How surprised I was to find so many like minds! I was pretty sure there were people who loved the lifestyle and fashion of vintage times like I did, but I don't personally know of any and didn't talk about it much because I didn't want to be called weird. I was already getting called that for a number of other interests I dabble in. lol So I honestly didn't expect to come across this much of a following and was delighted to have finally found people who get to live and dress like this everyday! Of course, they have a little more money and motivation to dedicate themselves to it in manner of makeup, dress and such than I do (and besides that, I adore vintage but there's also a lot of modern in me too lol) but it gave me such a good start to integrating more vintage into my life. Eventually I was able to find a few sites I liked, which were an open door into even more sites that I have come to love. I want to share a few of those with you here today, for those of you that are new to the lifestyle as well or just looking for a bit of inspiration. Off we go!
Now these are listed randomly; no countdown or top favorite or any of that. Each of these sites contributes something different to me. Those with asterisks in front of the link are not current or have not had a post in some time, but the archives are still great sources of vintage info and links.
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1. Diary of a Vintage Girl--Fleur's is the first vintage lifestyle blog that I stumbled across. I love her. But don't say anything. lol Her posts are so fun and lighthearted, but even her more serious posts are addressed in a way that I find endlessly endearing. Not to mention her fashion is always on point and she puts her own spin on every outfit she wears. She also gives some education on the history of various older locations and events in England, and since 1800/early 1900 era England is by far my favorite historical setting in novels, those types of buildings set my overactive brain ablaze as Fleur gives us history lessons. I originally started visiting because I liked Fleur's sense of style, but I've stayed for over a year because I love the site..and its author...to pieces. lol2. The Girl with the Star-Spangled Heart--This blog is a fashion gem. Stephanie has a lot of posts about the dresses she sews together (which are from old sewing patterns and look great when finished) as well as her regular outfit posts, and the vintage style of dress really agrees with her. Her posts are easy enough for a sewing dummy like myself to understand and because I'm not very familiar with vintage sewing patterns like the ones from McCalls and the like, I'm not sure how the finished product actually looks. Stephanie's are often a good example of how the dresses will look when completed. Stephanie knows a lot about vintage fashion, especially during certain time periods, she knows her way around those older patterns, and I love the Pinspiration posts she puts up. It inspires me to start trying to make my own pieces (once I can EVER get a stinking sewing machine), something I've been wanting to do for years.
*3. One Yellow Cottage--This blog hasn't been updated in a couple of years, but I found it through another site's reading list and I found it so informative! Just on the first page of posts, you get to see the beginning of how a modern refrigerator would get vintagified (it's a word now. Don't judge me.), which I wish I had been able to see the completion of, as well as fashion from the 1940s, which happens to be one of my favorite time periods on several levels. The posts vary in content and provide quite a bit of variety, which I think is perfect for someone trying to learn more about vintage-style living and how to incorporate some of the concepts in modern times. I couldn't find the blog's author, Angela, on any social sites so I don't think it'll be back, unfortunately. The silver lining, however, is that the blog left behind some quality content so check it out.
*4. Destination 1940--It is very safe to assume that this blog won't be resuming as it has been close to four years since the author made a post, but this was full of useful things if you are trying to implement certain social behaviors and patterns in your life, like creating a housekeeping routine similar to women of that time, or serving up authentic dishes for a time-appropriate dinner party. Personally, I love entertainment and cooking material from that time so of course, I was too thrilled to find those posts and I can't wait until I have more time to peruse the site. The level of authenticity on the site is due to the fact that the entire experience is actually part of an experiment by the author, which I am guessing has since been abandoned due to the abrupt stop in posts. I wish I was able to find out how the experiment turned out for her. From what I can tell, she had been doing a great job of the experiment and finding genuine material, such as the very interesting beauty, housekeeping and fitness routine on the right side of the page. Give that a read.
5. Vixen Vintage--Solanah's site is the second vintage lifestyle blog that I found, thanks to Fleur's site. I usually find her posts really inspiring in terms of what I would like to do if I had the opportunity to live a bit more vintage in my daily life and makes me look twice at older things that I would normally look past. Her home is really charming and I love whenever she posts more photos of it. She also loves old photographs and yearbooks, which grows on ya when you see all of the gems from that time in black and white. It's a really cool thing to me to see the different things that people draw their inspiration from. I especially love the posts she makes when other bloggers pop up; I like seeing how they all come together and create a modern-day vintage styled photo.
6. Fifties Darling--The first thing I take notice of every time I visit this blog is the photography. Whether it's through the usage of different filters or just the angle that certain photos are taken at, I always find myself drawn into the photo and the experience being captured. Actually though, that's a big reason why I continue to visit many of the blogs I read; their ability to capture the best parts of the fashion or the experience they're blogging about is amazeballs. I get an authentic feeling from all of these blogs, this one included. This one is fun in that you might learn about where the author went over the weekend in one post, and learn about small vintage shops in another--she doesn't focus on just one thing, although fashion is a frequent (and welcome) guest on the site.
*7. Foxtail and Fern--This site went dark almost a year ago, but luckily the author still blogs about her vintage finds and experiences; she just changed websites and broadened the focus of her posts so she could concentrate on other interests as well. Thankfully she left F&F up so you can still peruse her former posts. I found something on there that I hadn't seen on any of the other blogs; vintage Halloweenie decorations. You never know what inspires some people, but that world of possibilities is huge, which is why I choose to read so many blogs. I see a lot of vintage trinkets and accessories on this site and they're really adorable; makes me think twice about some of the older-looking pieces that I usually bypass when shopping on my own. Her new address still displays all of these goodies, so I suggest going to take a look at both sites.
8. Twila Jean Vintage--Twila Jean is a hoot. She hasn't posted in a few months, so I'm hoping she returns to it soon. She's one of the lucky ones to find a dude who also enjoys dressing in the ways of old and he's a photographer as well (OAN, how do they keep finding guys like this? I keep reading that and many of these ladies are married to guys that both support and fan creative flames. It evokes a saltine cracker feeling in me and when I say that, I mean salty and dry.) so he captures a lot of her outfits and the places they frequent. Like all of the other ladies, she wears her vintage her way, and posts everything with a wit and hint of dry sarcasm that I appreciate. She's also a mother, so it's interesting to see when the kiddos make an appearance, which has happened on occasion. She's very down to earth and the places she goes make me jealous that I live in Texas, in a city with a not-so-large authentic vintage community. She's also besties with Solanah, so I get to see her make appearances from time to time, which is also nice.
9. Mary Van Note-- Mary's site has this quirkiness to it that I identify with, and I enjoy reading about the creative ways that she integrates vintage into her daily life. I tend to struggle with finding how to incorporate certain things into my wardrobe or into my decor and Mary's posts usually give me a little creative juice. lol I am in love with her wardrobe and different accessories, and her posts are always full of humor and down-to-earth, which I love. She has a great way of looking at situations and I enjoy seeing how she integrates said view into her posts. I really like reading the posts about her field trips to various places and seeing how she chose to dress for the occasion. It doesn't hurt at all that she happens to visit some pretty cool places. lol
10. Andi B. Goode--Andi is an Aussie vintage aficionado and her posts are different in the way of showing me different things from the time periods that I love. She has an ongoing collection of vintage Barbies, which I never thought to look at before. She also has a way of making her outfits completely her own and even taking on vintage costumes that she sews herself, which I thought was awesomesauce. I like seeing what inspires her and the different outfits she wears around Adelaide.
11. Chronically Vintage--I adore Jessica's site. As I mentioned in a previous post, I think she's cute as a button, she has both the face and wardrobe of a lady in the '40s that I'd expect to find in a black and white photo over on Solanah's site, and her posts are always so eloquent. One thing about all of the ladies I've mentioned is that dressing vintage really agrees with them; they all look as though they belong in that time period. Jessica has a lot of informative posts that have taught me a lot as I began my search to find out more about living vintage and showing me yet another spin on how to dress.
12. Va-Voom Vintage--I just stumbled across this one today because I had to remove a blog from the list (I'd posted a link to a blog when I first started the post but it has since gone dark and the domain has been sold) and I knew immediately that I was going to enjoy reading. Brittany also has a wide variety of things that she posts and it can be anything from how to create an authentic 1950s Christmas tree ornament to how to clean up your blog photos to a series on creating a vintage wardrobe. She even has her own e-zine called Hey Doll! Vintage Magazine. I haven't seen a new issue since July but hopefully she'll bring it back. The blog, however, is current. If you're a plus-size vintage aficionado but aren't sure how to dress your body appropriately in the style, this blog will be of assistance to you.
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For me personally, they've also sharpened my eye when it comes to clothes. I've been a thrift store baby for pretty much my entire life, although not by choice until a couple of years ago. It used to be a source of embarrassment and humiliation at school for me, so I usually tried to stay far away from them or at least keep that part of my shopping on the low. Finding vintage helped me to get out of that; not only is that the best place to come across a hidden gem but the prices have always been hard to beat. It's also a wonderfultastic place to find vintage books and reading material; I've come across 5 cookbooks from between the '50s and '70s that I got for no more than $2 apiece. I've been wanting to show them off; I probably will in an upcoming post but I'm warning ya ahead of time, forgive the quality of the photos. I'm working with a Canon Coolpix I got from the pawn shop and the camera on my Droid as backup; my photography is nowhere near a professional or high-tech level. I wouldn't say the quality was horrible, but compared to all of the more established blogs, these regular pictures really don't compare. So...you've been warned. If you're a record snob like myself, thrifting is probably the best and cheapest opportunity to get your hands on authentic records. One man's trash is another's treasure and thrift stores are like treasure troves; I didn't appreciate this when I was younger but I do now. Everytime I go to Goodwill or a thrift store now, I go in there feeling like Ariel did in Little Mermaid when she stumbles across all the goodies that were on Eric's ship, then I come out feeling like the chicks from Sex and the City with my hands full of bags. LOL Don't judge me.
Reading these blogs gives me a little inspiration to find a goodie at the bottom of the pile that I probably would have bypassed beforehand. Their finds are always so glam, and even the pieces that are normal they find a way to make into a vintage piece, which I appreciate. It inspires me to become more creative with how I shop and how I view pieces. If you're more a fan of the fashion, then not only will reading the blogs help you figure out how to buy individual pieces and incorporate them into your wardrobe, they also show different clothing lines that you can look at. That's how I found many of the clothing brands that I now turn to for vintage stuff, so again, blogrolls are great. I hope that you have as much fun reading these blogs and reading lists as I do!
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