Women Corner

The vintage clothing market is currently enjoying a boost in popularity as people grow more and more willing to experiment with styles outside of the limitations of the high street chain stores, and there are many specialist shops and online websites that deal with shoes and clothing from the 19th and 20th Century (and even older).

Vintage clothing provides a wealth of different styles, fashions and materials to choose from, and there are a few things you will need to think about before you start buying older clothing in order to get the best for your money.

Vintage Shoes
Shoes made in the mid 20th Century were mostly hand made by skilled craftsmen and from the highest grade materials so do tend to be very good quality, and many have lasted so well they can still be worn today with just a few touch ups and repairs. Although these shoes are often printed with sizes these can differ slightly from maker to maker, so you will need to try each pair of shoes on before you buy them, as you cannot guarantee that each shoe will be precisely the equivalent to your modern shoe size. Also it is important to note that older vintage ladies shoes were generally much narrower and smaller than modern shoes are today, so if you have large feet (anything over a size 7) you may not be able to find any good vintage shoes that will fit comfortably. Always check the condition of vintage shoes before you buy them as well, as extensive repairs to worn shoes can be very expensive, and if the leather/suede is too worn out they may be beyond rescuing.

Vintage Clothing Sizes
You should remember that on average many people in the UK were much thinner at the early to mid 20th Century due to wartime rationing and widespread poverty, and so many outfits from this time will be designed with a very slim figure in mind. Also a lot of 19th Century clothing was designed to be worn over certain undergarments such as corsets, and so in many cases will also be unsuitable for the modern, less adapted figure. Therefore you need to be careful about sizes when choosing vintage clothing, and it is important to try everything on first to make sure it fits. Don’t be disheartened if you have a more curvaceous figure and are finding it difficult to get any fashionable vintage clothing that fits. There are now many companies who make reproduction clothing based on vintage patterns and designs, which have been updated in order to fit the modern figure such as www.stopstaringclothing.com and http://www.daddyos.com.