A TRUE VINTAGE LATE 1940’S – EARLY 1950’S SKIRT SUIT – JUST RIGHT FOR EASTER

A TRUE VINTAGE LATE 1940'S – EARLY 1950'S SKIRT SUIT – JUST RIGHT FOR EASTER.

HAPPY ST. PATRICK’S DAY!! HERE’S YOUR TRUE VINTAGE PARTY DRESS . . . . . . ..

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!! HERE'S YOUR TRUE VINTAGE PARTY DRESS . . . . . . ...

TRUE VINTAGE 1960’S SEERSUCKER SKIRT OUTFIT FOR SPRING AND SUMMER – JUST THE CUTEST THING!

TRUE VINTAGE 1960'S SEERSUCKER SKIRT OUTFIT FOR SPRING AND SUMMER – JUST THE CUTEST THING!.

ANOTHER MID-CENTURY DRESS ENSEMBLE EXAMPLE – A STEP UP ON THE ELEGANCE LADDER

ANOTHER MID-CENTURY DRESS ENSEMBLE EXAMPLE – A STEP UP ON THE ELEGANCE LADDER.

TRUE VINTAGE LITTLE BLACK DRESS WITH IT’S OWN BOLERO JACKET – FROM THE 1950’S

TRUE VINTAGE LITTLE BLACK DRESS WITH IT'S OWN BOLERO JACKET – FROM THE 1950'S.

A VERY SWEET TRUE VINTAGE NIGHTGOWN & ROBE SET FROM THE 1960’S

A VERY SWEET TRUE VINTAGE NIGHTGOWN & ROBE SET FROM THE 1960'S.

A LATE 1970’S POLY-KNIT GOWN AND JACKET ENSEMBLE FROM A MIAMI SPECIALTY BOUTIQUE

A LATE 1970'S POLY-KNIT GOWN AND JACKET ENSEMBLE FROM A MIAMI SPECIALTY BOUTIQUE.

A LATE 1970’S POLY-KNIT GOWN AND JACKET ENSEMBLE FROM A MIAMI SPECIALTY BOUTIQUE

A LATE 1970'S POLY-KNIT GOWN AND JACKET ENSEMBLE FROM A MIAMI SPECIALTY BOUTIQUE

Disco Days again! This silver-sparkly knit dress and jacket are for dancing the night away.

The dress is bare shoulders with rhinestone-studded straps and trim, back zip and a side slit for doing the boogie. The jacket has rhinestone-studded buttons. I have some silver and black platform sandals from the same era that go perfectly!.

This is another of those specialty outfits from a small shop in South Beach Miami, Florida. It has the hallmarks of the late ’70’s – mostly in the fabric and some of the construction details.

Not a high-end garment this time in terms of its quality, but I’ll bet it was expensive because of where it was sold – even back then. Fortunately, all the rhinestones in the buttons and trimming are in place so we can’t fault the value of those items – they didn’t tend to fall apart.

I’m always pleasantly surprised to see how well decorative trimmings and buttons on true vintage fashion hold up over many years. It’s a blessing, because they’re irreplaceable!  However, I have found a couple of stores that specialize in these authentic vintage items where you can look . . . . . . . .

MORGANA MARTIN, THE MAGICVINTAGESPY

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TRUE VINTAGE 1960s COAT & DRESS ENSEMBLE BY A CHICAGO DESIGNER

TRUE VINTAGE 1960s COAT & DRESS ENSEMBLE BY A CHICAGO DESIGNER.

ACCESSORIES REALLY SHOW UP AND SHOW OFF IN THE SPRING!

It’s so frustrating not to be able to post a photo every day, but with traveling so much it’s difficult to take along enough pictures to cover the whole time that I’m away from my vintage closets. However, I never stop thinking about them and recently have been thinking more about ACCESSORIES.

 Now that the heaviest coats are coming off and everyone is dreaming about  spring outfits, more colors and lighter-weight clothing, accessories will show up and show off more, too.  I think that women made more use of them in decades past than we do now, wearing hats, gloves and scarves with most ensembles and much more jewelry.  Mens’ accessories also seemed to take more of a leading role than they do now, especially for day-to-day wear – remember the ever-present hat in the 1940s and ’50s.

Where do I begin?  There are so many categories – handbags and purse accessories, wallets, luggage, belts, gloves, hats, headscarves, neck scarves, ties, handkerchiefs, watches and all types of jewelry and ornaments for clothing, bodies and hair, SHOES, slippers, stockings and tights, umbrellas and rain-gear, glasses and sunglasses – what else?.  Any one of these items can make (or break) an ensemble all by itself.  That’s why it’s so  important and so much fun to collect well-selected items and investigate the ways to use them in your wardrobe.  The creative variations are endless and deserve careful consideration, rather than just throwing things together.

I’ll be posting photos of my true vintage accessories in among the photos of clothing and sometimes will do a series of accessory photos to highlight a particular type.  True vintage accessories are easy to find when you are looking in the right places and know what to look for. They tend to hide in obscure spots and sometimes in plain sight, often turning up when you least expect it.  You just never know . . . . . .

 

Morgana Martin, the magicvintagespy

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