Part ll: 5 Tips to tell if it True Vintage **With Bonus Tip**

A couple days ago I posted a blog titled "5 Tips to tell if it is True Vintage" (click the title to view the whole blog) and I have received many views showing that shoppers out there love to learn about buying vintage! Below are the very brief descriptions of the 5 steps:

1. Where are you shopping? Thrift stores, antique shops, boutiques, online vintage shop, and estate sales are usually great places to purchase true vintage items.
2. Take in the items personality. Stop and take a moment to look at the fabric type, the fabric design or pattern, the style of the garment, and even yes the smell of the item. Is the fabric not common for today? Are the colors and design foreign to today's fashion style? Is the style nothing like you have seen in retail stores? Does the item have an old smell like it's been stored for a long time? It's more than likely vintage.
3. Google the Tags. As you're scrutinizing the item try to find tags or brand names and bust out your phone and type in Google “vintage brand name/tag info” If it's true vintage, Google will have item of like brand and style for sale online or web pages with it's history. What if there are no tags? Click here to view the original blog for more details
4. How is the item made? Look at the inside of the item and see how it was made. Is there a metal zipper instead of a plastic? If so the item was made pre-1970's. Is there a basic sewing machine sewn seam instead of a serged seam? If so it was made pre-1960's. Click here for more specific How to Identify tips
5. History 101! Talk, talk, talk with the seller! About 80% of the time you can find out the history and story behind the item (sometimes even photos of the person wearing the item during it's original era) which guarantee’s the authenticity and further inspires a connection with the item.

(You can find a more detailed explanation of the steps in the 5 Tips blog) However, there was one major tip that I didn't even think to add until recently, but makes a HUGE different in your vintage shopping abilities. This tip is the reason why I started shopping vintage, the reason why I am able to spot a vintage item from 500 yards away in a crowd of hundreds (exaggeration implied), and the reason why I have always sought out and appreciated true vintage items.

Here it is, the big BONUS TIP that still gets me so excited to talk and pursue vintage:

**Watch Old Movies!**

Yes, I'm not kidding you. Become absorbed in the time era's you are most interested in so you can better spot true vintage items. I think the first old movie I watched (without being told to) was when I was twelve and I literally could not stop watching Moon Over Miami with Betty Grable. It was a musical (which I'm not a fan of) and I was memorized by the costumes, the style, the persona of how women carried themselves, and even how they were treated in the 1950's. From there it was all over brother! From then on I submerged myself in old movies from the 1930's to the 1980's. I promise you, over time I was able to guess a movie date just by looking at the style clothes, style hair, or by other give aways in the movie like house/furniture/automobile props in the background. 

It is a no-fail method as the more and more you observe and scrutinize style from the time era it was actually featured in and lived in, the more you start knowing what is vintage instead of guessing what is vintage. It's like moving to a country where you don't speak their language. By living there you'de want to and have to learn the language and customs. Same goes with watching old movies. Soon, if you are persistent (and enjoy them) you not only pick up on fashion, but you begin to pick up on the lifestyle, the different lingo of that era, etc.

There are so many movies that I've watched where the fashion and style is more inspiring than the movie plot itself. Below are a few movies that I've watched that give great inspiration to a good costume designer.

(Now remember I am leaving out your typical movie costume inspirations such as Audrey Hepburns famous ball gown in Sabrina, Grace Kelly's classic black and white cocktail dress in Rear Window, Bette Davis' iconic style in Now Voyager, etc. Those are given symbols of style. In this blog I'm going to show that even more low budget films were made with amazing style that helped set the prose of their time.)

Below is an outfit that I have long had admiration for. Here is a sequin 3/4 sleeve blazer jacket with orange and green floral print back to crisp white fabric. Perfectly paired with the blazer is a back button down avocado green pencil skirt that sets off the and balances the warm tones of the blazer. This ensemble was a perfect combination in the 1962 film.

Here is a 1946 film that was jam packed with the WW2 style clothing. The exaggerated sweetheart peep-hole neckline, the large shoulderpads, and of course the half-up-half-down almost pompadour hair style. The movie revolves around the war itself and when you check the movie details it shows the date of when the movie was made, so looking at the style you can glean different tidbits for identifying fashion mile-markers during that era.

Below is an image of a movie is called a Kiss Before Dying and was made in 1956. This film gives another great recording of not only fashion during that time but also college youth lifestyle, small town living, great architecture during that time, as well as a lot of midcentury decor and landscaping.

The next two black and white photos are of a movie made in 1951 where at first glance you see a scoop neck, rhinestone buttoned wiggle blouse with cuff sleeves and matching wrap pencil skirt.

But if you look closer the skirt is actually trousers with a front and back flap for easier movement and comfort while masquerading as a fashionable skirt.

 This movie is a treat, during this scene the woman is playing hostess (with her newly wedded husband in their apartment.) They had just gotten married and it was common in those days for a newly married couple to have their closest wedding guests over to their new home, for dinner and cocktails, to pay back social obligations. It was customary to show of their wedding gifts and their happy marriage off as a thank you for their support and love on their wedding day.

Below is a very popular movie with Carey Grant and Deborah Kerr and below is supporting actress Jean Simmons in The Grass is Greener made in 1960. I loved loved loved this movie as the fashion was stellar along with comedy, movie location, plot, and oh, did I mention the fun and bright costume jewelry? Costume jewelry really came alive during the late 1950s and early 1960's as bright colors, bold patterns, and stately sizes demanded attention. The fashion during that time was more minimalistic in dress but goddie in costume jewelry.

I hope this bonus tip alone inspires you to open up your vault of old movies and scrutinize and dissect as much as you can from films. Old movies are a form of comfort but as you look deeper into them it is actually an open door to what life, trends, and styles were featured and lived in. 

Enjoy these blasts from the past!