Seven unexpected places to source vintage wardrobe inspiration from

As admirers and wearers of vintage clothes, most of us constantly keep our eyes peeled for ideas and inspiration when it comes to our outfits. This isn't to say, of course, that we can't come up with ideas for fabulous ensembles on our own, of course we can, but rather that we appreciate the sartorial aesthetics of our beloved mid-century decades so much we can never get enough of seeing examples of clothing from days gone by.

Whether you're brand new to wearing or vintage or have been sporting it for decades, it never hurts to have new sources of inspiration to turn when putting together your outfits, and today we're going to take a peak at seven such sources which go beyond the more obvious examples, such as vintage movies, magazines, catalogs, ads, and books. Those five are incredible for sure, but sometimes it's fun to shake things up and expand your inspiration horizons.

Vintage cookbooks: When one thinks of vintage cookbooks, the first thing, naturally, that springs to mind is recipes! And, of course, that is generally their main purpose, but scores of old school cookbooks are teaming with vintage photographs and/or illustrations of women preparing, cooking, and/or serving food, oftentimes in daywear and an apron. Cookbook covers can be an especially good source of photographic inspiration, but don't forget to flip through the pages, too, as many cookbooks - especially those from the 1950s - are teaming with a delightful mid-century illustrations.

Museum exhibits: Many museums the world over hold exhibits featuring vintage and/or historical clothing and costumes, and/or have permanent displays of such items. If you're lucky enough to live in a town with one or more museums, be sure to keep an eye on this exhibit schedule to see any upcoming shows relate to vintage fashion. By the same token, anytime you're visiting a new city, if your schedule permits, you may want to visit the museum (or museums) there to check out the vintage clothing, accessories, shoes and other mid-century items of all kinds that they may have on display.

Vintage sewing patterns: We all know that vintage sewing patterns are an awesome way to recreate period perfect fashions, but - regardless of if you sew or not - have you ever stopped to just admire the beautiful illustrations and fantastic fashions that most vintage sewing pattern sleeves (the packaging that patterns are housed in) are adorned with? Time and time again I've been struck by how lovely these tiny works of art and have often thought how gorgeous they'd as framed art unto themselves. Sewing patterns captured the fashions of an era perfectly and are a truly invaluable source of vintage wardrobe inspiration to my mind (for oodles of vintage pattern inspiration, be sure to check out last week's post Forty fantastic sewing patterns under $40.).

Vintage calendar art: Then, as now, oodles of calendars were produced each year, many of which included excellent illustrations and photographs depicting the fashions of the day. Far beyond just pin-up girls, vintage calendars (and their covers) sometimes showed featured everything from people at the beach to Norman Rockwell illustrations, women in domestic scenes to families celebrating the holidays together, all of which can be fodder for vintage outfit ideas.

Vintage movie posters: I'd venture to guess that just about all of us pay close attention to the fashions that appear in the classic movies that we watch, but when was the last time you paused to study the clothing shown on vintage movie posters (and, in this day and age, DVD/Blue Ray covers)? Oftentimes vintage movie posters highlighted the stars of the film in the most iconic, beautiful or daring outfits that appeared in the movie itself, and can be a great way to inject some straight-from-Hollywood style into your outfit repertoire.

Old family photo albums: If you've been following this blog for any amount of time, you'll likely know that I am a die-hard fan of real world vintage photographs. As much as I love seeing old snaps of celebrities, there's nothing quite like the relate-able qualities that come from seeing images of folks just like myself as they went about their lives a few decades ago. There is perhaps no better record of exactly what people wore during a given era than the photographs taken during those years, and should you happen to have any old family photos available to you, I cannot encourage you strongly enough to turn to them for vintage outfit inspiration. If you don't (or on top of the photos you have), be sure to check out posts here such as Saturday Snapshots, as well as websites like Flickr that are positively teaming with vintage family photos.

Vintage product packaging: Akin to movie posters, cookbooks, and calendars, vintage product packaging can often be a great source of fashion - and hairstyle! - inspiration. For example, vintage hair accessory packaging (such as that used for bobby pins and hair nets) often depicted women's heads (and sometimes part or all of their bodies, too) sporting absolutely beautiful hairstyles and ways to use said products. You needn't stick to just fashion related packaging however, remember to also soak up the images you see on everything from food packaging to record albums to household products. Anywhere a clothed figure is depicted, you have a potential source of inspiration!


{All images above are from Flickr. To learn more about a specific image, please click on it to be taken to its respective Flickr page.}

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It's easy - especially in this digital age where we're constantly bombarded with hundreds, if not thousands of different images each day, to see any number of the examples above, take them in for a split second, admire them, and then move on. Instead I encourage you to stop and truly study what you're looking at. Observe the woman (or women, or men, as the case may be) in the images before you and study her (or them) from top to bottom.

Look at her hat, her hair, her accessories, her garments, her hosiery, her shoes, and her make-up. Ask yourself what appeals (or, conversely, doesn't appeal) to you about her look. Do you have pieces in your closet already that you could use to recreate a similar outfit? Or, alternatively, if you're a sewer, would you be interested in creating such a look from scratch yourself? If you love an outfit (or hairstyle, make-up look, or single garment/accessory), would it be hard to track down something similar today either in the form of a original vintage, reproduction, or vintage appropriate piece?

Perhaps you like a look, but don't want to recreate it now, maybe you're tucking it away in your mind's inspiration file for future use and/or are studying it intently to help expand your general knowledge on a certain era. There is no wrong or right way to observe an image, but there is a way to help ensure it becomes engrained more deeply in your psyche and that it to truly spend 10, 20, 30 or more seconds studying that image and devoting it to memory.

This isn't to say, of course, that you must to treat every vintage image you come across like a book you need to memorize for a future test, goodness no, but rather a fun reminder of the marvelous power to help inspire and influence us that the vintage images around us have.

I hope that you enjoyed this list of seven wonderful sources of vintage wardrobe inspiration and that you'll share your favourites that haven't been mentioned here in the comment section. One can never, ever have too much inspiration on hand, so lets all pool our years of vintage experience and share those spots that fuel our vintage fires time and time again here.