Sometimes, it's what's missing that helps identify if a garment is vintage.  Before the 1960s and the pass of the Textile Production Identification Act, which mandates that, mainly for customs duties, a garment must be labeled with its fabric content in percentages, clothing wasn't required to have a tag in it that said what it was made of.  The same goes for before the Federal Trade Commission passed the Care Labeling Rule  in 1971 which states that all clothing tags must have at least one safe way to clean the garment listed.  This was also when clothing care icons were introduced.  If you see a care or content label or both on your garment, chances are it was created sometime after the 1960s.

However, one must remember, that some companies, especially those that used finer fabrics such as silk and wool, generally advertised the use of these products in their garments, so don't completely rule out an earlier era just because it has a content label, and, generally, this label would be a nicely designed label sewed into the lining of a jacket and not a printed and stitched in label like those we see today.

One last way that the tag can hold the key to vintage authenticity is by looking at where it was made.  If it was made in countries such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia, it's pretty safe to say that it's vintage, as these countries were disbanded in 1992.

Obviously, as with anything, these are just guidelines in determining your clothings originations.  Many other factors are involved in truly getting a proper reading and feel for a garment's age, but looking at the tags can provide a quick way to glance at a garment in a pile and see if it's worthy of adding to your vintage collection.  So have fun finding them!

Identifying Vintage: Tags, Part 1

Looking at the clothing label or tag of a garment is a very easy way to determine if the article is vintage or not.  Not only do tags provide the brand, manufacturer, and size of the garment, they also give clues as to the garment's age based on the tag's designer, its designer, and its city of origin.

First, we'll start with the brand on the tag.  Many brands and stores we know and love today have gone through slight changes in their names as the decades have gone on.  As we condense more things in our lives into abbreviations and shorthand, many companies have, as well.  Kind of like how Kentucky Fried Chicken is now officially just KFC, many stores have taken the quick approach to their names.  For example, if you see a tag that says "Sears, Roebuck & Co." it's safe to assume the article is vintage, as the company officially changed to simply "Sears" in the mid 80s (though "Sears" will appear on late 70s garments, as well).

Also, look for now-defunct companies.  With the economy as it is today, many major corporations have had to consice or call bankruptcy, and the same can be said for years previous.  As smaller companies folded, larger companies bought them out.  Montgomery Wards collapsed.  Marshall Fields was bought by Macy's.  If you see tags with companies that no longer exist or that exist in a different form, depending on when they were bought out, it's safe to say the item is vintage.

Furthermore, many companies that have stood the test of time have gone through changes in their labels to keep up with modern designs.  Betsy Johnson, Lilly Pulitzer, Pendleton, and various others have redesigned their labels as their lines have progressed.  Look at the progression of the Koret of California tags (50s and 70s respectively)

Looking at the tag's design is also a great tip-off.  Most tags today are streamlined, meant to look sophistcated and to blend into the clothing.  The same cannot be said for tags in many vintage clothing.  Decorative labels with fancy font or borders were more common as the clothing wasn't as massed produced as it is today.  Companies could afford to put pretty labels printed in various colors in clothing as it was all part of the production value and they weren't making as many.  Nowadays, regardless of the price of the clothing, labels are almost non-existant in a tag form because it cuts down on costs and most people find tags annoying in a garment, so they are made virtually invisible or printed on.

Another key when looking at a garment's tag is a simple subline that reads, "by (insert designer name)."  Nowadays, you would never see a label that read "Heritage 1969 by Gap," even though Heritage 1969 is their brand.  You'd just walk into Gap, pick out a pair of Heritage 1969 jeans and walk out.  Easy as that.  But, when companies wanted to introduce a new division of their brand to people or a smaller design company was making a division of a brand for a store before the electronic age, it was a little more difficult to drum up that attention.  Why?  Simple: advertising.  The Internet.  Twitter.  Facebook.  TV commercials. It's so much easier now for a designer to advertise their new line for a company due to technology.  Prior to the World Wide Web, word of mouth was the way advertising, and a designer relied on people seeing that byline in department stores or in a magazine to get more business for their own private designs and stores.  Nowadays, sub-brands are an entity on their own, wheras before, they relied greatly on their motherbrand.

Much like the "by" subline, the city of origin where the design was made is a great tip for vintage seekers.  With most clothing now mass-marketed and produced overseas, seeing a designer's name with "China" writted underneath it is not as appealing as seeing "Kate Spade New York," per say.  However, before the the boom of clothing jobs sent overseas happened (basically, before the early 1980s), the city name represented the urban style a lot of people craved.  If one lived in LA, they may crave the designs of New York designers because it was just a different look and showed a level of sophistication and exotic when one said, "I bought this during my recent trip to New York."  European and international cities brought even more to that level, as clothing at that time was mainly kept to the area it was made.  So, saying one had a jacket from a Paris or London designer would definitely bring a certain level of class to the wearer.

Clothing tags are from

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Hookless Fasteners - Identifying Vintage by the Zipper

Even with smart phones, iPads, and all other technology we have at the tips of our fingers at any given moment, no one wants to stand in the middle of a thrift store trying to figure out if a piece of clothing is vintage and what year it was made.

That's why one must train their eye to vintage, and with the quickest of glances be able to tell if it is or not.  You're probably thinking, "Quickest of glances? Yeah, right," but really, I'm being serious.

Is it metal or is it nylon?

If it's metal, you most likely have a vintage garment.  If it's nylon, you might have to do a bit more researching (but there's other, easier ways to tell before having to break out the iPad, don't worry!).

A little history on the zipper.  The earliest version of the zipper was invented in 1851 by Elias Howe. For over 60 years after, the zipper was basically a flop.  They just couldn't get it right. Enter Otto Frederick Gideon Sundback.  He finally got the idea right enough to be able to market it, and in the 1920s, the B. F.Goodrich Company gave it the name "zipper," and it began to be used in the production of boots and other industrial things. Finally, due to a children's campaign and designers finally putting them into clothing, the zipper began to gain fame in the 1930s, and by the end of the decade surpassed buttons and hooks as the most popular and preferred method of fastening, even today.

In the 1960s, the company YKK invented the DuPont nylon zipper, a lighter alternative to the commonly used metal zipper of the time.  It's light-weight, more flexible design made it perfect for the synthetic materials that would begin to become prevelant in the late 60s to 70s.

It can be generally concluded that metal zippers can be found in clothing from the late 30s to the 60s, and nylon from the 60s to present.

Obviously, there are always exceptions to the rule, such as if a metal zipper was replaced by a nylon one or vice versa, so it is always important to take in other apsects of the garment, such as cut, construction, and tag.

But just a glance, that's all it can take to conclude a piece's general construction age.

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Alligators, Old Mink, and New Money

It always happens, you're shopping for something on Amazon, and you're literally $3 away from getting free shipping.  Every.  Single.  Time.

It's very frustrating.

In one of these trips, I was looking for something, and I decided to type in the word, "vintage," into the search bar for books.

I came up with Alligators, Old Mink, and New Money by Alison Houtte.  It was only 6 bucks, so I thought, "What the heck."

At the time, I was standing in as the concierge at the Hilton DeSoto and spent my downtime (which, being the off-season, was a lot), reading the book and basically devoured it in a few days time.

I read it at just the right time, too, to really appreciate a lot of the words Houtte wrote.  She talks about how she transformed from her days of modeling into opening and running a successful vintage shop in New York.

Though I wasn't going from being a model to a vintage shop owner, I was going from a 9-5 to being an independent business owner, so I really enjoyed her life anecdotes within the covers.

She covers vintage clothing -- finding it, evaluating it, and cleaning it -- as well as shares stories of devoted customers and crazy encounters.  There's a great one in there about a woman wanting a vintage alligator head bag that made me laugh, though I hope I never have to go through the same scenario.  Plus, she throws in personal stories and writes about her family and how they eventually influenced, though some-what grudgingly, her love of vintage.

So, if you're ever in the same bind I was in or are simply looking for a good read, look up the book and add it to your cart, you won't regret it!

And, if you're ever in the Park Slope area, check out the Hootie Couture Store!  (I've never been, but it's on the list)
321 Flatbrush Ave
New York, NY 11217

Vintage Designer Feature: Vera Neumann of "Vera"

When I am looking at things to put in the shop, I'm generally always drawn to interesting prints and bright colors.  Because of this, I will always pick vintage Lilly Pulitzer items and Vera.

In much the same way as Lilly Pulitzer and starting around the same time, Vera Neumann created iconic works of wearable art in bold prints and colors, always signing her prints as simply, “Vera.”

She started out designing linens with her husband out of their New York apartment, until the linens were picked up by a department store, and the couple outgrew their space.

At this time, the Second World War was happening and linen fabrics had become scarce, so Vera began experimenting with parachute silk, which lead to the creation of the iconic scarves she is now so well known for.

She always signed her scarves with her signature, thus becoming a well known name in the fashion industry with the likes of Marilyn Monroe and Grace Kelly wearing her designs.

Dating her work is simple by looking at her signature. If her name is all lower case, you have one of her earliest works dating back to the 1940s. Starting in the 1950s, she began capitalizing the letters in “Vera,” while in the 60s, she added the copyright symbol and a ladybug next to her name. By the 70s, the ladybug was used less and less, until it finally disappeared, leaving just her name and the copyright symbol to this day.

This picture shows a sampling of Vera scarves we have in the shop. I love their bright, vivid colors and bold, geometric designs. What do you think?

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Le Petit Echo de la Mode

 I stumbled across this site that sells authentic, vintage magazine covers, not reproductions, and had a lot of fun sifting through what they had.

I love paper euphoria, having for many years focused on just making my wallets with vintage and vintage inspired prints I found, so whenever I see it somewhere, I'm very drawn to it.

These covers are from a magazine called Le Petit Echo de la Mode, which was a French, weekly publication for women's fashion.  It stayed in publication throughout the war years, though publication became a bit sporadic during due to the shortage of paper brought on my the way.

For over 100 years, the magazine was in print, until sales began to decline in the 1980s, and it was pulled from the newsstands in 1983.

This website has lots of the covers from the publication throughout the year, and even has them categorized by events, such as Christmas, Funeral, and Off to the Races.  It's really worth a look!

Image Sources

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What a Waist!

The waistline of a dress is your key to solving fit issues.  Many different waistline styles can fit the same person, yet some are meant to stay away from.  Depending on your body type, where the waistline falls can help accentuate your bust, make your torso and legs seem longer, and hide your hips.  However, choosing the wrong cut can do the exact opposite.

Below are the five basic waistline cuts for garments, highlighting what each emphasizes and diminishes and how it will look on you when you wear it, as well as which decade the cut was most prominate in.

Natural Waistline

The waist is the skinniest part of a person's torso, falling just below the belly button between the ribcage and the hips.  If a dress is cut at the natural waistline, it falls right on this line for a person. 

This look is perfect for hourglass figures, as it provides a balance between the bust and the hips.  However, whose midsections are as wide or wider than the hips will want to stay away from this look, as it will just bring attention to the midsection's thickness.

Most popular:  1950s

Drop Waist

A drop waist features a waistline that falls at or below the hips, creating a lengthening effect for the torso.

Perfect for:  Slim, boxy women as it gives the impression of having an hourglass figure.

Stay away:  Long torsos will appear even longer.  Petite girls will look like they have even short legs.

Most popular:  1920s. Repeated in the 60s till today in fashion.

Empire Waist

A gathered waistline that sits just below the bust.  Gives a long, slender look due to the draping of the fabric caused by the gathering.

Perfect for:  Everyone.  Adds curves to smaller framed women.  Hides the hips and stomaches of heavy-set and pearshaped women.  Enhances the bust on all. 

Stay away:  Larger busted women, as it will draw even more attention to your chest.

Most popular:  Jane Eyre times.  And the 1970s.

Basque Waist

Generally starting around the natural waist, this waistline dips about 2-3 inches in the center to create a u-shape or v-shape (also called the v-shaped waist or the Antebellum waist).

Perfect for:  Those with notable curves.  Petite girls as it elongates the torso.

Stay away:  Boxy shaped figures (equal waist to hips) as it will make the wearer look even boxier.  Pear shapes as it will draw attention to the lower belly.

No Waist

A-line silhoutte dresses contain no waistline.  This cut creates a long, slimming look to the wearer as it does not cut the body at any certain point. 

Perfect for:  Boxy, hourglass, petite tall.

Stay away:  Pear shaped (large hips).

Most popular:  1960s.

Sources:

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Claire McCardell - The American Look

When I first started working at Playclothes in California, I had little knowledge of many designers in vintage history.  Of course, I knew the big names that are still around today, but little about those who had come and gone.

I still remember the day Phyllis, the manager of Playclothes, began going on and on about this Claire McCardell dress we had just gotten into the shop.  I couldn't understand why she was so impressed, it was just a simple, black frock.  She seemed slightly offended my ignorance and gave me a history lecture right there on the spot.  Since, I have never forgotten what she told me and have sought out the label in my own vintage travels.

If you are just as ignorant about this wonderful vintage designer as I was, Claire McCardell was one of the most influential designers to American women's wear and was dubbed as the creator of the "American Look." Her simple, yet elegant, looks were designed for the everyday woman and meant to be comfortable and practical.  She shunned the French influence on American fashion, and instead focused on what women wanted, generally drafting ideas that fit her own needs and concerns with fashion.  Through twenty years of work, Claire McCardell reinvented the wheel, so to say, of women's fashion, incorporating easy-care fabrics, the idea of separates, and the body over undergarments to create form.

Educated at the-now Parsons with a degree in costume design, McCardell's fashion career began and ended at Townley Frocks, with short stints at other companies when Townley Frocks closed for a few years.  During her time at Townley Frocks, she created numerous functional and sophisticated designs, her first being a tent-style dress called the Monastic which could be worn with or without a belt to give the wearer a form, and her next being a wrap-around dress that could be put over anything from a bathing suit to a housedress to a party dress called the Popover.  Her designs were innovative and relied on bias cuts and fabric draping to give them elegance, as well as the idea of clothing as separates.  Most importantly, however, they were versatile and comfortable and catered to the needs of every woman.

When World War Two came about and fabric was heavily rationed, McCardell very much embraced the use of natural-fiber fabrics, such as cotton and wool, and used them not just for day, but for evening and formal wear, as well.  She also started a craze of ballet slippers worn as shoes, sometimes covering them in matching fabric to the dress in her runway shows.  Her designs were frugal, using little fabric, but still fabulous, so much so that by the late 40s, she was Lord and Taylor's number one selling ready-to-wear designer.

The versatility and comfortability of her designs were not just due to the fabric used, but to the structure of her garments, as well.  Her designs relied more on the body's natural shape than an undergarment's shape to the body.  She used the fabric, cutting on a bias, to give shape to the bust and used the cut of the sleeves, rather than a shoulder pad, to give definition.  Her clothes were designed to give ease to the wearer not irritation.

Though her life was cut short due to cancer, Claire McCardell managed to create many essential looks to American fashion that are still present today.  Her versatility with design, fabric, and shape defined the American Look of the time, and those elements of design make her one of the most influential designers of the times.

Now, you've been educated.

Sources:

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Causing Controversy - Hemline History

Out of all the components of a garment, the one part that gets the most controversy, throughout history, has always been the hemline. The rise and fall of this line of fabric has caused more stirs and scandals than any other. But why? Mainly, it has to due with women, their perceived role in society, and how the general population perceives that role.

All throughout early history, women wore long dresses that graced the ground and covered any aspect of their legs. Under the long dresses, they typically wore long bloomers, hoops under skirt, and numerous other garments that hindered any chance of the leg to see daylight. Up until World War One, that was considered the norm, until women began to take charge of their lives, rights, and costume.

1920s: The dawn of the decade brought a new right to women, the right to vote, and with this newfound righteousness, women began to dress more comfortably. Dresses became less fitted, more fun, and shorter. Hemlines rose to an all-time low in the later twenties as the carefree, Flapper look took over.

1930s: The stock market crash of the Great Depression that swallowed most of the decade brought hemlines back down, below the knees. Women dressed more conservatively for the times, and their outfits reflected this somberness compared to the lightheartedness of the twenties.

1940s: The second World War brought rations to many things, including fabric and clothing. As women bountifully joined the workplace and, even, the war effort, for the first time, hemlines shortened with this new independence.

1950s: The end of the war, the accessibility of ready-made clothing and credit, and the idea of the "American Dream" brought a new role and glamour to fashion for women in the fifties. A decade divided by ideals and age, skirts became fuller and hemlines dropped once again to below-the-knees, as women put their focus back on the family, and they became tighter and shorter during the later years as the younger generation began to have more of a say in fashion.

1960s: The media and the youth of America began to be the strongest influences during the decade and fashion became the most varied of any decade prior due to the want to cater to the youth of America. Though starting off by mimicking the classic look of Jackie Kennedy, the miniskirt invaded in the middle, and the hippie movement closed it out in the end.  Hemlines went from mid to short to long and, throughout the decade, covered everything in between, as America was torn over the military conflict in Vietnam.

1970s: Though the first decade to be mostly characterized by pants, hems still varied on skirts and dresses depending on the look. Mini, medi, and maxi skirts were worn, and, even with the strong musical influences on the decade of disco and punk, endured the era without one length being more popular than the others.

1980s to present: As history repeats itself, so does fashion, and the media and youth still have control over how the trends are received. Women's role in society is becoming stronger every day, and their influence in fashion has never wavered, though the length of the hem has.

Garment Sources

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The Queen of Prep -- Lilly Pulitzer

I remember my freshman year of college, my roommate at the time, who was born and raised in the Carolinas, started going on and on and on about how much she hated it when her dad would come to visit because he'd always bring her a Lilly dress and that just wasn't her style anymore.

A "Lilly" dress?  What does that mean?  Being from up north, I had no idea, until she showed me a Lilly Pulitzer dress.  What she showed me at the time, a bright, crazy, beach-y print, was not something I would ever have worn, so I related with her.  I probably even made a face.  Whatever her dad had gotten her was hideous and that was the last time I had ever saw it.

Years later, though, as I was living in California and really starting to get into vintage, I came to love Lilly Pulitzer and her designs of the past.  They were creative and colorful, with a lot of care thrown in to the designs.  I remember going to American Vintage in Echo Park and finding a great, subdued Lilly print dress in beiges.  It's was beautiful.  Too big, but beautiful, so I bought it anyways and eventually sold it in the shop.

Nowadays, since I am back in the South, I always look for vintage prints by her and usually can't keep them in stock.  She's loved by many and her bright colors really draw attention and make a statement.

Here's a little backstory on Ms Lilly Pulitzer:

The old saying, "It's all in who you know..." could not ring any truer than in the case of Lilly Pulitzer.  Her former schoolmate Jaqueline Kennedy wore one of her designs on the cover of LIFE magazine, and the rest is history.

After eloping and moving from New York to Palm Beach, Lilly started a juice stand with the citrus from her husband's groves.  While working, she noticed that the juice would spray and make a mess of her clothes.  Her solution?  A colorfully printed, sleeveless cotton, shift dress, the first of many "Lilly's." 

To this day, the brand still thrives on the colorful prints it was founded on. Bright, beachy colors with feminine prints compose shift dresses, comfy skirts, pants, and even housewares, all with a hidden "Lilly" written somewhere in the design.



Lilly thrived for over twenty years creating her designs and prints, but in 1984, she decided it just wasn't as fun as it used to be, and closed up shop. In 1993 the line was revived with Lilly acting as a creative consultant, and it still holds the same intentions and ideas as before: making simple, comfortable items in crazy, fun prints for everybody.

Garment Links

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