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1950s nylon panties?

Discussion in 'PUBLIC Vintage Fashion - Ask Questions Get Answers' started by regan, Aug 31, 2012.

  1. debbradee

    debbradee Registered Guest

    If selling on ebay, at the end of the listing I space down a few lines, maybe 10 or so and add
    cd friendly - discreet packaging in the lightest color (ebay does not allow white on white) Anyone searching those words will have the listing picked up and most people do not scroll all the way down.
     
  2. Pauline, I understand that you don't like those terms: are there terms that are acceptable to you? I dress a lot of people, of all kinds and like to know the best approach so that people feel comfortable.
     
  3. pauline

    pauline Registered Guest

    I just use a very general term these days "Fashion Enthusiast" and let others work out what that means that's if I have to describe myself
    from experience I try to avoid doing that as much as possible now.

    To be able to look around a women clothes shop wearing this which I did a few weeks in a local shopping centre you really have to convince yourself that the only difference with you and any other lady is just your body shape, or sense of style.
    [​IMG]
     
  4. Retro Ruth

    Retro Ruth VFG Member Staff Member

    Fashion Enthusiast - I love it! That's a very elegant way of putting it.

    Thanks for sharing your point of view on this. I can see why you would want to avoid a specific label for the way you want to dress, a label that makes a point of your gender. I'm sorry to hear you've had bad experiences on other forums. People can be so narrow minded.

    You look great in these pics - I like the colour coordinated hosiery.
     
  5. pauline

    pauline Registered Guest

    Yes it's a balancing act , like a lot of things in life, if for what ever reason I did loose my close family then I would swap gender roles and live the great of my life as a women, you could say at the moment I have the best of both worlds that I can choose my role on a daily basis, I not unique with this by any means I happy as a male also as female just the ladle tends to be something fussy in between which I do not understand and a lot of people seam to be scared of either way.

    "Fashon Enthusiast" or "Female, Feminine, Miss or MS"
     
  6. AnyDayNow

    AnyDayNow Registered Guest

    I sell vintage lingerie. It is rude to use key words like CD or TV, I would never use those to sell any of my items. Yes, men buy vintage panties but women buy them as well. There is a reason certain panties go for upwards of 200.oo or more dollars. Are they collectable, are they rare, are they new old stock, what material are they made of, are they high waisted, is the elastic in the legs and waist sound, what type of gusset do they have. Do research and find out why - like why wide gussets are sought after - and what makes a certain item valuable.

    1950s Vanity Fair underwear in particular are highly collectable. They use the earliest nylon tricot and it has a particular feel and is semi sheer. The gussets in these are a double nylon and very wide. When you move into the later 60s the gussets are lined in brushed nylon.

    Don't assume because the panties are old that they are valuable. Do your homework. You have to understand the why of something to command top price otherwise you are just shooting in the dark.
     
    Steffie likes this.
  7. pauline

    pauline Registered Guest

    No it's not rude to use CD or TV, it's just so general that many people do not know what it means and you could end up upsetting some one.
    It's a lot more complicated than that.
     
    Leonardo Da Vintage likes this.
  8. AnyDayNow

    AnyDayNow Registered Guest

    I guess I come from the school that it is rude because people are people. If you are a cross dresser you could find my items by searching for what you want, same with a transvestite, same with someone who is hetero. I do not specifically market my items to any one group of people. Keywords such as "sissy" really bug me too. I'm straight but I do have friends who would be a bit put off by that kind of marketing. I have been selling vintage lingerie for a long time and I know who my buyers are and why.

    And I use feminine, demure, silky, sheer, etc. Then again I don't sell on E-bay either.
     
  9. Retro Ruth

    Retro Ruth VFG Member Staff Member

    It's good to hear your view, and thanks for sharing your knowledge of this subject.

    As I said I know people who use those terms to describe themselves, so I didn't think it was rude, any more than the word gay is rude. Although they can be used in a derogatory way, it's not the word that's rude, it's the attitude. However if you know that people are offended or put off by certain terms, I'm glad to hear about it. What is offensive changes over time, and by context, words get reclaimed, etc, it's a complicated subject.

    I'm not lingerie specialist at all, I just thought I'd bring the subject up, as Regan was asking for information. So I'm unsure about what keywords to use - I want to reach all potential buyers but not alienate any. That's why I said that although I might use certain keywords as tags, my description will simply describe the item. It did seem to me that on ebay, keywords like sissy and tv did increase bids - but I may be wrong, and if they will put others off I'd like to know about it. I also use feminine, sheer, etc as well.
     
  10. MissRita

    MissRita Guest

    Well said Ruth. I sell quite a bit of lingerie and much of it has gone to men who have been most appreciative and gracious in their thank you emails. Several have even asked for accessory recommendations. They don't seem embarrassed at all so why should I be? Personally, I don't give a crap what any of my buyers plan to do with their purchases; we all lead our own lives.

    I don't use any special keywords; as Ruth said, size is more important when selling to men. It's not that I feel they're derogatory but more that to me anything to do with sexuality is inapropos period. I'd imagine a man searching for lingerie would be more apt to do a search for larger sizes rather than looking for CD/TV listings. These men form a healthy percentage of my customer base and many have become regulars (2 became friends) - the last thing I want to do is offend them!

    I like fashion enthusiast Pauline but the problem is we have to use the best possible keywords to get found by Google. Unless this term is actively searched it would be pointless to use. As ADN wrote, an item is what it is regardless who it's being marketed to.

    Thank you for the tips AnyDayNow, great advice in your posts too. :)

    Compact discs and televisions....:hysterical:

    Meanwhile, I shouldn't be laughing. I made the unpardonable sin of shipping "indiscreetly" - yikes was he ever mad. I was just starting out and honestly though the babydoll was for his wife.
     
  11. laurenm

    laurenm Registered Guest

    I donated a dressing gown to a LGBT fundraising event with the theme 'Martyrs of Fashion'..Marie Antoinette, bloody Mary etc...they had contacted me on my etsy shop....the main force behind it was a person who identifies themselves as a Drag Queen.....the photo shoot and blog show the gown in some pretty interesting positions....I think the whole issue has to do with self identification, discretion, sensitivity...kinda complicated but at the same time one has to do what feels right and be okay with it? I have had a few items that I thought about key wording "drag" or "drag queen" because of the larger sizing on particularly dramatic or stage performance worthy items, just as I might use "rockabilly" or "country and western" "costume" in the performance wear sense more than style simply.
     
  12. pauline

    pauline Registered Guest

    I think that sums it up pretty well, and why many people are OK with calling themselves or other a CD/ TV or drag Queen

    I was once slightly annoyed when a good friend say to me " Your wearing ladies shoes" which style wise was true on the other hand they were not ladies shoes they were in fact my shoes which are similar or the same to the ones that ladies wear, another way of explain this is that no one would not say to a lady "your wearing a ladies dress" maybe they would "say dress "

    It may also sound strange saying this:-

    The dress or skirt hung up in the wardrobe is not just any item of ladies clothing it is in fact mine and coming to terms with the idea that it is now just another item of many in may wardrobe for me to wear is not as easy to come to terms with as you expect.

    It's important becuse you cannot expect other to believe in your style if you do not also be live in it and who you are 100%.

    Technically I am not female in the eyes of the law or even in my own, my gender role is female which add another layer of complexity to things lol.

    As I am sure you all know a Cross Dresser is defined " as a person who wear clothes normally associated with the opposite sex"
    So you could put a key word of CD or cross dresser next to a pair of small men's nylon pants as well as large nylon ladies panties.
     
    Steffie likes this.
  13. Steffie

    Steffie Registered Guest

    You summed it up very well sweetie.
     
  14. NylonNostalgia

    NylonNostalgia VFG Member

    My gosh. What a thread this is! Goes back a few years too. I sell nothing but vintage lingerie, so when this last post by Steffie popped up I naturally homed in on it.

    Its all completely irrelevant who buys these items. I only have customers, not types or grades of customers, and they all deserve the same level of respect. I have a sales mantra that has served me well for well over a decade: "I don't ask and I don't tell". I ask only one thing in return for that courtesy and that is 'don't ever go pervy on me or I'll ban you from my shops'. Other than that, it's just another sale.

    The knickers that Regan, the OP, posted might be sheer, frilly, lacy or even a large size - but they were made specifically with women in mind, in a style that was not uncommon in the 1950's. Indeed, Rasurel of Paris were a producer of very fine lingerie at the time and I wish I stocked more. You'd never see knickers like that on sale these days of course, but back in the late 40s, 1950s and 60s they often were adorned with over-the-top embellishments - not at all unusual. When selling them on, one must therefore describe them as such. Lingerie are sensuous items and can only be described in sensuous terms once you've listed all the salient stuff like size, label, fabric etc. Honest, reputable lingerie sellers would not attempt to deliberately target any specific group of people for unfair profit, but we all know that the fetishistic urge to own something like those knickers is a very strong one. It is good old-fashioned 'supply and demand' economics. Knickers like Regan's fabulous 50's ones at the top of this thread are getting harder and harder to find, dragging the price up with the demand.

    I sell vintage lingerie with women in mind because lingerie are womens' undergarments. It is easy to immediately assume any buyer of fancy vintage frillies are actually men, but the truth is quite different. Whether you would personally wear them or not, they have their rightful place in the style timeline of vintage garments, just like any dress, hat or pair of shoes. Female buyers of vintage lingerie have always been there, in large numbers, and I am delighted to say I have seen a tangible increase in female purchasers over the last year or two and that situation appears to be continuing upwards.

    Emms :)
     
  15. MagsRags

    MagsRags VFG President Staff Member

    Interesting to re-read this thread nearly 9 years later. I wish Pauline still posted here regularly.

    Two comments: first "...don't ever go pervy on me". Here in the US at least, a depressingly large number of people consider the mere existence of XY persons who want to wear clothing usually associated with XX persons to be - by definition - perverted. I know that's not want you meant, Emma, but things get misinterpreted sometimes.

    Second, this article in the NYT today "The Boys in Their Summer Dresses" fits into this discussion well, although it is not specifically about lingerie. It may be behind a paywall. An interesting stat: "Searches for fashion pieces that include agender keywords increased by 33 percent since the beginning of the year on Lyst, a global fashion platform that aggregates data from 17,000 brands and retailers."
     
  16. Melonie

    Melonie Registered Guest

    Wow... just read through this and am fascinated. I do not understand private listings etc on ebay. I am a seller and have sold a lot of vintage stuff to men. A new one just sold and now I am second guessing the packaging.. it is going to a "warehouse" type business and I put it in a floral polymailer. HELP.. should I not be doing that. I do know the purchaser was a man even sent me an email saying they looked forward to getting it.
     
  17. NylonNostalgia

    NylonNostalgia VFG Member

    I realised straight away that wasn't what you were accusing me of Maggie, but for the sake of clarity the vast, vast majority of my male buyers are wonderful and I count many as my friends. However, there are some hideous creatures out there (equally detested by the majority of CDs I speak to) and if I showed you just some of the emails and messages I have had to field then I'm sure you'd know exactly what I mean.

    In sheer exasperation, I put my thoughts down on 'paper', as it were. At times, I have been quite literally reduced to tears. Happily though, most times I just hit 'delete'. Hazard of the job, I'm afraid. Read about it here, if you want to.

    Emms :)
     
    Last edited: Jun 9, 2021
  18. Steffie

    Steffie Registered Guest

    Yes, that is me all the way.
     
  19. Steffie

    Steffie Registered Guest

    I'm sorry this sight is somewhat new to me. I hope I'm not messing things up here. I think I'm supposed to reply here not the way I did.
     
  20. MagsRags

    MagsRags VFG President Staff Member

    Welcome to the VFG forums, Steffie.

    I think you're doing fine! It's perfectly OK to comment on an old thread if it resonates for you in some way. I enjoyed re-reading it, and being reminded of all the ways vintage fashion can speak to us and fit into our lives.
     
    Steffie likes this.

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