There are certain items that are the bread and butter of a vintage wardrobe, especially for those who wear 1930s, 1940s, and/or 1950s styles. We know them well - pencil skirts, shirtwaist dresses, cardigans, high waisted repro jeans, and pearl (not to mention Bakelite!) jewelry, for example - and love them to bits (of course those who favour other eras have their own batch of staple styles as well, too, these are just some that tend to be especially common for mid-century fashion fans). They're must-have cornerstones of our closet and pieces that we rarely go more than a few days without sporting at least one of (see this post from 2013 for
15 of my vintage fashion essentials).
Beyond these most fundamental of vintage wardrobe ingredients however, there is still fairly large number of items that it is typically assumed most vintage (and/or rockabilly) wearers will own and when it surfaces that you might not actually have one or more such pieces, the response, I've found, is usually something along the lines, "Seriously? Not even one?!".
Nope, not even one. Sometimes this is because I haven't yet struck upon the right one, at the right price, or perhaps I used to own one, but it has bit the dust and I'm between said items for the time being. In other instances, a certain garment or accessory - no matter how much I may adore and appreciation - might simply look disastrous on me and as such I've made a conscious choice to exclude said item from my daily ensembles (learning about and working around styles that do not do you the tiniest of favours is an extremely important part of having an amazing vintage wardrobe that brings you joy, and is a topic I covered in much further depth in
this post last year).
In others still, I may not have felt a longing to own such a piece. Even within the walls of our vintage wardrobes, our personal tastes are apt to change an evolve a little, and though it's rarely discussed, there are even trends that emerge within our circle that can cause one to suddenly feel like they want to rush out and purchase a garment or accessory that they had never previously felt pulled towards. By the same token, you may discover an item on your own that you had never felt drawn to before, but suddenly feel as though there is a gapping hole in your closet without.
Add to that the fact that for most of us, our wardrobes are continuous works in progress, especially if you're relatively new to sporting vintage, and it stands to reason that almost no one will have an example of every possible type of relatively common vintage garment to hand. You might need a second house just to store your clothes and accessories in if you did! (Mmmm, such an appealing thought...What's that? Sorry, got lost in a vintage wardrobe daydream for a second. :D)
I madly adore clothing, especially that of a vintage, reproduction or
vintage appropriate nature, and take great pleasure in growing my wardrobe, making the most of my modest fashion dollars (be sure to see
this post for some great tips on that front), and continually expanding the amount of variety on my hangers.
At this point in time, there is objectively not many areas of my vintage wardrobe that are particularly lacking. It would be lovely to own more of some types of garments and accessories of course, but I won't run the risk of finding myself clothing-less any time soon and I'm very grateful for that fact. It took me many years, a lot of dedicated searching, and no shortage of patience to reach this point and to have the highly currated vintage filled closet that I do.
Yet, chalked full though it may be (if we're talking my actual closet that is, which is about the size of a matchbox; great for creating disciplined wardrobe editing, not so fabulous for having room to expand your clothing collection!), there are certainly some vintage items that I don't yet own, or which for the reasons touched on above, I've opted not to purchase. I should mention that I'm talking about items from, or that look the part of, the 1940s and 50s, as these are the decades I sport most frequently and thus have centered my wardrobe around. Obviously, as I don't usually wear 1920s, 30s, 60s, or 70s styles, there will be many pieces from those eras that are not accounted for in my closet.
I thought you guys might be interested to know what some of the pieces that fall into that camp are, so without further ado, may I present a list of seven different vintage garments and accessories that I do not currently own (and the reasons why such is the case).
1. 49er Jacket
A truly iconic mid-century garment (that is still in production to this day), the Pendleton 49er jacket (so called because the women's version first debuted in 1949) sprang to life in the wake of WW2, when many women working in the war effort sported oversized plaid shirts that they borrowed from the closets of the men in their life (or just went out and bought for themselves to begin with). Made of warm, high quality wool and produced in scores of different plaid colour combos over the years, the 49er remains a firm favourite amongst vintage fashionistas because it's both cozy and does a great job of providing you with a mid-century casual jacket that can be worn just about anywhere.
Visually, I adore 49ers to no end, however as I'm very allergic to wool (wearing it against my skin usually causes me to bust out in hives in a matter of minutes), I've sadly had to stay at arm's length from these checkered classics. One day, if possible, I would love to commission a seamstress to make me a 49er style jacket out of a non-wool plaid fabric so that I could finally sport this style of vintage garment, too. Until then, I will continue to just make due with my lovely assortment of plaid shirts.
2. Fedora hat
Though by far a style that is most commonly associated with gents, long before they came back into vogue with hipsters and trendy gals in recent years, fedoras had their place in the hearts and wardrobes of many a chic woman in the 1930s and 40s. This sprang in part from their popularity with stars such as Marlene Dietrich (pictured above) and Katharine Hepburn, but also from a general trend towards, what at the time were called "mannish styles" that was widespread in the fashion world at the time.
My own lack of a vintage ladies fedora stems simply for the fact that I've yet to encounter any in person that didn't cost the moon and haven't tried my luck with sourcing one online. The older I get, the more this style of hat appeals to me though, so I could certainly see myself doing so in the not too distant future.
3. Genuine 1940s shoes
At the risk of sounding like a broken record to those who have been longtime readers of my blog, I have somewhat hard to fit feet (they have unusually high arches, are slightly uneven sized, and often fall between a regular and wide width in many brands), which just happen to a modern size 8 (occasionally I can squeeze into a 7.5, or conversely, need to go up half a size to 8.5 - all this despite the fact that visually, it looks like I'm about a 6.5). This combo, paired further with the fact that there are no vintage clothing stores in town, means that finding genuine 1940s (or 1950s) shoes is a challenge (I use the word "genuine" here to distinguish such shoes from more modern footwear that either looks the 40s part on purpose, as in the case of vintage reproduction shoes, or simply have vintage appropriate styling to them).
I know from past experience (with modern and repro styles) that ordering shoes online does usually not end favorably for me, so I've held off on investing in a pair of genuine 1940s shoes until I come across some in person that fit both my feet and ideally my budget, too. With mid-century footwear becoming harder and harder to find with each passing year, I know that it might be a bit of tall order, but I always like to be optimistic and like to believe I'll slip my tootsies into a pair of real, honest to goodness forties shoes one of these days!
4. Vintage swimsuit
Now, to be fair, I don't have a modern one at present either. Believe me when I say that the way my body looks in the type of clothes I wear and how it appears in something as unforgiving as a bathing suit are two vastly different things. Though I've had vintage swimsuits at various points in time, I rarely kept them long (always selling or giving them away to friends) because I'd yet to find one that fits me just right.
Couple this with the fact that some of my medical conditions keep me from being able to do much swimming (I pay dearly for weeks afterwards if I do - a mistake I only had to make once to realize that it's best for me to stay curled on the beach come summer) and that I don't like wearing overly revealing clothing to begin with, and it's not all that big of a surprise that I don't have a swimsuit.
That said, it is a practical garment, even if it's not a terribly flattering one on me, so chances are I'll pick up a vintage or repro swimsuit sometime in the coming months before summer triumphantly returns again.
5. Swing coat
As much as I like the elegant, classic shape of swing coats (especially those that are quite long), they aren't usually terribly kind to my short, curvy figure in the slightest. Princess coats however are whole 'nother matter! Their tailored lines and nipped waist seem to be custom made for my body body, so when Old Man Winter comes calling each year, I reach for vintage princess coats without fail.
I'm not entirely excluding the possibility of owning a swing coat, and I have always wanted a hip length "teddy bear fur" sandy caramel hued one, but at present I'm more than content with my pretty princess coats and suspect they'll always be the number one choice in my books when it comes to old school outerwear (even my vintage raincoat has princess lines to it :)).
6. Playsuit
Playsuits are super cute, super practical, and super fun, and yet, the fact that they often involve baring your knees, upper arms, and/or midriff (not three of my favourite parts of my body in the slightest!) means I approach these charming summer garments with great caution. I admire them on other people, praise their practicality, and swoon over old school examples of them, but for now my closet is woefully playsuit-less until I find one that lets me remain fairly covered up, but still have the versatility that comes with mix-and-match summertime separates of the sort that only playsuits deliver.
7. Penny loafers
I thought I'd finally crossed this vintage fashion staple off of my list last spring when I purchased a pair in near pristine condition at a yard sale for $5.00. Once I got home and attempted to get my footies into them however, they turned out to be too narrow to really even get on at all. *Sigh* The hunt will continue though, as I love the preppy meets casual meets collegiate look of classic penny loafers and would absolute welcome the chance to expand my shoe wardrobe with a pair at long, long last!
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Naturally, this is not an exhaustive list of all the possible vintage pieces I could, but do not precisely, own from the decades I hold nearest and dearest to my heart. Instead I opted to focus on pieces that are fairly common amongst the marvelous vintage fashionistas in our spheres and yet are no where to be seen in my dresser drawers or in my vintage outfit blog posts.
As time goes on, I would love to add those that do work for my body type (and sensitive skin!) to my wardrobe, just as would those that still remain (and others that have since been added to) my
vintage fashion wishlist. Part of the greatest thrill of wearing vintage for me has always been the hunt, and the actual moment of discovery itself, so I don't usually mind it when there are items, be they commonplace, obscure or anywhere in between, that I'm able to search the web and offline world alike for – no matter how long it takes to find a winner!
What, my sweet dears, are some seemingly commonplace vintage items that most folks own, but which you don't currently have a single one of? Are any of them the same as the entries on my list?
It will be interesting to see, looking back in say, five or ten years, how many (again, of the ones I am hankering for) of these pieces have joined the ranks in my closet, and how many are still as elusive as the likelihood of unearthing a 1950s Dior suit at a thrift store. Only time, and perhaps a future follow-up post in a few years will tell!
