Mad Men, in case you haven’t heard is a television series on AMC about an advertising agency in early 1960’s New York.  It’s a show that doesn’t do any rewriting of history, where the gender lines are well defined, smoking, drinking, infidelity, smoking, drinking, and driving around without seat belts. While all the characters have depth to them, none of them flawless, I’ve come to be most fascinated with Betty Draper, the house wife and Peggy Olson, the female copywriter. I know, I know, Joan… but for some reason I’m just captivated by the repression of these two ladies, nothing is obvious, perhaps it’s a character trait I wish to have… but then, what good of a blogger would I be then?

She’s a Betty

From the beginning, I knew I would love Betty Draper. She kind of reminds me of my grandmother, only my grandmother is very vocal… but they have certain perfectionist tendencies. Betty’s ascent into cabin fever, caged madness under a very well presented classic Grace Kelly exterior.

Peggy didn’t get married…

Career girl by fate, she’s interesting because she doesn’t go by the rules, per se… but she doesn’t break them either. She’s innocent looking, a girl, but a woman. I’m so interested to see her thirty years later. My favorite outfits of hers are her church suits and now she’s starting to wear suits to work, like this checkered dress… it’s so lovley with the buttons down the side. Very femme.

Stills via the AMC photogallery, and the Betty in the Butterfly Blouse, and Peggy in the checkered dress are from the Chicago Tribune.

For those of you who aren’t living stateside, I’ve found this site helpful.

In my regular searching for vintages, I’ve grown to love ebay.fr partially for the feeling of ’shopping in France’, and partially since the void Agathe had left (yes I know she’s ‘back’), I’ve turned to a few of the French personal style blogs like The Cherry Blossom Girl, Play like a girl, and Cachemire & Soie the thing they have in common is they so seamlessly integrate vintage in their everyday wardrobes. I really love the elegance and the playfulness along with the excellent photography these blogs have, certainly encourages me to take it up a notch (or two or three). Hopefully some of the pretty style will seep in to my quirky-edgy tendencies.

Looking for French vintage is a little harder than I thought it would be, but ebay.fr really delivers, not as extensive as the ebay.com vintage they still have all these beautiful pieces at very reasonable prices… I mean if you consider the dollar-euro exchange rate, it’s brutal right now, but still somehow, these manage to stay competitive.

If you want to look around, I’ve found the categories for you Vintage clothing, vintage bags, vintage shoes. I have a Google Translate widget in my toolbar, and it works quite well with ebay… but many listings have notes in English. Here are a few outfits I put together using the vintages I found there:

La Femme

1. Vintage Emanuel Ungaro Dress Size 36 19,99EUR, ends Sept 12
2. Purple suede oxford pumps Size 36/37 13,99EUR, ends Sept 14
3. 1950’s Bow clutch, 10,50EUR, ends Sept 9
4. Falke Vertical Stripe Panyhose, 16,25EUR mytights.com

Graphique

1. Vintage Graphic Shift Dress 9,99EUR ends September 12
2. Grey Buckle Booties, 14,99EUR Size 36/37 ends Sept 15
3. Cotton Stockings, $13 sockdreams.com

La Planète Sauvage

1. Jean Paul Gautier Double Breasted Vest, Size 40 24,99 EUR ends Sept 9
2. Vintage Button Boots 16,00EUR ends Sept 10
3. Kova&T Lace Stirrups, $110 Revolveclothing.com

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The C Word

In case you didn’t know what C U Next Tuesday means… As Larry from Curb Your Enthusiasm finds out, the word is not to be thrown around lightly.

Here are some pieces I’m coveting at the moment:

The Plaid Crinkle Dress, Currently $24.99 ends 09/03
1950’s White Cocktail Tuxedo Jacket, $298 ends 08/31 (Buy it Now)
1930’s Black Scalloped Crepe Dress, $34.99 ends 09/03
1960’s Green Bows and White Buttons Dress, $39.67 ends 09/07

I found these beautiful lot of vintage tea gloves at Dapple Design and instantly knew I had to have them. What I’m going to do with these, I’m not really sure yet… perhaps I’ll have to have a tea party?

Welcome to California, Just Add Water…

Chinatown is by far one of my most favorite films. Loosely based on the irrigation controversies in 1930’s Los Angeles, the multi layered plot twists and turns while retaining cinematic perfection. Starring Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway, it’s a neo-noir film directed by Roman Polanski. The other night we were watching it, and I just couldn’t help but to notice Evelyn Mullwray’s (Faye Dunaway’s) wardrobe. Unlike some other modern stars, her costume is fabulous, but holds some semblance of continuity, like the brown envelope clutch (I must get one), the pearls and red lipstick. Each piece is perfectly put together. I don’t want to ruin the movie, because if you haven’t seen it, please do… it’s excellent.

The Hair

In the film of course, Faye Dunaway has gorgeous hair. I’m assuming they have hairstylists on the set making sure she looks perfect in every shot. For us non-starlettes getting a 1930’s doo can be more tricky. If you’re in LA, Revamp does these wonderful vintage emersion classes where they go over beauty tips from yesteryear. If you can’t get to LA, you there are lots of great tutorials on YouTube.

The Clutch

Here are a few vintage brown clutches I found on eBay… It’s amazing she could fit everything in that clutch… but as you may know how I feel about big bags.

Givenchy Leather Clutch : Brown with Tortise Clasp Clutch : Fendi Crocodile Clutch

As much as I’d love to have the $1500 to shell out on a Prada bag, It’s not reality and the one on Etsy is $29.50 has it’s own charm and character.

When shopping, I’m always looking for elements that inspire… Hardly do I look for exact replicas, but for pieces that relate to points of inspiration. Ever since the James Jean post, I’ve been thinking about illustration and apparel. Not in the sense of prints and patterns, but how imagery works on apparel. When I came across this vintage hand-painted dragon bag on Etsy, I instantly thought of the illustrated Prada Fairies bag…

Note the whimsy and the use of gradients…

My love affair with vintage started out in high school, then, it still wasn’t ‘cool’ to shop at Goodwill, but I just couldn’t afford to buy new with my part-time $4.25/hour minimum wage job. My friends and I would hit up Purple Heart Thrift and DAV for these crazy dresses under a dollar. I loved it, but as time passed my taste changed and my reasons for buying vintage changed…

The following questions/tips depict the process I go through when shopping:

1. Does it fit?

Vintage pieces are often a much higher quality than what you will find today. Many pieces are hand stitched using beautiful fabrics. But everything deteriorates. Some older pieces will tear easier than their contemporary counterparts. If something doesn’t fit properly (meaning, when you are breathing normally) it may give you problems.

Up until the 60’s women wore Foundation Garments under their clothes. They were mostly used to hold up stockings and to give an hourglass shape. That’s how they were able to achieve such a silhouette. Go easy on yourself, besides, there is always Spanx.

2. Check zippers, buttons, seams, is everything working? Are there any stains, tears, weird smells?

A broken zipper can be fixed by a tailor, most dry cleaners can do it, or if you are a crafty one, then great. Factor that into the price, the amount of repairs or work that has to be done. As for smells, I’m not good at that, once I bought a cool army jacket, and I didn’t know until I got home that it reaked. Dry cleaning didn’t help, it was like a Seinfeld episode. The jacket had to go.

3. Picking pieces you are going to wear.

Unless you are a collector, buying dresses you’ll never wear is just a waste of money. I know lots of women who wear vintage in a very inconspicuous way. How they do it, is they look for elements that tie in with current trends.

I fell in love with this Borne dress at In Lieu, but I was about to move, and I couldn’t afford it, luckily I came across something at Painted Bird that did the trick…

For the longest time I’ve been drooling over the great selection of harem pants on Styleserver, and leave it too luck, I find a pair of vintage rayon harem pants at the flea market.

It’s undeniable that Balenciaga’s floral patterns have been a huge influencer this year. Looking for elements like patterns and silhouettes is a good start, but details are also a great way to find pieces that inspire you.

Most of all, It’s important to find clothes you are happy with. When you’re happy with what you’re wearing, it shows. Developing an eye takes time and practice, have fun, the best part about vintage clothing is that finding your niche and hidden treasures.

I have to say I’m loving Italian eBay. Mostly for their small, but lovely vintage section. As some of you may know, I’ve been having issues finding good vintage clothing locally. I meant to go to the flea market Saturday, but it rained. So I spent a good part of the weekend going through eBay. Frustrated, and curious, I started going through the various countries to see what clothing they may have… thinking key words like “dress” may not come up in a country where the word for dress is robe or vestito.

Sport E Vintage has a darling selection of vintage dresses from the 60’s and 70’s with the most amazing prints, including some beautiful 60’s floral prints…

Then, there’s the polka dot raincoat for the next time it rains at the flea market…