LOOKING FOR a particular era or style of vintage clothing? Use our handy dandy search engine and enter the era, style, or color (i.e. 1940s, 50s, swing, black pumps) Translate our website into your language of choice! (Translations by Babelfish)   Want to earn extra cash? Become a vintageblues.com affiliate! click above for more info                                         Got questions about something you see (or don't see) here? Email us at customerservice1@vintageblues.com or check out our FAQ or our History of Fashion pages	Welcome to our new Vintage & Retro Lifestyle News area! Each month (or less) we'll be adding newsworthy articles and information to this area encompassing all areas of the vintage lifestyle including trends, clothing care tips, vintage buying tips and more. So check this area often as you just never know what you'll find here... Trends for /Winter 2004 | | Tips on Measuring Ladies' Vintage Shoes | The Advent of the Zipper | Care of your Vintage Clothing (New Page) Hot trends for winter (and we've got 'em in spades!) (added 8/5/04)   Steno chic - pencil skirts, suits, conservative jackets and sheaths, glasses Vintage coats - swing coats, A-line toppers, fitted jackets & chubbies, any coat that is interesting or unique Embellished & graffiti jeans (denim galore! including denim jackets) Animal prints & fur - faux & real, leopard, cheetah & more whether hats, bags or coats Hats - from wild to vintage to wacky! hats are back (and boy are we glad!) Metallics - gold and silver, copper and bronze, from metallic shoes to clutches & eyeshadows How to measure ladies' (& mens) vintage shoes (Added 6/5/04): We get alot of questions on how to judge today's sizes in vintage footwear. As with clothing sizes, vintage shoe sizes are different (normally smaller) than today's sizes - in other words a 1940s size 7 is NOT the same as a 2004 size 7. Here's how to figure out our descriptions and how to know what vintage size you need. Practice by measuring a shoe of your own (whether vintage or 'new' - doesn't matter!) Take a measuring tape and laying it flat on the shoe bed, measure inside the shoe from heel to toe. For width, measure across the widest part (either inside or outside the shoe, but take into consideration that the outer width will be a bit smaller than your normal shoe width) The average width is 3 inches at the widest point or a C width. All too often, shoes are mismarked. Or rather, the markings are inconsistent. If you know your foot size, you can always determine if a shoe will fit you by measuring it. For approximate future reference the inches to U.S. size ratio is: 8 to 8-1/4" is a ladies U.S. size 6; 9 to 9-1/4" is a ladies U.S. size 7; 10 to 10-1/4" is a ladies size 8; 11 to 11-1/4" is a ladies size 9 and so on. All vintage divas should carry a measuring tape when shopping FYI! Not only does it come in handy for shoes, but it is also important when wanting to know your dress, pants and more sizes as you'll see in future articles. The Advent of the Zipper (Added 6/5/04): Ever wonder how we vintage dealers date our clothing? Of course you have! And unlike Sherlock Holmes, you don't have to have a degree in detective work to solve the mystery of the clothing decades! The first thing to note is that for every rule, an exception exists - somewhere. But you can use certain clues to identify periods. One of the best clues is the ZIPPER - or lack thereof. This article refers to zipper on ladies' clothing (don't worry guys - there'll be tips for you too coming soon!) Zippers were invented in the late 1800s, but most women thought they were awful. Before the 1920s, clothing hooked shut with hook and eye closures. During the 20s, when styles became straight-lined, no closures were used at all, meaning the wearer slipped the dress over her head. In the late 20s and thru most of the 30s, styles started becoming more curvaceous; dresses closed with snaps or hook-and-eyes. These were bulky and awkward by today's standards. Finally in the late 30s, zippers came into vogue. These zippers were very bulky however. But, they caught on. (No pun intended.) Early zippers can be identified by the shape of the tab you use to pull the zipper up and down and whether or not it is metal (it should be). The pull is not normally rectangular, like today's zippers, but rather odd shaped, sometimes oval, sometimes diamond shaped (or a variation thereof) and so on. During the war (WWII that is) metal was needed for the war effort. So, briefly, dress designers went back to snaps and hook-and-eyes. When the war ended, zippers returned with a vengeance. Now they were sleeker than their predecessors, although still bulky by today's standards. Up til the mid 50s, zippers were found mostly on the left side of the garment (i.e. dresses, skirts, side zip pants, jeans etc.) If any zipper was used in the back, it was small and high up, near the neck. Long back zippers began to predominate in the mid-to-late 50s. By the late 50s, side zippers had all but disappeared. Also by the late 50s, zippers became more streamlined as the technology for making them improved. Plastic zippers were not used until the 1960s. The color of the zipper tended to match the color of the garment as you'll see if you check out some of those groovy polyester threads you've got! Remember; as we said at the beginning of this article, for every rule, an exception exists. And keep in mind when examining your vintage stash, that someone, somewhere, may have replaced an old zipper with a new one. There are other clues of course that we look for in dating garments, but we'll cover those at a later time. As with anything else, we have to start somewhere!
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