Found: a great source for vintage style fake fur muffs

✯ Day 339 of Vintage 365 ✯

Snow hit Toronto recently for the first time this season - November 30th to be precise. It wasn't an overly cold day, nor did an arctic worthy landscape build up in the least, nevertheless it really helped drive home the point that I'm in serious need of some accessories to help keep the fierce Canadian cold at bay this winter.

As some of you may recall from my post on the subject back in October, earlier this fall I was on the prowl for a vintage princess coat to replace the one I'd had for several years, which had been worn (lovingly) to threads.

Thankfully, between the help of a sweet Chronically Vintage reader who pointed me in the direction of the coat I ended up getting and my endlessly wonderful husband (for bought it for me as a wedding anniversary gift), I now have a fabulous 1950s princess coat that definitely helps me give Old Man Winter a run for his money.

That said however, and as fabulously toasty as the coat (which I'll get a photograph of myself wearing sometime soon and share with you all in a post here) is, lacking a hood, it isn't able to keep my head very warm when the mercury starts plummeting faster than you can make a snowball.

Likewise, there leaves the matter of my hands to be attended to as well. I have a couple of pairs of classically styled winter gloves (one is faux leather, the other a lovely plush velvet pair done up in rich burgundy and inky black that channels a subtle Victorian vibe), but neither is especially well suited to the especially chilly days of winter.

Thus, as those first darling snowflakes began to fall last week, I (hot cocoa planted firmly in hand) headed online and began hunting for vintage winter accessories. My hat/hood search continues, but on the hand front, I'm pleased to say that I'll be helping keep my digits snug as a bug in a rug this winter thanks a wonderfully old-fashioned garment, the muff.

Also known as handwarmers, muffs are cylinders of plush fabric (often real or faux fur, but I've seen both velvet and padded satin versions as well) that one sticks their hands into to help stay warm in nippy weather. With a history stretching back to at least the 16th century, muffs are anything but new, though their popularity has been on the decline since the 1950s.

I've always had a fondness for muffs however, as I find them endlessly charming and wonderfully evocative of a time gone by when people didn't have the luxury of heated cars, thermal fleece, and indoor heating to help fend off winter's bite. Instead ladies often turned to fur muffs when they ventured outside as a means of keeping their hands protected from the unavoidable cold and  wind of this harsh season.

Many vintage muffs can be found on etsy, eBay, and other online sources, as well as at vintage clothing stores, and (if you're really lucky) at yard sales and the like, ranging in price (generally speaking) from $20 to several hundred dollars for rare, highly sought after versions in exotic animal furs like real leopard.

I'm not personally a big fan of wearing real fur (though my view softens a tad when it comes to vintage items), so my hunt for a new handwarmer took me down the faux fur path. Happily this avenue lead to an etsy seller called Designs by K and L, who specializes in making timelessly pretty fake fur muffs.

 

Crafting muffs in a range of elegant, classic hues such as mink brown, black (pictured above), and white (as well as more vibrant hues like carnation pink) in both ladies and children's sizes (which are too utterly adorable for words!) that retail for very reasonable prices (all the muffs they currently have listed are $40.00 or less each), this seller is must-check-out for those who also adore the look of vintage muffs.

I'm still contemplating which colour to get, but I'm definitely planning on ordering a fake fur muff from this delightful etsy shop before winter has a chance to really get a firm hold on the world.

Now, to keep searching for a marvelous vintage winter hat to keep my new muff company!

On the hunt for a new vintage winter coat

✯ Day 286 of Vintage 365 ✯

 

Upon waking this morning it struck me that I'm ready for cold weather. For nights that get dark before rush hour, for seeing my breath as the bitingly crisp air greets me in the snowy morns, for mugs of cocoa so big, deep, and warm they could double as hot tubs.

It's easy to idealize springs, summer and fall, but winter - with it's endless snow banks, dangerously icy roads, and mandatory layers of clothing can be a lot trickier to wax poetically about. And yet, here in the midst of a lovely autumn, with the memory of a painfully hot summer still seared into my brain, I cannot help but get a little giddy about the positive elements of the winter that lays ahead of us.

One thing I need (desperately) though before we shake hands with Old Man Winter again, is a cold weather coat. I have toppers to see me through the three warmer seasons of the year, but two years ago my beloved winter coat went to the big closet in the sky - or at least it tried it. Not being able to find a suitable substitute, I pushed it for a couple more winters, but (and believe we when I say it pains me to do this) I know it simply must be retired.

A black, full length, incredibly vintage looking (though I believe it was made in the 80s, based on the font used in the tag and the sizing) princess coat that I bought for $100 (a huge sum to me at the time) at one of my favourite consignment stores when I was eighteen and living on my own in Calgary, this coat saw me through winters in two countries and three provinces. It's long past it's prime though, quite threadbare, has been mended more times than I can count, and is no longer to able to keep out the brutal Canadian chill as well as it should.

While I could pop over to the mall and pick up any old modern coat, that's not not how I roll. I know that I won't find the exact same coat I've worn for nearly a decade again, but - as it was, unquestionably, the best and most beautiful winter coat I've ever owned - I'd like to unearth something similar.

The coat needs to be long and (ideally) fitted, fend of the wrath of winter, contain as little wool as possible (as my skin is terribly allergic to wool), and look (if not actually be) wonderfully 1940s or 50s style. Oh, and it absolutely must not break the bank. If if wants to look like the stunning, incomparably glamorous number below, all the better.

{Gorgeous vintage winter coat from the pages of 1957/1958 Fall Winter Montgomery Ward catalog - don't you just adore the silky fur lining? Image via Touch of Retro on Flickr.}

Ok, in reality, gorgeous as it is, I think the 1950s coat above wouldn't quite pass muster on a freezing cold, wildly winding -30C January morning at the bus stop, but if I was in the market for a more swingy (instead of fitted) winter coat in a timeless hue, that would fit the bill rather nicely.

I've made peace with the fact that I won't be able to replace my beloved black princess coat with an exact duplicate, but as winter draws nearer with each jewel toned leaf that tumbles to the ground, I know that I need to step up the pace of my search and find another coat that I'll (hopefully) adore - and get as much wear out of - as much.

With the clock ticking down and snow probably not that terribly far away at this point (this being Canada after all!), I'm off to start trawling the online waters for a new vintage winter coat that will really ensure I'm properly ready to face the next season when it barges onto the scene.

(If you have any favourite sources for vintage outwear, by all means feel free to let me know in the comments.)