I recently purchased a vintage dress that I could not, for the life of me, figure out when it came from. The dress had no tags and looked to be home sewn. The style reminded me of a 1950's housewife, but the print on the fabric looked much older - like the '30s. With little else to go on, I decided to spend a few hours studying vintage fashions from different eras. I knew I'd never find my exact dress, but if I could find similar styles, I could at least validate my best guess.
This is when I stumbled upon a site called
AntiqueDress.com. It was here I lost an entire afternoon, clicking through pages of absolutely breath-taking vintage. I'm talking museum-quality stuff. They specialized in luxurious vintage clothing from the 1800's to the 1980's.
When in doubt of a garment's age, I always estimate newer than older. But as I browsed this site, I realized just how important knowing your fashion history is. What appears to be another '80s deco blouse could actually be 200 years older.
To test your vintage savvy, here is a little "date your vintage" pop quiz. See if you can correctly identify what era these pieces came from.
1)
A) 1890's.
B) 1920's.
C) 1980's.
D) 2000's.
2)
A) 1890's.
B) 1910's.
C) 1960's.
D) 1970's.
3)
A) 1900's.
B) 1920's.
C) 1960's.
D) 1980's.
4)
A) 1920's.
B) 1930's.
C) 1950's.
D) 1980's.
5)
A) 1910's.
B) 1920's.
C) 1980's.
D) 1990's.
6)
A) 1890's.
B) 1920's.
C) 1970's.
D) 2000's.
7)
A) 1900's.
B) 1910's.
C) 1920's.
D) 1930's.
8)
A) 1900's.
B) 1910's.
C) 1980's.
D) 2000's.
Pencils down, everyone!
How do you think you did? You feeling lucky... punk? Well below is the answer key.
1. A 2. A 3. B 4. A 5. A 6. B 7. C 8. B
xo,
Sabrina London
