Ask the Vintage Dancer!

You may not repost, share, or edit an image from this website. All rights reserved.

Copyright law is complicated. Not all images are out or copyright therefore I can not give your permission to use those images. If it is one of my personal photographs you may request permission.

If you need images for a publication I suggest you buy a vintage photograph on Etsy or eBay, or purchase a stock image with a clear copyright status.

Students/non-profits usually can reuse images in papers or school projects without copyright infringement.

More resources for finding images can be found here https://vintagedancer.com/vintage/research-fashion-history/

First, try searching our website. There are hundreds of articles that may have the answer you need.

Vintage clothing labels: Search your vintage clothing labels here or ask in this Facebook group.

For Jewelry join the Antique & Vintage Jewelry Detectives: Identification, Discussion, Study

Researchers and students will find this article on “How Do I Research Fashion History?” helpful. Look at my book list for some of the fashion history books I use.

Students, you may ask me specific questions AFTER you have attempted to do your own research (off the internet is best).

Authors: The bulk of my fashion history questions come from authors and movie directors wanting help with a character. In your request please be as specific as possible about your characters time period, social economic class, location, age and occupation. When your book is published please send me a link to it.

Need to cite this website?

Publisher: Vintage Dancer LLC  Founded: November 2012  Author: Debbie Sessions, unless otherwise noted. Using MLM this is an example:

Sessions, Debbie. “How to Dress for a Sock Hop” Vintage Dancer LLC,  11 September 2018, vintagedancer.com/1950s/how-to-dress-for-a-50s-sock-hop/

The original publishing date for articles is located at the top of the page.

All other fashion history questions, please ask me!

Yes!!!! I LOVE helping people find the perfect outfit. Feel free to email or use the contact form with some details about the outfit you need, your budget (VERY important), gender, decade, size, event date, and location – especially if you are outside the USA.  The more information you can give me the better my recommendations will be.

Sorry, I do not buy vintage clothing.  Read this article on how to sell your vintage clothing quickly for tips on selling your vintage clothing items.

If you are in the Northern Nevada/ California area I can personally recommend a few buyers for pre-1960s clothing.  All other areas use the link above to find local buyers.

I do! A have a few books for sale as well as free email series (which includes articles on all decades for women and men.) Sign up for the email lists here.

My first book was the 1940s Style Guide: The Complete Illustrated Guide to 1940s Fashion for Women and Men.  It is still available as an eBook ($9.99) or printed book ($14.00). Since its first publication, I have put most of the chapters online and revised/updated them. I leave the print book available for sale for those who want to carry a printed copy with them. In 20201 I would to revise and expand the ebooks. Anyone who purchase a current eBook can receive the update when its available.

Then came The Great Gatsby in Fashion – an annotation of The Great Gatsby book looking at all the reference to ’20s fashion. What was Gas Blue? Pottery Bracelets? A Tennis outfit? All these and more are explained in this mini ebook which includes both women’s and men’s fashions of the’20s.

I also wrote two mini books, 1920s Fashion for Your Body Type (women) and 1940s Fashion for Your Body Type (women) which both explore how to choose clothing based on your body shape, hair color, face shape and more. Both books are under revision in 2021 and will be updated with even more pictures, fashion advice, and new shopping sources. Please join our newsletter to find out when these will be available.

Will you be writing more books? Books are an insane amount of work to write, edit, source images, and format digitally. I prefer to spend that time writing free articles on the blog  however since so many readers ask for these articles in a book format I will be making that a priority for this year.

Sorry, I do not have a print catalog. We are an online website only linking to clothing for sale on multiple retail websites.

Yes, look at the options here: https://vintagedancer.com/advertise/  or contact me about you needs and budget.

Do you offer free advertising?

Relevant vintage inspired clothing businesses in the USA/UK/ AU can be included on these lists:

For women: https://vintagedancer.com/vintage/vintage-inspired-clothing-retro-clothing/

For men: https://vintagedancer.com/vintage/mens-vintage-inspired-clothing/

Yes. I have taught classes in person and virtually on a wide range of fashion history topics. Classes can be lecture/slideshow format or interactive demo style. Each class is customized to your chosen topic or group’s interests and skill level. These can be done live on a ZOOM class, pre-recorded video, or possibly in person.

An example of classes I have taught are: Women’s and Men’s Edwardian motoring outfits.

I have also taught online marketing classes about SEO, Social Media, blogging, WordPress, advertising and other small business development topics.

Writing a historical novel?  Researching fashion for an article?  Designing costumes for a theater/film project?

If you have a quick question about clothing for a character you can use the contact form to send me your question.

If you want to have a longer discussion about your characters, the time period, clothing, etc I am now offering 30 minute consultations over Zoom for $25.  We can go over each character and come up with a plan on how to dress them and what historical words to use to describe the outfits.

Contact me to set up a consultation time. I am in the PST with hours between 10am and 2pm, Monday or  Friday, available most days. Other days/times are possible, but my kids will be home and they can be… loud 🙂

I am looking forward to helping you.

Here are some authors I have helped:

Thanks to Her: Finding Power and Inspiration in Your Family Photos by Kathleen Geraghty – A wonderful memoir through photos of women in her family

What the Walls Know by Skye Alexander – A 1925 mystery set in a spooky castle

many more in the works….

I am humbled that so many people have asked to send me a monetary thank you for all of the research I have done and continue to provide for free.

A gift is not required for my help but absolutely appreciated in any amount.

My Venmo and Paypal details are here if this is something you wish to do.

To help with identification, brand name and designer research, or valuing of your vintage items. Please use the resources here:

How to Date or Research Vintage Labels, Brands, and Designers

For Jewelry join this Facebook group: Antique & Vintage Jewelry Detectives: Identification, Discussion, Study

How Can I help?

I now off a paid service to identify and date a vintage clothing item, accessory (but not jewelry), shoes or photograph. The service is $10 per item.  Please visit this page to get started. 

VintageDancer.com does not sell any clothing directly. By clicking on the picture or title you will be redirected to the online retailer selling the item. You can then place your order with them.

I have some pages dedicated to clothing available in the UK for women: 1920s women’s , 1930s women’s, 1940s women’s, 1950s women’s, and 1960s women’s, and for men’s (20s-70s) here.

For Australia/ NZ shoppers I have this page for all decades (mostly women’s). Many of these items are included in all other shopping pages and many stores ship internationally. Look at the price to see the currency in your country. Outside of the USA, Canada and UK my resources and knowledge are limited.

That happens when an item sells out. In rare cases, I can still find the item you want on another website. Here is a tip: Right click the image of the item and select “Search Google for this Image.”  Usually, this brings up other websites that have or still have the item for sale. On Pinterest, look at the similar images under the pin for other possible sources. If all else fails, send me the image or link you found and I’ll see where else I can find it for you.

By clicking on one of the clothing pictures you will be re-directed to the online merchant’s website. On the website, you should be able to find information about sizing, shipping, and returns. Each website/store is different, so be sure to read about their policies before you buy.

Websites are temperamental. Sometimes things break or don’t appear as they should.  I always appreciate when readers alert me to problems they see.

Many issues are web browser specific. Try to use another browser (Firefix, Chrome, etc) and see if the issue is still occurring. Safari and Edge seem to be the most problematic.  If the issue is still occurring on a different browser please contact me with:

1. A description of the issue 2. What browser(s) you are using 3. What device you are using (Desktop Windows, iPhone, iPad etc) 4. A screenshot is helpful but not required

I will make every effort to fix the issue immediately. Sometimes fixes take up to 2 week before they are viewable in the browser (this is out of my control.)  You can try to clear your Cache which may speed up seeing the repairs. Google search “Your Browser + Clear Cache” for directions on how to clear your browser’s cache. With a keyboard pressing Control + F5 will refresh a page too.

Thank you again for your help,

Debbie

If you don’t find what you are looking for on VintageDancer.com you can probably find it on one of these two lists:

For women: https://vintagedancer.com/vintage/vintage-inspired-clothing-retro-clothing/

For men: https://vintagedancer.com/vintage/mens-vintage-inspired-clothing/

Have a look through Etsy.com and eBay.com as well. Be very aware of too-good-to-be-true deals on cheap websites, even with amazing reviews. Many reviews are fake, customer service is non existent, return shipping expensive etc. These deals really are too good to be true.

If none of these have what you want, you may want to have it custom made for you. This will cost more and take more time, but it may be the only way to get the item exactly as you want.  Also, most costume designers on Etsy.com will take custom orders. Search for something similar and send them a message to see if they do custom.

Start with a google search for “Your city + costumes” or “Your city + vintage clothing” or “your city + thrift store.”  Almost every city has a place to buy or rent costumes or resell vintage and thrift clothing.  If that search doesn’t help you try the phone book, ask friends, or ask the organization hosting the event you are attending.

I probably can’t help you more than that unless you live in the Northern Nevada area.

My name is Debbie Sessions and I am from Reno, Nevada USA. Together with my husband, Oscar, we are the VintageDancer.com team. You can learn more about us, this website, and why the name Vintage Dancer here.

See photos of us in our costumes/outfits. 

Need to cite this website?

Publisher: Vintage Dancer LLC  Founded: November 2012

Author: Debbie Sessions, unless otherwise noted.

Using MLM this is an example of how to cite an article:

Sessions, Debbie. “How to Dress for a Sock Hop” Vintage Dancer LLC,  11 September 2018, vintagedancer.com/1950s/how-to-dress-for-a-50s-sock-hop/

The original publishing date for articles is located at the top of the page. If you need the most current revision date, please ask.

VintageDancer.com does not sell any clothing directly. By clicking on the clothing picture you will be redirected to the online retailer selling the item. You can ask them for a donation, however I strongly advise against doing so because you probably will not get any response. If you are doing a low budget movie/fundraiser I recommend you shop thrift stores for approximate looks.