What's On Your Wish List?

I thought I'd share this two page spread of vintage treasures from Elizabeth Arden.  I neglected to get the date on this two page spread.  I'll have to see if I can find it.  I'm thinking late or mid 40's.  These two images are from loose fashion magazine pages that were separated from their original binding.

I do think it's quite sad when vintage fashion magazines are torn apart to resell for a few key ads and I know personally that I wouldn't tear apart a book to resell a couple of ads as I like to keep things intact.  But, if I do see auctions that list bunches of images from vintage fashion magazines, I do like to bid on them as I think the best way to preserve the memory is to then scan in these images.  I figure then we can all get to enjoy them as sometimes buying a whole vintage fashion magazine can be very pricey.  I'm into the late 30's right now and boy are these super expensive.  So, I'm sure I wouldn't have seen a lot of images in these loose pages if I would have had to wait for a decent priced version of the book to show up.


Now onto this great ad for Elizabeth Arden.  I love this because you can see what the prices were for some of these gems.  I would love one of these travel cases, how about you?

Now of course I had to scope out ebay and etsy to see if some of these items might be for sale.

Number 13.  Elizabeth Arden Dusting Powder Puff Puff.  Retailed for $1.50.  On ebay for $12.99.  Not a bad price indeed.  Very curious of the smell.  Do any of you use vintage perfumes or cosmetics?

Number 21.  Elizabeth Arden  My Love Perfume (many different prices).  Currently, $36 ebay.

Number 28.  Elizabeth Arden Blue Grass Heart shaped soap $3.50.  Isn't this lovely?  Unfortunately, it has sold.  But, it makes you remember when having nice soaps in the bathroom wasn't uncommon. Sold for a BO price.  Original listing was $54.

Number 30.  Elizabeth Arden Blue Grass Soap. 3.50 then now  $26.99 or BO

Number 47.  This purse is very similar to the one in the ad.  On Etsy for $10.  Originally sold for $39.50.  Okay, so I bought it, yep got caught up by the ad:)   But, I figure this is a great buy to see what it's like.  I know it's not exactly like the ad but it pretty much references the look and time period.

Wouldn't it be great if I could one day find "modern" images of all these great items in this ad?  Maybe I'll come back to this post and periodically update it.

Be Glad It's Spring 1939 -Corseletted Chic A Look Into Spring Vogue Pattern Book 1939

The late 30's offered so many flattering and beautiful silouettes.  I really love this period of time.  I picked up this Vogue Pattern Book from 1939.  It is coverless but filled with great inspiration, none the less.


S-4119 pattern is amazing!  A lovely dress with a puffed sleeve princess coat!   There is one for sale on etsy but maybe I just might find one cheaper in the future.



Below is a comparison of 1929 to 1939.  I  find it delightful how they compare just ten years ago to the "present" 1939.

"Gone (forever, we hope) is the straight, shapeless silhouette.  In its place, we find the skating girl skirt wide flung and graceful, or a sleek, tailored skirt, or even a Minaret or tiered frock."

The feature discusses the shoulder style of 1939...I'm all about the poof!  In their words "arrogantly pinched and puffed, but never turn downward like the mouth of an unhappy child as they did ten years ago".   Think this article is a little bias to 1939:)?



"Spring 1939 - year of colour and corseletted chic"   Corseletted, now this is a new word to me.

I believe you can double click on the image to enlarge and read.

A lovely lady,  I would love to see the pattern envelope for this perfectly "suited" outfit.  The lady kind of reminds me of Christina Applegate.  What do you think?  Maybe it's her grandmother?

I like to scout out cheaper patterns and I happened to have this pattern below prior to buying the book.  Pretty neat eh?  I thought I scanned a copy of the envelope but can't seem to locate it, I'll share it in a future post.

Love these blouse patterns!  I want them all but especially Vogue 8255 and 8289.  I hope one day I can find one of these grand patterns.

I'm trying to decide on my next sewing venture.   I'm thinking it's going to be the pattern to the left (from 1940). Which one is your favorite?  I'm also going to have to lay out the pieces to see if this fabric will work.  It was a piece of fabric that I had from my old quilting days.  Wish me luck!   

I have a hard time opening these envelopes when everything is all nicely folded inside almost factory like.  I'm going to practice bound buttonholes and fabric covered buttons so it should be a learning experience.

50's Color Couture

How lovely are these videos?  It's so nice to see these fashions in full color (see middle video) as a lot of times you see these fashions in black and white.  All the lovely colors!  I'm off to watch these yet again!

Contemporary Earrings 1950s in color

Anatomy of a Swing Coat.

This cradle of 1940's joy, a sapphire-ink colored coat came from Shrimpton Couture.  I love to find vintage fashion that defines a period and when it is so well preserved, I feel like I've been handed an extra slice of cake.

This is a coat that you can feel transported in, hopefully there will be no penny in the pocket (catch the reference?).  Just like vintage suits, I have a deep fondness for vintage coats.  In addition to the glamourous princess coats of the early 50s, I also love the coats that were a precursor to this look that you might have seen a remarkable young lady or a stylish woman wear in the late 1940's.  I believe this coat to be from this time.  Whenever I look through the fashion magazines of this period, my heart does skip a beat so it is certainly a period of fashion that I can truly immerse myself in.

Do you have certain blocks of time that you tune into as well?  I'd say a block in the late 30s, a block in the mid and late 40's, and one last block in the early 50's.   In the whole scheme of fashion, not really a big time frame.


This coat is also very interesting in that depending upon what light is focused on it, it can appear to be a blue/purple blue hued coat or a dark blue coat.  When I tried this coat on, I immediately thought I would like to experiment a little with light and dark.

This is something I'd like to experiment more with in the future, achieving a vintage look with natural light against contrasts of light and dark elements.

Outfit details:

Hat: Hattie Carnegie, blue velvet

Earrings:Schiaparelli

Coat: Peggy Barton (wish I could find more on this designer but there is nothing out there)

Gloves: Dior

Suit (not seen) Lilli Ann

Scarf: Vintage

(All items were bought at very reasonable prices and in many cases quite a steal-of-a-deal.)  

This is the great thing about vintage you can wear designer labels for a fraction of what you'd pay for a designer labeled item today.

Check out the peplum detail on the hips.  I do wish this coat had pockets but this was the style in the late 40's.

I always find it charming when a label inside a garment is hand stitched around the edges.  I'm sure not much time to put this label on by hand but it certain adds a couture element.  It's all in the small details..isn't it?

I found a cobbler not too far away that can fix up vintage shoes.  I was so happy he could save these 40's strappy shoes.  They didn't have really very much wear when I got them but the strap was almost falling off.  The leather had become dry.  I gave the shoes a good conditioning and off to the cobbler they went.  The cobbler was able to fix this strap for me before I lost it completely which was pretty close to happening.  

I am also very excited to share that I am in the process of organizing a fall photo shoot.  The one I did last year  , here, and here was so much fun that I thought I might try it again this year at a different location. 

I'm also going to see if I might get in my Dior "New Look" creation.  I put together a "Bar suit" that is very similar in nature to Dior's Bar suit (1947) almost a year ago and never quite found the right opportunity to present this.   The suit and skirt are vintage and are from around this time period.  It is not the true Dior but a great recreation attempt based upon actual vintage.   More images here.