An engaging Life magazine look at yesteryear fashion shows

As the quest to stock up my wardrobe with some painfully needed vintage essentials continues, I find myself digging deeper and deeper around the web for budget-friendly clothing sources. In the process of doing so, I've also encountered some completely charming sites that tie into the subject of old school threads, but which are not actually selling them.

Case in point, I recently came upon a thoroughly captivating slideshow on the official Time magazine website that includes more than thirty photographs of vintage fashion shows. This is the sort of lose-yourself-in-wonderment-of-it-all grouping of images that inspires and enthrals vintage fashion lovers like us to no end.

Long before the days when (most) fashion shows turned into three ring circuses full of clothes that few people would ever actually wear outside of a costume party, and where those seated in the front row mattered more than the cloths parading down the runway, fashion shows offered real world women (albeit often ones of means) the ability to view the latest and most exciting new styles that emerged each year.

 

As some of the photographs (like the one pictured above of a 1950s model sporting an elegant fur coat) in this stellar round-up demonstrate, fashion show patrons were (often) not only encouraged to interact with the models, but to touch and admire the clothing firsthand (as, designers of the time rightfully felt that this would better help customers decide which garments they'd like to order for themselves).

I think there was something to markedly more appealing about fashion shows of the past, which often put the focus on the clothing itself, instead of on the designer's flights of fancy (or ego!), atomically priced  designs, scarily thin models, or over-the-top publicity stunts. This isn't to say that I'm jaded when it comes to all modern fashion shows (or that I think all of them fall into the same modern camp), rather that the "real world", attainable aspect that shows of the past held appeals to me infinitely more.

Whether you're shopping for vintage clothes, looking for wardrobe inspiration, or simply love seeing fashionable images from decades gone by, I hope that you'll enjoy this beautiful assortment of Time magazine fashion runway images as much as I did.

Wishing you each a fantastic, marvellously stylish weekend, sweet dears!

Vintage 365: Warm up to a delightful 1950s fashion video clip about sweaters

✯ Day 27 of Vintage 365 ✯

 

Here in the urban wilds of Toronto, this month has been a rather bone chilling one for the most part. Though some days were "warm” enough to see icy rain instead of snow, others dipped down as low as a rather toe-numbing -24C, which certainly called for cozy, heavy-duty winter wear.

Our apartment building isn't the best heated of abodes (though we do have an electric heater my husband bought last year that helps significantly), which means that long sleeves are a definite must whether indoors or out. As such I've been reaching for sweaters or cardigans most days to help keep winter's icy breath at bay (not that I mind really, both garments are longstanding favourites of mine).

Naturally I prefer my sweaters to be - or look as though they could be - vintage. Charming 1950s sweaters in particular have always captivated my fashion loving mind, so I went looking for some images of mid-century sweaters for an added dose of wardrobe inspiration and chanced upon a darling little video clip on Youtube that shows some of the most fetching sweater styles of the 50s.

Entitled 1952 Sweater Girls, this short and sweet video is ripe with style inspiration - not only when it comes to sweaters, but also overall ensembles, hairstyles and make-up looks. I adore fashions from the early 50s (they were, by and large, so incredibly feminine and elegantly tailored), and couldn't help but swoon over the beautiful styles the models in this video are wearing .

I hope that this fun, fashion filled clip will help inspire your own styles as we battle our way through the rest of this frosty season that is so perfectly suited to all manner of vintage sweaters.