Answering the Antique, Vintage, and Retro Nevers Q & A

So often with fun online tags or other types of Q&A posts that catch on and spread like wildfire, they've been passed from blog to blog for so long that one would be extremely hard pressed to find their original source. Not so with the Antique, Vintage, and Retro Nevers Q & A that my very dear friend (and immensely talented sewer) Inky from On Shoes and Ships and Sealing Wax created a little earlier this year.

She was inspired to create this series of questions (and answers) based on things in the vintage (et al) world that she would likely never do. I thought this was such a fun, original spin on a set of questions that are designed to help your readers get to know you better. As such, I knew instantly that I wanted to try my hand at answering her original set of eight questons as well and am delighted to have a chance to do so today.

So without, further ado, may I present my answers to Inky's great Antique, Vintage, and Retro Nevers questions.









1. What is one antique/vintage/retro item you’d never want to receive as a gift or would never think of purchasing?

Anything directly tied to the Nazi regime of WW2. I believe that it's very important to preserve such items from a historical and cultural standpoint and do not take issue with those that collect them (assuming they're not neo-nazis or the like themselves), but it's something that I would absolutely not feel comfortable owning myself.





2. What are three movies made in pre-70's Hollywood you've never seen and want to see?

Ooohhh, there are so many! To the best of my memory, I don't believe that I've yet seen 1941's The Devil and Mrs. Jones, 1946's Gilda, or 1954's The Barefoot Contessa. Catching any or all of those three would be a blast!





3. What are three movies made in pre-70’s Hollywood you've seen and will never watch again?

This is genuinely hard, as there aren't many old movies that I didn't enjoy - if only for the fashions and hairstyles involved. Honestly, I'm not sure. Sorry!!! I guess I'm every director's dream critic! :D





4. What is one antique/vintage/retro item you own, but never imagined you would?

My complete and total dream 1940s style tilt hat, created for me by wildly talented Australian milliner, Tanith Rowan.





5. What is one thing you do relating to vintage you never pictured yourself doing?

Very good question, there are definitely a few things that fall into this camp, but believe it or not given the abundance of out outfit posts here in recent years, when I began blogging, I was still way too shy and self-conscious to put my picture online (very often at least).

It took about three years of solid blogging and feeling at home in the vintage community, as well as growing and maturing as a person, before I reached a place where I was able to stand in front of the lens and more over share the end results of doing so with all of you (assuming, at least, that Tony is the person behind the camera! Though I'd totally let a kitty take my photo, too! :D). I'm so thankful that I reached this point because I know that it's helped to enrich my blog and my life itself a great deal.





6. If you could never dress outside a specific decade of the past again, what decade would you choose?

I'm going to play fast and loose with the definition of a decade being a ten year period and say, as I have many a time before, that without a doubt, I would select the years spanning the launch of Dior's immensely famous New Look silhouette in 1947 to ten years later 1957. This period in time is such an incredibly rich, vibrant, elegant one for fashion and it has spoken to my sartorial soul since I was a small child.





7. What is one thing you could never bring yourself to do to an antique/vintage/retro item?

Knowingly do anything to damage a perfectly good (intact) vintage item. I usually won't even have my vintage garments altered in the slightest way because I just can't bring myself to "hurt" anything that has survived in its present shape for this long. I don't chide those that do, of course, and know that this is a hot button issue for many in the vintage world, but again, it's just not something that I'm personally down with when it comes to my own vintage items.




8. Is there an antique/vintage/retro item you own that you would never give up?

Any of the small number of true vintage items, such as the gorgeous c. early 1940s crepe dress that I chatted about not too long ago here, that belonged to my own family members. These pieces have been with us for generations now and I hope that I can pass them along to the next one, too. (Note: That photo is not of my own relatives, I just really liked it because it showed multiple generations of the same family all in one image).

{To learn more about a specific image, please click on it to be taken to its respective source.}

♥ ♥ ♥

Thank you very much for creating this delightful, creative set of questions, Inky. I hope that others will take both our leads and blog about their own answers, too. If you do, by all means feel free to share the link to your post here with me and over on Inky's blog with her as well.

Tell, my dears, what are some "vintage nevers" in your books? What questions might you ad to this list? And, conversely, what are some of your "vintage alwayses"?

The revamping of Chronically Vintage

This past Thursday was an especially busy one for me, though I rarely ventured further than the living room sofa. You see, that day - as I discussed in this post on the topic - I decided that as this blog is now three years old, it was time that I bought it its first pair of patent leather shoes.

Or at least gave a thorough makeover, blogs, after all, having surprisingly little use for shoes.

It wasn't that there was anything wrong with the old template and design of this blog (after all, it had worked well for the past three years), it's just that I felt like I wanted the look of this blog to better express what it is that I say and do here (especially since I started posting more of my vintage outfit photos this year). By that I mean I wanted a template/background in neutral hues, with a wider post body area, a more streamlined (and clickable - at long last!) header, and a navigation bar with a few select pages at the top of the template.

Though I don't usually classify my tastes as being minimalist on the fashion, crafting, or home decor front, when it comes to blog and website design, more often then not I find myself pulled rather strongly to paired down, simple designs that let the author's words and the images they mingle throughout their posts to be the star of the show.

Generally speaking, I'm not one for blogs that look like mangled MySpace Pages or that have ten mile long sidebars. I don't like don't like overcrowding or too much flash. I want to see what it is the person whose work I chose to read is saying.

Think about a single rose in a delicate vase on a table covered in pale white linen verses a sprawling rosebush with dozens of flowers on it. Both can be beautiful, but your eye will naturally be drawn more to the lone rose on a soft background. It's eye-catching because it's streamlined and very aesthetically pleasing.

It seems the older I get, the more I try to veer away from lengthy sidebars. It's one thing if that's where a person opts to put sponsorships and thus it becomes substantially large, but just filling sidebars up with scores of links, images, lists, quotes, notes, and sometimes even music playlists can all too quickly make them seem overcrowded and possibly even distract readers from being able to focus on your posts themselves - not to mention make finding more important elements like a blog's archives challenging.

To that extent I was delighted to finally be able to move my blog link section to a dedicated link page all its own (which has the added advantage of allowing me to better categorize the links I include, instead of just listing them all alphabetically in one giant assembly of blogs). I also scrapped some other sections that were no longer in keeping with the style I'm going for here, and am at long last happy with how my sidebar looks.

In addition to editing the sidebar and implementing a new (customized) template, I've also created a few static pages (such as an about page), to help visitors and friends quickly find out more about this site, connect with me elsewhere, or get in contact via email. I'm in the process of working on a FAQ page, which will include some of the most frequently asked questions on various topics that I routinely receive. I hope to have that page up within the next couple of weeks or so (I'll likely edit and add to it as time goes on and other questions appear often enough to warrant inclusion).

 

{I mulled over the colours I was going to use for the site’s new look for quite  a while – weeks, if not months, I’d say. Time and time again my instincts veered towards a serene palette of neutral shades that would be unlikely to clash with the vintage photos and images used within blog posts, and so I decided to go with my gut and apply three of those very hues to the new and improved Chronically Vintage. 1950s paint ad via paul.malon on Flickr.}

 

I love the palette of gentle grey, clean white, and classic navy that's now adorning this site, and feel that they are colours that channel a subtle vintage vibe (grey and white, for example, call to mind old school B&W photographs), while also doing a very nice job of not overpowering the posts or images that the site is filled with.

I was up for about 30 hours straight on Thursday (onto Friday), but even as I feel into bed (the sun long up), I had to fight off the feelings of excitement and happiness that were washing over me in the heels of the site's snazzy new makeover.

While I certainly wouldn't say that the site now looks radically different, it's clearly not the same blog it was when this week started. There's a tiny bit of tweaking still to be done here and there, but overall Chronically Vintage now has the look and feel that I suspect it will retain for a long time to come.

I hope that you like these changes as much as I do, and would love to hear what you think of the new look and feel of Chronically Vintage.

Springtime fashion inspiration care of a beautiful French magazine from 1952

✯ Day 73 of Vintage 365 ✯

 

Spring - if only in name - will be upon us less than a week, my wonderful dears! This year, as it does in most, spring launches on the 20th of March. My mind, however, has already been filled with thoughts of spring and all of the marvelous fashions it entails for many weeks already.

I think it was around the middle of February, when my husband and I were kept awake for yet another night by the horrendously loud, screeching wind that rattles through our metallic balcony doors, that visions of light-as-air spring dresses, Easter candy hued cardigans, peep toe shoes, and dainty white wrist-length gloves began to waft through my head.

It's funny, in a way, there was a time when I preferred cold weather fashions to their warmer season counterparts, however these days I'm all about dressing for spring and summer! (Ok, truth be told there are pros and cons to both warm and cold weather fashion, but it seems that with each harsh-as-sandpaper Canadian winter I get through, the more I want to kick off my snow shoes and run barefoot - in a vintage sundress - through a field of wildflowers!)

Luckily my modest sized wardrobe is comprised of several dresses, skirts and tops that work wonders for spring. Yet that doesn't mean I'm not continually on the prowl for vintage springtime fashion inspiration - and where, when one is seeking such inspiration, is the amongst the best sources to turn to? Why, the French of course!

{Richly pretty vintage Le Petit Echo de la Mode magazine cover via april-mo on Flickr.}

Masters for centuries of all things divinely stylish, the French have long had a certain fashion je ne sais quoi that has been marveled at, adopted and adored the world over. Such was definitely the case when this 1952 copy of Le Petit Echo de la Mode magazine first appeared, sporting a cover adorned with two immensely elegant women in New Look-esque springtime styles.

From the feminine lines of these two womens' outfits to the chic little handbags, black and white polka dot gloves (*swoon*) to the bright red nail polish, everything about this gorgeous French magazine serenades the viewer with a hearty dose of stunning vintage European style and inspiration that is equally worthy of both spring 1952 and spring 2011.

On the hunt for crinolines (Where do you source yours from?)

There is perhaps no shape to have ever appeared in the annals of fashion history that I love more than a full skirt. This adoration hearkens back to my earliest childhood memories, and no doubt, must have been influenced by everything vintage films set in the past (Gone With The Wind, Meet Me in St. Louis, etc) to Victorian novels, Disney princesses to the covers of bridal magazines.

Though they are often associated with the 1950s, the history of crinolines stretches back considerably further in time. The first versions of what would go on to later become the modern crinoline began to appear in the 1830s (though hooped/stiffened skirts were not breaking fashion world news per se; the farthingale, a hoop skirt that was used during the Renaissance, shared much in common with Victorian crinolines). The earliest crinoline iterations were more like stiff petticoats, however, and were comprised of horsehair woven with linen (the name crinoline itself deriving from the French words for “horsehair” and “flax”).

Within a couple of decades though, crinolines grew wider and began to include other materials (such as steel or whale bone) in their construction. By the 1850s the cage style (hoop) crinoline was in use and helped to eliminate the need for several (often heavy and warm) layers of stiff petticoats previously used by fashionable ladies to extend the width and (visual) circumference of their skirts.



{As this charming photo of a prettily dressed young woman (named Kate Chase) shows, by the mid-nineteenth century, crinolines were imperative to achieve the desired full, wide skirt styles of the day. Wonderful antique image via Belle Epoque 1900’s Flickr stream.}


As the nineteenth century progressed crinolines continued to hold favour, and various styles and widths were created over the decades, dedicated by the dress fads of the day. By the time the Edwardian era had come to pass, elaborate undergarments (such as corsets and bustles) had all but fallen completely out of vogue and it seemed as though anything even remotely resembling a crinoline might be banished to the back burners of history forever.

Fortunately, due in no small part to the popularity of wider skirts (and the return to a very hour glass shaped female form – often achieved with stiff undergarments such as girdles and corselets) that emerged following Dior’s introduction of the “New Look” in 1947, a decidedly 21st century version of the crinoline began to appear.

In nearly all cases (save for some styles that were worn under wedding dresses and other very formal gowns) the crinolines that quickly found favour with ladies of the day were made of layers of materials such as tulle, nylon, satin, and cotton blends. They were generally free of any metal or boning and achieved their volume thanks to multiple layers and/or stiff fabrics; some were very full and wide, others more subtle (such a slip or petticoat with a slightly flared, and sometimes tiered, bottom), but all were designed to provide the wearer’s skirts with a greater degree of flared out fullness.



{Many ladylike, elegant fashions of the late 1940s through to the early 60s called for crinolines to be worn underneath, thus allowing the skirt or dress to flare out in a wide bell shape. Gorgeous vintage image via jeanpachett.com}


Though crinolines would fall out of fashion again by the time the mod era arrived, they have continued to resurface and enjoy a moment in the spotlight occasionally since the fifties (primarily during the fashion frenzied decade that was the 1980s). Today, I would venture to say, most people (who are not vintage fashion devotees) associate crinolines with the Halloween costumes, square dancing outfits and/or prom and wedding dresses.

To my mind there is something inherently and expressly feminine about a full skirt, especially if it leads up to a fitted or belted waist. Over the years I’ve owned many skirts and dresses that had various widths of fullness in the skirt. From modest a-line shirtwaist dresses to full-fledged poodle skirts that really did create a circle skirt when I sat on the floor and spread their fabric out around me. I’ve loved every single one of these garments – and certainly have no plans to stop adding further pieces with full skirts to my wardrobe in the future.

Yet, almost ironically, despite my passion for wide skirts, I’ve never owned a crinoline (or even a slightly flared slip). I pined for one endless as a child to no avail. I’ve stalked thrift stores for well over a decade in the hopes of finding one (I have, but alas they were always the wrong size or too short for my tastes), yet so far come up empty handed in that regard.

Given that I’m in my 25th year of life now, it really does seem like high time that I did something to rectify the serious lack of crinolines in my closet! But where to turn to find these enablers of ample skirt volume?

Of course sites such as etsy and eBay can be good places to start (and certainly I’ve been checking them frequently for crinoline listings lately) and can yield both modern and vintage gems. It seems though that many modern day crinolines are too short for my tastes (it is an absolute must that any crinolines I purchase hit at least below the knee – if not longer – because I almost exclusively wear skirts of a similar length).

While it would probably be a good idea to get some basic colours (black, white, red, etc), hue isn’t the most important factor for me on this hunt. Quality, length, and a reasonable price (into which I factor shipping and any import changes, as well as the sticker price of the garment itself) are the main points I’m keeping mind while shopping for a crinoline (all the while daydreaming as if I were a little girl again about finally being able to give my skirts and dresses that added flare and beauty they’ve always dreamed of).

As such I’ve started scouring the web rather intensely in the hopes of finding sellers who offer longer length crinolines and have uncovered a few sites, such as Unique Vintage, Pettiskirt Style, Sterling and Pearls, and Memphis Vintage.



{Colour chart of the lovely 27 to 29 inch (depending on waist size) nylon net crinolines carried by Pettiskirt Style for $44.00 (US) each.}


It great to know that these online shops exist and I may end up purchasing a crinoline from one or more (provided they ship to Canada) of them, but before I do, I wanted to ask you, my deeply knowledgeable readers, where you like to buy your (new and/or vintage) crinolines from?

I value your impute so much and would love to hear all your thoughts on crinolines and where to buy them.

Many thanks in advance, everyone!