What compontents make an outfit vintage?

Primarily, to be vintage an item of clothing must be old. However, you can achieve a vintage look by wearing vintage inspired clothing and accessories too if you know how to make it look the part. Some key elements can help make your look seem vintage even if the clothing isn’t.

First you must pick your era. Each era had different signature details, cuts, icons and accessories which defined it.

High waisted

Throughout history high-waited men’s trousers were often worn with braces, although this also looks fab on women for an androgynous look. Between the 1940s and the 1960s women usually sported a high-waisted skirt or dress, although the length and cut varied depending on the decade. During the 1970s high-waisted wide-legged or flared trousers were popular with men and women.

Drop waist

If  the 1920s and 1930s is the era for you be sure to go for the tell-tale ‘flapper’ style drop waistline.  In the 1920s waistlines were very low on thr hip and hems always below the knee.

Cardigans

Cardigans were one of the most iconic items of the 1950s and were much more elaborate than today’s counterpart. If you want to add a vintage touch to your outfit this is the way to go, in the 1950s dresses and tops were often short sleeved so cardigans were a must-have. Avoid anything baggy as cardigans were shaped to flatter the curves and often had detailed knits including lace knits, patterns, bead-work and ornate buttons.

Twin Sets

You’ve heard of ‘twinset and pearls’ right? But what is a twinset exactly? A twinset is a close-fitting sleeveless knitted sweater (jumper to us English folk) with a matching cardigan. You may have seen images of these being worn by 1950s housewives and will certainly remeber one worn by Olivia Newton John in Grease.

Accessorise your head!

Prior to the 1960s head-gear was matter of fact. Men usually wore or carried a hat be it bowler, tweed cap, triby or other. Women’s hear-wear changed more dramatically over the decades but they usually wore a head accessory of some kind, even when swimming!

In 1920s it was the cloche hat and the head-band (the kind that goes around your forehead not an Alice band) that defined the era, in the 1940s and 1950s it was all about hats to compliment elaborate hairstyles, although in the 50s they were slightly smaller. The 1950s also saw the rise of the headscarf as worn by Audry Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, followed by the Pillbox hat in the 1960s remembered most notably for being work lots by Jackie Onassis, the extra-wide headband (*Alice band) was also big news.