How to Determine the Era of Vintage Clothes

Buying vintage is a great way to grow your wardrobe on a budget, as well as insuring that your closet is unique. Have you ever picked up a gorgeous vintage item, though, and wondered what decade it's from? Learning a little about the history of fashion, as well as the construction of clothing can take you a long way in determining the age of a piece.

Learn to Recognize Fabrics

Do you pay attention to what your clothes are made of, or do you buy items because you like the style? When shopping for vintage, you must learn to recognize the differences between fabrics. A lot of vintage clothing may be found without a label indicating what material it's made of, so it's important to be able to recognize it by sight and feel. Certain fabric is often indicative of a particular decade. For example, the 1950s and early '60s generally featured natural fabrics, such as silk, cotton, wool, and fur, but from the late '60s to now, fabrics are often blends to offer more versatility and require less care. Heavy, nubby polyester was only really used between the late '60s to the late '70s before it fell out of fashion in favor of more comfortable, lightweight fabrics. Stretchy spandex-type materials (think bodycon dresses) entered the scene in the '80s.

Learn About Popular Shapes from Different Decades

A handful of very popular shapes and styles tend to dominate a decade. Smart suits and casual wear that lacked frivolity were popular in 1940s, while the '50s are remembered for big, full circle skirts with massive amount of petticoats. Tiny shift dresses were the look of the mid '60s to early '70s, followed by flowing prairie skirts and knee-length skirts in the late '70s. Fashion loves to re-introduce styles every few years, too. For example, the 1970s are often remembered for bell bottoms, but they were also quite popular in the '60s as well as the '90s. Shape is a good indicator of an item's age, but needs to be used in conjunction with other clues from the piece.

Check the Tag

Tags are a plethora of information. Simple, straightforward tags devoid of material listing, care information, or country of origin often indicate a pre-1970s piece, before there were many guidelines and requirements for what's supposed to be on a label. Tags are often artistic as well. Look at the font, drawings, and style to see if it's reminiscent of a certain era. Independent department stores were very common from the early 1900s to the 1980s, so if a tag has the name of a now-defunct department store, you know the piece is probably at least 30 years old. Check for age indicators like yellowing or dullness in the fabric.

Learn About Garment Construction

You don't have to know much about sewing, but do try to learn a little about different stitches. Knowing whether a seam is hand finished or machine sewn is helpful in determining a piece's age. Before the modern era of ready-to-wear fashion, items were generally bought with the intention of being altered professionally, and were often done by hand. Hand-sewn hemming on the bottom of a skirt is a great, though not the only indicator, that a skirt is old. It's also fairly common to see inside seam edges left unfinished in pre-1970s clothing.

Dating a vintage item can be a little difficult for a notice vintage shopper, but these tips can take you a long way in placing an item to an era.