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Hi all, I have some garments that I'd really appreciate some help with - folkwear is not my strong point and these have come with zero information. Hopefully someone here will recognise the style or country of origin or embroidery technique? It's lovely embroidery, appears to be hand-done. I...

I'm delighted to see that Princess Beatrice choose a vintage gown for her wedding on Friday - one of her grandmother's Norman Hartnell frocks! It's a beautiful dress, I haven't seen it before, but I commend her unusual choice. Image source Apparently 'Beatrice's dress, on loan from the Queen...

Hi all, Found this article about rayon that you might find interesting: Rayon, an epidemic of insanity. In 1933, workers at a plant in Delaware began suffering breakdowns. Enter Alice Hamilton, one of history’s foremost occupational-health detectives.

Good news, fashion lovers - the wonderful NY Metropolitan Museum/Costume Institute has made twenty of its out of print fashion books available for free download. Includes some really beautiful titles. See here.

Apparently there used to be a big nylon trade fair in London with over a hundred exhibitors! Can you imagine such a thing, back when nylon was seen as a new and versatile material and its popularity hadn't been overshadowed by the new synthetic polyesters. Here's a cute clip from 1960 I found...

Hi all, My shop Circa Vintage is celebrating its eleventh birthday this week, so to celebrate we're offering a 20% discount off all products - over 2,000 of them! Just use the discount code "Many Happy Returns" during checkout.

Hi all, My new book "Style is Eternal" is currently available for half price, direct through the publisher, so $22.50 instead of the usual $45. They can offer discounted shipping for overseas orders, plus if you're not in Australia you don't pay the GST (10% tax) so there's a further saving...

Hi all, Woke up to a nice article in "The Age", our main newspaper in Victoria - I was interviewed this week about my new book "Style is Eternal". I have a lot of publicity coming up, this is the first bit but it's a nice one and I thought you might like to see too! Retro clothes at Circa...

Hi everyone, Can you please help? I'm racking my brains trying to remember what this collar type is called: it's a very distinctive '60s style, a long, low, rounded collar that is folded over. I've seen them on tops and dresses.I have the name "bateau collar" in my head but I don't think...

Hi all, Have you seen this swimsuit before? It's cobalt blue cotton with shirred back, ruched front and bodice, halterneck strap and - the best bit - three rows of frills to the hips, trimmed in white ric rac. It looks awfully familiar to me, I'm sure I've seen this style in an ad somewhere...

Hi all, Recently I asked the VFG for help with sourcing a new winter coat and after many wonderful styles offered by members, I thought you might like to see the winning entrant. Today my new coat arrived from Suzanne from Another Time Vintage Apparel - thank you Suzanne, I love it! The colour...

Welcome to the Public Most Wanted forum. Here you can post about an item that you're having trouble finding and the VFG members will look into their shops and stockrooms and offer items for your consideration. Please remember that only VFG members can respond with items for sale, as per the...

Welcome to the Public Show and Tell forum. Here you will find threads displaying items that VFG members have for sale and the public can share their vintage fashions too. Please remember that non-VFG members should not post items that are for sale or links to any selling site, as per the forum...

Welcome to the Public Fashion parade forum. Here you will find weekly fashion parades on specific themes and parades of new vintage that VFG members have listed in their online shops and marketplaces: there's always something fresh and fabulous here to see! Parades are also often posted to the...

Welcome to the VFG News - Announcements and events forums. Here you will find posts about VFG member events, markets, fairs and exhibitions as well as VFG announcements about the site.

Welcome to the Public Vintage Chatter forum! Here you will find a place to chat about anything to do with vintage fashion: styles, designers, trends etc - Drop in and join the chatter! Open to Registrants and Public Viewing, anyone can post. Topics are not limited to vintage fashion, anything...

Welcome to the VFG Workshop forum, Here you will find specialist workshops on a wide range of vintage topics hosted by VFG experts. If you'd like to suggest a topic for the VFG to cover and can't find it here, please post a comment below. **Please note that the workshops listed above are...

Hi all, Just to let you know that the VFG Technical Team will soon be embarking on a Spring Clean of the Public Forums - to make it easier to use and find what you're looking for. The process will occur over the next few weeks and will include the following changes: - Some forums will change...

I've posted a quiz of sorts to my blog - twenty vintage sewing patterns that have printed dates on them, it's a fun tool to test your knowledge, by guessing the dates and seeing how close you get. You can see the blog post here. Good luck!

I'm so proud to report that one of my 1950s lace wedding gowns was chosen for the cover of Bride Magazine! You can read all about it here.

Hi all, I mentioned a while ago that I was being featured in a magazine article about vintage collectors: well, here it is - It was published in the Good Weekend magazine, which is included in the weekend edition of The Age (Melbourne) and The Sydney Morning Herald - also it appears in the...

My brother sent me this, and it's fascinating - watch The Queen (she's Australia's queen too) change her hairstyles, fashions and grow old.

Has anyone saw the new film "Diana Vreeland: the eye has to travel"? I saw it recently and loved it! Over the years I'd heard a lot about Diana but it was wonderful to find out so much about her and her career at Harper's and Vogue - so many, many wonderful fashion photographs and people. You...

Hi all, I've just posted to my blog about dry rot: why it happens, how to recognise it and what to do about it. I've also borrowed (and linked) an image from Viva Vintage Clothing's webshop. Hope you like my post! You can see it here. It's part of a series I'm doing on "The perils of vintage...

Three different people sent me this clip yesterday, on three different websites - if you haven't seen it yet, it's a cute summary of a hundred years of East End (London) fashion. Looks like it's to advertise Westfield, I'm guessing they're opening up a new shopping centre in the East End but...

Hi everyone, I recently bought an old wool waistcoat, it's been munched on quite a bit by moths but I wanted to submit the label to the LR. Could you please help me date it? It was in a lot of clothes from the '20s-60s, all womens wear apart from this. It's pure wool, flannel I think and...

It does look '60s - if you have any pics of the label, that will help. Nicole

Lulu\'s Vintage Awards - People\'s Choice winners announced. I'd like to congratulate the fellow VFG members who did well in Lulu's Vintage Awards - Couture Allure who came second, Jumblelaya, Denise Brain, Dorothea's Closet and Past Perfect. And I'm stunned and amazed to add that my...

Hi vgirl, as with the other one I think this is a costume piece - in this case of the style of the mid 19th century. It probably requires a full crinoline underskirt. I think the sashes on the bodice should not sit as low as you have them, I think if you move them upwards, they may cover the...

I received an enquiry from Christy, who has this Hawaiian print playsuit by Kahala - it's made of a printed cotton and has coconut shell rings. Christy's looking for an accurate dating. She wrote to Kahala and they sent this response: "Kahala was incorporated in 1936 here...