Below are some really great resources to grow your vintage knowledge, inspire you and help you to #CHOOSEVINTAGE
Books…
Style Me Vintage series
These brilliant books offer advice on identifying, sourcing and wearing vintage fashion, accessories and jewellery.
Style Me Vintage Clothes by Naomi Thompson. Click here to find out more about the book.
Style Me Vintage Accessories by Naomi Thompson & Liz Tregenza. Click here to find out more about the book.
Vintage Fashion Sourcebook by various authors. This is a brilliant guide to the key looks from the 1920s to 1980s, it also includes a useful shopping guide. Click here to find out more about this book.
How to draw Vintage Fashion by Celia Joicey & Dennis Nothdruft. I love this book it is so nice! It is packed full of information about key designers from different eras, how to draw guides, a research guide, fashion terms and lots of gorgeous pictures, photos and sketches. A must have for any vintage fashion lover. Click here to find out more about the book.
25 Dresses by William Banks-Blaney (aka William Vintage). This is a beautiful book about 25 iconic vintage dresses, the fashion designers who created them and how they are still so relevant today. Click here to find out more about the book.
William Banks-Blaney is a huge inspiration to me, his passion for vintage is infectious. He has such an incredible knowledge of vintage fashion and the designers behind it, as well as a brilliant understanding of women and how they see themselves, which results in a magic formula for selling his beautiful collections.
This Old Thing by Dawn O’Porter. A fantastic book to accompany the Channel 4 series, packed with fashion history, a guide to each era (1920s-1980s), plus tips for shopping, buying and wearing vintage clothes. It also has a great guide to altering and mending your vintage clothes. Click here to find out more about the book.
I think Dawn O’Porter has done a great job of educating and persuading people who would not usually consider vintage to try it with her TV series and book. I also think her BOB repro range is really good because it is not another predictable ‘1950s spotty full circle dress’ style of vintage repro. It covers different eras and focuses on classic, timeless styles that will always be relevant and wearable. She also promotes wearing vintage with modern clothes, which is something I feel strongly about.
Knickers Models’ Own: A Year of Frugal Fashion by Caroline Jones. This is such an amazing, moving and inspiring book. It covers an award winning fundraising campaign to raise money for Cancer Research UK where Caroline sourced, styled and modelled a different outfit everyday for a year from her local CRUK shop. It is packed full of inspiration, styling and shopping tips and beautiful photographs of Caroline’s preloved and vintage finds. Click here to find out more about the book and the story behind it. 100% of all book sales go to Cancer Research UK.
Websites…
Vintage Fashion Guild – an extremely useful guide to vintage fashion.
The Vintage Guide to London – find out about anything and everything vintage happening in London.
Lou Lou’s Vintage Fairs & Judy’s Affordable Vintage Fairs – find out where your nearest fairs are so you can get your vintage shopping fix.
Social Media…
Here are just a few of the good people, organisations and companies to follow on Twitter. Some are vintage related and others are related to sustainable fashion, charity shop fashion and general fashion/styling. They all regularly post links to interesting articles, video content & podcasts, plus inspiring stories and some great photography:
Pretty Upfront
British Fashion Council
Fashion Revolution
Style Me In Seconds
Charity Retail Association
Oxfam Fashion
Knickers Model’s Own
Telegraph Fashion
Fashion & Textile Museum
Evening Standard Lifestyle
The Pool
Vintage Festival
Huff Post UK Style
Sunday Times Style
M&S Archive
Dawn O’Porter
Stylist Magazine
Search #vintagefashion and #vintageclothing on Instagram to find plenty of vintage loving people and follow their adventures!
Also check out the All Vintaged Up facebook page for links to interesting and useful articles and resources.