Favorite Thing #11: Vintage Clothing

I have always had a great appreciation for vintage clothing, in particular clothing from the 40's and 50's. For me, this style clothing is so glamorous and sexy, not like the crappy fashions that are popular today. However, being a poor student, I never had any money fo vintage inspired clothing, let alone real vintage. The only piece I had was a swing style dress I purchased for an "Enchantment Under the Sea" dance my senior year (Yes, as in Marty McFly Back to the Future. Are you happy I corrected it Rob?). And while I do love this dress, it didn't really do the era justice.

Retro swing dresses also make excellent clubbing dresses

Old time photos are fun

I recently got into the market of buying vintage inspired dresses when my good friend Kevin Doyle (see entry #9, decided to have a super awesome Great Gatsby themed party on the summer solstice. Through an internet search, Amy and I found a really awesome website called Unique Vintage (http://www.unique-vintage.com/) that sells vintage inspired clothing from the 20's through the 70's. They a wonderful selection of flapper style dresses, from which Amy and I chose the lovely selections below. I complemented the dress with a hat I picked up at the local vintage store Peacock Feathers (13 Golden Street, New London, CT). Amy is much craftier than I and she made her awesome headband, which was by far the best homemade headband I have ever seen, let alone at the party (gluing a piece of sequined ribbon together on the ends is not making a headband).

"What, this old thing?"

Unique vintage has such neat stuff that I used a great 20% off coupon to get a 50's dress, labeled as a "country club dress". Its so comfortable to wear and the skirt is full and tons of fun to twirl in. Amy also got a neat 50's dress with cute little cherries on it. They have so far come in really handy for various summer parties and outdoor movie watching. Since becoming addicted to vintage clothing, we have also become addicted to using any excuse to dress up.

Rob may be handsome but my dress is hot!

I have also added a 40's pinup style bathing suit to my collection from Ester Williams line of bathing suits. This suit (along with the one Amy got) is very flattering to people who aren't built like twigs. Plus, its super fun to wear. I'm really hoping they go on sale so I can order a different print.

This photo could have come out of the 40's

Another great site we have discovered lately is Daddy O's (http://www.daddyos.com/) which specializes in 50's, rockabilly and swing clothes for men, women and children. I ordered a great two piece number today that I am totally stoked to get. My only regret is that I forgot to orderthe awesome cateye sunglasses to go with.

The crowning achievement of my growing collection is the vintage dress I picked up at Aequinox on the Vineyard this weekend (http://www.vintageclothingmv.com/). It is my first actual vintage dress. Although Noe thinks it looks like a Mrs. Cleaver dress, I think it is swell. I haven't gotten a chance to wear it out yet, but I did take a picture of it, which doesn't do it justice. I can't wait to hoodwink Katie and John into inviting us back so I can visit the store again and hopefully find another great piece for my collection.