Hi all, I recently had a 10% off sale for Australia Day in my Etsy store, but I have decided to extend it until the end of January. The code is KOALA for those interested.
Here is the link to the shop:
Categories: Books, Clothing, Hats, In Magazines, Men's Fashion
I’ve been a little bit slack at posting the new shop finds, been very busy lately. But, as promised, here ar few of the beauties I have added there of late. A 20s dress and magazine, 30s suit set, a few 40s dresses and shoes, 40s linen blouse, deadstock gloves and some handbags and a 50s swing coat Enjoy!
Categories: Accessories, Clothing, In Magazines, Shoes
Tagged: 1920s beaded dress, 1920s dress, 1920s fashion, 1920s flapper dress, 1920s magazine, 1920s sewing patterns, 1940s crepe dress, 1940s dress, 1940s evening gown, 1940s fashion, 1940s shoes, 1940s wedgies, 1950s blouse, 1950s coat, 1950s fashion, 1950s gloves, 1950s handbag
Back in August this year, Lisa Ho (a prominent Australian fashion designer) auctioned off her HUGE vintage clothing collection, which consisted of 100s of garments predominantly from the 1920s and 30s. Racks and racks of carefully organised items were for sale along with some of the most beautiful 20s beaded dresses I have even seen! I am happy to say that two of my favourite fellow bloggers in the Aussie vintage scene were there to bid for (and win) some of these beauties.
I have included just a small selection of what is featured in the online catalogue. You can find the rest at Mossgreen Auctions. My favourites are the yellow dress (snapped up by my Sydney friend Inger), both the pink and the black coats in the second line of pics, the 30s red gown and the bias cut white 30s dress. All just stunning! I wish I could have been there to go through all though racks of 30s silk gowns.
* Taken from my other blog .
Check out this awesome collection of men’s swimming trunks from the 1920s to the 40s from blog. Interestingly they range in colours from black to yellow but there seems to be a preference for the darker colour choices. Most were made from wool with a canvas belt to keep them from sagging and falling off once heavy with water and many have a little coin pocket included in the design.
*This article is shared from my personal
1930s Janzten ad
Categories: Clothing, In Magazines, Men's Fashion
Tagged: 1920s mens swimwear, 1930s mens swimwear, Jantzen
From a 1936 edition of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, advising readers how to “look smart” while attending the Great Lakes Exposition, suggesting various ways to wear the illustrated fashions.
Yes…I know, graphic designer that I am – I can’t go past Art Deco images that take my fancy from the 20s and 30s. Added some lovely favs today and others via a fellow blogger at who sometimes comes across images that I don’t have in my own collection. Enjoy 
Prada has just unveiled photos and video of actors Willem Dafoe, Gary Oldman, Garrett Hedlund, Jamie Bell and Adrien Brody wearing their vintage/steampunk influenced fall/winter line. I think Gary Oldman just looks soooo dapper here! Lovely to see such nice lines back in mens clothing.
Sourced from
Categories: Accessories, Clothing, In Magazines, Men's Fashion, On Catwalks
Tagged: menswear, Prada 2012, steampunk
I recently bought a beautiful red crepe and cream lace 1930s bias cut gown from . I think it is gorgeous, and best of all – it fits me to a tee. It also has lovely red glass buttons which look great in contrast against the lace.
Just before this dress arrived, I was flicking through another of my fav bloggers pages () and came across an article about ‘Vintage afternoon wear’ and found that she had featured a photo from a 1933 Vogue showing a very similar dress. It has scalloped detailing in the lace bodice and a collar but is strikingly similar to my crimson beauty. I love when I can find an example of a similar item from the same time period…makes it all the more interesting and helps place the garment to a more exact time period.
I am a graphic designer by profession and my love of 20s and 30s design has always influenced my own work. I have admired and collected design examples from this time period since my college days studying design and art history and am always adding to my digital collection. Broders, Schmidt, Rodchenko, Schlutz-Neudamm, Loupot, Kiesler, Falcucci, Carboni, Bouchard, Cassandre, Kuhn and Ansieau – just to name a few – are some of my favourite designers of the day. Sometimes I forget about all the things I have stored away in files and am excited when I come across them again and just want to share. So, please enjoy these vintage lovelies from the 20s and 30s.
Categories: Cosmetics, Hair, In Magazines
Tagged: 1920s ads, 1920s cosmetics, 1920s perfume ads, 1930s ads, 1930s cosmetics, 1930s perfume ads
Hi all, I have been very busy putting more items into my Etsy store – – so I hope you will all go in and take a gander at the 35 or so new things I have added, including some more 40s dresses, 40s tailored jackets, vintage sewing patterns and magazines, lots of vintage hats (30s to 50s), mens 40s suspenders, hair clips and bobby pin cards from the 30s, 40s and 50s and some lovely scarves. And isn’t the 1930s blue blouse divine?! I wish it fit me!!
I’ve featured a few items here so I hope you enjoy looking. If you would like to keep up to date with all the listings, join my VVE page. Now, back to writing my next post!
Categories: Accessories, Clothing, Hats, In Magazines
Tagged: 1930s blouse, 1940s blouse, 1940s dress, 1940s hair clips, 1940s hats, 1940s jacket, 1940s sewing pattern, 1950s hats, Violet's Vintage Emporium
Well, I certainly can imagine dancing on that amazing floor! How very streamlined looking it is.
Categories: In Magazines
Some gorgeous pieces here and wide with a late 20s to mid 30s feel, and wide flowing pants abound!! Almost resort wear in some cases, which is fabulous. I have many pairs of 30s style wide trousers which I incorporate into my everyday wardrobe on a daily basis and I’m glad to see that this flattering style with a 30s edge on catwalks. Lots of bias cut dresses, swagger and cloche-type hats and feminine, flowing fabrics here too. My favourite is the first pic.
Categories: Accessories, Clothing, In Magazines, On Catwalks
Tagged: 1930s style, ralph lauren
Ahh…La Femme Chez Elle. So many beautiful art deco minimalist style covers and fashion plates within. And lots of nifty hat making tips! I have scanned some of the articles for you here from a few of my collection. Yes, they are in French, but the visuals are worth looking at. Some lovely knitting patterns too and I really want to try and make the tilted straw hat. So cute! If you are interested, I have some for sale in my store. I noticed that Artposters.com even has copies of the covers for sale as prints.
I have always loved these gorgeous ads from 1930s Japan. Such stylised, beautiful ladies and a wonderful use of colour and design. The girl with the red hair bow is stunning and I adore the green hat in the second poster.
As always, moving house means that you must sort, pack, then un-pack all of your worldly goods. Sometimes you come across items that you haven’s seen for a while, as I did with my precious ‘Delineater’ magazines from the 20s and 30s. It was with glee that found a group of 4 many years ago in a tiny out of town antique store, and I love them to bits, but I had carefully stored them away and had almost forgotten I had them!
As a designer, I adore Delineator cover art in all it’s elegant art deco simplicity and the wonderful fashions portrayed, so I thought I’d go on a hunt for some more online. For those unfamiliar to the magazine, Delineator (A Journal of Fashion, Culture, and Fine Arts) was launched in 1873 by Ebenezer Butterick – yes, that Butterick. In the early 20s, the magazine published the work of romance novelists and many famous illustrators worked on staff. The magazine later merged with William Randolph Hearst’s Pictorial Review in 1937.
The Delineator was originally a magazine of women’s fashion, with dressmakers patterns, as well as articles covering women’s issues, women in sport and in cultural life. In 1920, it hosted ‘more advertising than was ever inserted in any magazine published for women at any time, anywhere’, thanks to it’s 1 million readers and I believe it was published in many languages. Well, 4 of them found their way to a little store in country town Australia … so there you are!
I hope you enjoy these beautiful covers. I would never part with my copies.
Categories: Books, Clothing, Hats, In Magazines
Tagged: 1920s magazine, 1930s fashion, 1930s magazine, Delineator magazine
I haven’t been posting much as I’ve moved house and am waiting for my internet connection to be relocated…waiting, waiting…sigh. In the meantime, here is a lovely ad from Sears featuring some gorgeous Lounging Pjamas and cute lingerie. I love that the bra was called a ‘bandeau’ here. I would like the ‘Serona ensemble’ please in blue!
Source
Categories: Accessories, Clothing, In MagazinesI have my very own early 30s gramophone and a tonne of swing 78s but it’s not very portable and I have always coveted one of these little rippers for picnics and vintage outings. Number 2 would be for me, with its faux alligator ‘Fabrikoid’ box. And a steal at $11.95 ($200US today). Something so well made would have been treasured in the day and it would have taken years to save up for … ahh if I only had a time machine and a shipping crate …
For all our Australian followers, we hope you had a wonderful day off, celebrating life in this wonderful country of ours by doing the things that us Aussies like to partake of in summer. Whether it was going to the beach, attending a bbq or picnic or just hanging out with friends having a few drinks. Hope your day was grand and here are some lovely vintage Australian Home Journal covers and Home Budget inside pages from the 1920s and 30s to inspire you.
I found this wonderful page courtesy of a long while ago and just HAD to share it today. After looking over it I realised that I actually have more than half of these items in my own collection! I have used the water wavers quite often (my profile pic is a water wave set) and my rather substantial box of vintage hair doo-dads contains Curly Lox Curlers, Wide Wide Curlers, Kurly Kews, WW combs, Kurl Kuiks, Wavos and Kid Kurlers.
It’s also fun to see the original prices and descriptions of these items. The Baldwin Marcellers are amazing! I’ve seen some online for sale on occasion and they look rather complex to use! And the Nayrs Waving Cap, what a nifty looking device. Wish I could find an old one of those and give it try! Oh blow me down! There’s one for sale at
As a lover of 1930s fashion, in my humble opinion one of the most stylish garments to emerge from the 20s and 30s were beach or ‘lounge’ pyjamas. They just ooze elegance and sophistication and are visually very iconic. Until the 1920s, pyjamas were pretty much only worn as sleepwear, then sometime in the 1920s they made their way outdoors as a cover-up over swimming costumes on the beaches of the French Riveria. When crepe pyjamas were first worn at the seaside, trouser wearing women were rare sight and still very much confined to beach and promenade areas.
The trend took off all over the globe (the photo above is from the UK) and beach pyjamas soon also became casual-wear for less formal outdoor events in the warmer months. Many women took to wearing them around the home as ‘lounging pyjamas’ when entertaining or just relaxing.
In the 1920s, beach or lounge pajamas were usually a top and trouser set with matching jacket. By the 1930s, one-piece, jumpsuit-style pajamas were very popular and many featured a very wide leg. Fabric like shantung, linen or cotton was accepted for the for beach and lounging pajamas, but as they became widely popular in the 1930s, many were also available in rayon. Pyjamas were made in an amazing array of bold colors and patterns, as you will see in some of pictures and old advertisements I have added here. Many of the patterns were influenced by Japanese and Chinese art which was seen as very exotic at that time.
With lounge pyjamas a new category of clothing emereged: resort wear. With it’s bright designs and lightweight fabrics, resort wear was all about relaxing and holidaying and even today, when viewing the elegant vintage posters advertising these garments, I immediately think of luxury yachts, beaches, boardwalks and sunny weather. I have a wonderful 1930s Australian travel poster advertising Bondi Beach and all the women illustrated wearing beach pyjamas. With our weather here in Oz – they must have a been a blessing back in the day
Stars like Greta Garbo and Joan Crawford had a lot to do with making lounging pyjamas extremely popular worldwide as they donned them in several of their movies during the 1930s and women everywhere took notice.
I hope you enjoy some of my favourite images here. I regularly wear and own many pairs of high-waisted, flowy, wide legged trousers, which I find extremely flattering, so I’m a big fan of beach pyjamas. Which reminds me; I am still to make a pair from a (below) that I purchased early this year. My friend Lauren has done a wonderful job of putting this pattern together, so if you love lounging PJs, you can now indulge yoursel. Also, thanks to for her wonderful blog containing a collection of beautiful photos, vintage advertising, posters and patterns of beach and lounging PJs. It’s where I pilfered some of these pics from
Categories: Clothing, In Magazines, Vintage Photos
