Telling The Difference Between Eras?

[Deleted member 12480]

Hello
I did have a search but i couldn't find quite what i was looking for however if there is a thread regarding this i am sorry in advance

Basically - being a newcomer to vintage i still find it difficult to tell what era things are from. obviously the newer stuff has plastic zips but thats as far as i can tell.

Also - would you say that buying 70s/80s does 40s/50s is good or bad.
I know you will all say 'its all about what you like and having your own style' etc etc

but i would quite like to stick with 40s-50s and wouldn't want to wear 70s-80s if its obvious, especially as i wouldn't be able to tell and other probably would?

if this all makes sense?

Sorry i'm being confusing -_-

basically how do you tell what dress came from which era etc.

thankyou
xxxxxxx

 

[lolly_loisides]

There are 2 threads in the powder room - 1940's wardrobe essentials & 1950's wardrobe: the basics - both are jam packed full of info. I think they used to be stickies, I guess they became unstuck.
http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=36604
http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=35760

 

[Fleur De Guerre]

Also, have a look on Amazon for the Sears catalogue books, they're quite cheap and give a brilliant overview of the clothing styles and silhouettes of different decades.

 

[Deleted member 12480]

hi there

yeah i had a look at them but i was wondering like, when zips were made plastic and when care labels were introduced etc etc

thanks

 

[Deleted member 12480]

ooh thanks fleur will do xx

 

[December]

If you like it- go for it! I know you didn't want me to say that but hear me out:

You have been on this forum a while now. You have your own blog and you read others' blogs. You might be new to vintage but you have a lot more knowledge of it than most people on the street.

Of course, if you were going to a vintage extravaganza event, people may notice. But if you're just going out and about your local area, most people won't have a clue that your dress/skirt/shoes aren't authentic. Especially if you have the rest of the look down.

I recently found a dress in a vintage shop that looked 50s to me. I went to try it on and inside was a massive label most likely from the 80s. But I bought it anyway, because I liked it and I figured if it could fool me, it would fool most people.

Generally speaking, I hate 80s-does-50s etc, because they normally look all out 80s, but if it is a good enough reproduction it doesn't bother me too much.

 

[LizzieMaine]

It gets easier the more genuine vintage you handle. For me, the biggest giveaway is the feel of the fabric -- it's impossible to describe adequately, but you'll know it when you sense it. Take a genuine 50s dress and a typical 80s dress and pass the fabric between your fingertips -- unless you're dealing with a really expensive, possibly custom-made 80s piece, it won't feel the same. Polyester was introduced in the fifties, but even 50s poly feels different from 80s poly.

But as others have said, it's up to you to decide how flexible to be on period accuracy. My favorite winter coat is 70s-does-40s, because it was cheap and fits well. What more can you ask for?

 

[LizzieMaine]

There are 2 threads in the powder room - 1940's wardrobe essentials & 1950's wardrobe: the basics - both are jam packed full of info. I think they used to be stickies, I guess they became unstuck.
http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=36604
http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=35760

We stuck them here -- http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=49661, along with the 30s essentials thread -- one stop shopping for all your decade-essentials needs.

 

[Joie DeVive]

hi there

yeah i had a look at them but i was wondering like, when zips were made plastic and when care labels were introduced etc etc

thanks

Zippers are unfortunately complicated. I don't happen to know when the switch over was, but while they work as an indicator, they aren't foolproof. Someone fixing an old dress could easily have put in a nylon zipper, and an unscrupulous seller can replace a nylon zipper with a metal one to make a modern dress seem older so it will sell for more. Besides, I would guess that there is a time when they overlapped...

In the US, fabric content tags became required sometime in the 1960's. I used to know what year, but I'm afraid I've forgotten.

Tags also aren't foolproof, as they can have been removed or switched, but when present, they can offer clues. Woven tags are usually older than printed ones, and are also more often present in higher quality items. With practice, you can learn to recognize the style of the writing, and it can suggest an era. In general, care and fabric content tags in the US are an indicator of modernity.

 

[SayCici]

I think you'll be able to best guess a garment's era or an even smaller time frame of when it could have been made by researching the eras you're interested in more thoroughly. Like Joie said, nylon zippers may not have originally been in 30s dresses but what if someone replaced the original side opening? The same could go for certain seam finishes, if someone came around 50 years later and wanted to pro-long the shelf life of their favorite vintage dress. You need to judge by fabric, silhouette, details, etc. too.

You don't have to buy a book if you don't want to, check out http://www.fashion-era.com/. They have yearly fashion plates for each decade which can help you answer questions like "what did the hemline for ____ year look like?" "what was popular in 1943?" They also have articles that use those images which will have helpful information for you.

But, even something as simple as watching a classic movie and noticing what they're wearing or paying attention here can help round out your knowledge. When I first joined here I could barely separate something 40s from something else and I knew half as much about sewing patterns, but if you put in a little effort everything starts to click and you pick up things quickly.

 

[Amy Jeanne]

deleteduser,

You are so young -- you should take up sewing! I wish i did when I was your age. This way, you can MAKE all your own dresses from vintage patterns and you would know they would be authentically from the era. You can also choose whichever fabric/design you want. Not only that, they would be a lot sturdier than a real vintage piece and you know they would fit because you'd make them to your own measurements. It's not difficult once you get into the swing of it

Just have a look though the "Show us your patterns" thread. I bet you can tell what decade most of the patterns are from! If not, don't be scared to ask us here.

 

[Goldfish]

I think you get better the more you look at clothes. I am still far away from the knowledge that people here have, but I have made a lot of progress. What I like to do is to go to the Vintage Sewing Patterns Wiki, then I click on "Random Pattern", guess the era/year and scroll down to see if I was right (a lot of patterns are with the era/year the belong in).

 

[Miss_Becky]

In my honest opinion, it takes yeeeeaaaarrrrrsssss of looking at true vintage clothing and TONS of photographs and films from those eras. Also learning about what was happening in those times helps to understand WHY things were made/styled they way they were.

SCOUR and MEMORIZE old fashion magazines/catalouges/newspapers/sewing patterns, personal photos found in antique/thrift stores/garage and estate sales, movies, library archives, Television (thank god for pbs, history channel and TCM

For me at this stage in the game, to be able to look at a piece of clothing, furniture, hairstyle, architecture, photo, toy, lightbulb!, kitchen appliances.....and to figure out (or closely guess at) what era the item is from, took years upon years of some what of an obsession to get to.

You just have to be passionate about it and research as much as you can.

 

[December]

I think you get better the more you look at clothes. I am still far away from the knowledge that people here have, but I have made a lot of progress. What I like to do is to go to the Vintage Sewing Patterns Wiki, then I click on "Random Pattern", guess the era/year and scroll down to see if I was right (a lot of patterns are with the era/year the belong in).

I just tried this out and it's a lot of fun! I knew more than I thought I did too!

One thing to be aware of is that not all entries have an exact date, although most will give you a general time period.

 

[bellabella327]

I think you get better the more you look at clothes. I am still far away from the knowledge that people here have, but I have made a lot of progress. What I like to do is to go to the Vintage Sewing Patterns Wiki, then I click on "Random Pattern", guess the era/year and scroll down to see if I was right (a lot of patterns are with the era/year the belong in).

I think that is some fun advise!

 

[Deleted member 12480]

some great ideas here, thanks a lot, i'm off to try that pattern wiki now!

 

[Kate O Potato]

Annie m'love, I started here: http://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/fashion/features/dating/index.html
x

 

[fuzzylizzie]

I agree that it does take years of working with vintage clothing to be able to go through a rack and think, 60s, 50s, 60s, 70s, ...

Even though zippers are not foolproof, you need to always consider the type of zipper. Up until the early 60s, zippers were metal. Many makers continued using metal ones even after the nylon ones were released around 1960, so in the 60s you see both kinds. After 1970, most zippers have been nylon. To check for a replaced zipper, look carefully at how it is stitched in.

Labels are very important. A lot can be determined just from the font being used! Also, find out what kinds of special labels have been required. Here in the US, Union-made garments have a special label which has changed through the years. That is a very big help. Also, laws concerning fibre content, care and country of origin have been passed. Do a bit of googling and see if and when the UK passed labeling laws.

Construction is another big help. Look at how older items are sewn together as compared to 1970s and 80s garments. You rarely see serged seams before the mid 1960s (although sergers did exist) . Visit a few vintage clothing stores and look at these things. A lot of vintage learning has to be hands on!

 

[Marla]

I think studying the eras you're interested in is great advice, but studying (a little) of the later eras such as the 60s, 70s, and 80s will help you also. That way you will be aware of revivals and styles that remained popular continuously. If you can rule out a piece as definitely not being 60s/70s/80s than that's half the work of dating it already! Just because something looks 40s in silhouette doesn't mean it is. I've seen revival dresses in consignment stores falsely marked as 40s; and once a 60s knitwear set that was labeled "flapper".

 

[Kiri]

Ooh, I just tried the random pattern thing, it was really fun! And I only got 1 wrong out of maybe 20.