My True Vintage Dress Collection

One of my dreams has been to wear purely true vintage, all day every day. Beautiful original 1940s evening gowns and 1930s day dresses to summer picnics. Sadly, this isn’t exactly feasible. Finding perfect condition true vintage pieces is hard enough, and they aren’t exactly cheap. Instead, I have settled on just slowly growing a true vintage collection in the hopes that one day I might come close to achieving my dream. One of my favourite pastimes is watching videos and reading posts about other people’s true vintage collections and so, in today’s article I will take you through my small, but beautiful, true vintage dress collection! 

This dress is one of my most prized possessions and an absolute show stopper! A stunning coral, late 1950s/early 1960s cocktail dress, adorned in beading and in perfect condition. Photos simply do not do this gorgeous dress justice. I came across it at a small local vintage fair, and at first, I ignored it because I didn’t think it would fit me. However, when I walked past again I stopped and asked to try it on, and low and behold it fit. When I tell you that this dress was a bargain I truly mean it. £20. Yes, you did read that correctly, twenty pounds sterling. The seller had been trying to sell this dress for months but couldn’t find anyone who fit it, and she was so relieved to have finally found a buyer she lowered the price for me. I wore this dress for my eighteenth birthday and it was incredible to wear. This is staying in my collection until the day I die!

I always encourage people to shop in their local charity shops, and this is why. I brought this wonderful 1950s summer dress for a measly £5! It’s amazing the things you can find when you have a little rummage around. I am so lucky this dress fits me like a glove because it is the perfect summer day dress. I can’t wait to wear it to a picnic by the river one day. It is in perfect condition, with only a few stains. Although I have a horrible feeling I caused the sweat stains under the armpits…!  The pleating around the waist does an excellent job at accentuating my shape and the thin cotton material is great at keeping me cool in the warmer months. 

This beautiful 1950s summer dress was kindly given to me by a close personal friend (thank you Natasha) and is so pretty! The sailor-style collar is such a sweet detail, and makes me feel like I should be on a cruise ship somewhere on the Mediterranean in 1952! I love the slight drop waist, a common feature in 1950s dresses, and the rayon fabric is light and breezy. Sadly, this dress is too big for me and so I haven’t worn it out properly. I have played around with belting it to make it fit me more, but it just looks strange and out of place. I also will not take it to be altered as I firmly believe in keeping these true vintage items in their original state as much as possible, so as to preserve their history. 

This was my first ever true vintage dress. A 1940s day dress in a beautiful blue and purple pattern. This dress was kindly given to me by a family friend who found it in her attic and knew I would fall in love with it. And I did just that! The little bow in the front is so delicate and yet a wonderful little detail. It is in absolutely perfect condition as if it has time travelled to 2020 directly from 1945! I adore the way this dress has been pieced together, with different panels creating the iconic 1940s silhouette. It is comfortable and breezy, however, far too big for me (I pinned it tighter for these photos to show the silhouette better). It is such a shame that I cannot wear it properly, but I am so thrilled to have it as part of my lovely little collection. 

Before I go into detail about this incredible dress, I want to note that while this dress is technically vintage, it isn’t 40s and 50s old vintage! I am struggling to date this dress (if anyone can help, please message me), but it does have one overlocked seam which signals to me that this is probably a dress from the 80s or 90s. I have tried researching the company in the label of the dress, but I’m stumped. This is a stunning, mostly handstitched, Austrian dirndl and is the most incredible fit. I have long admired the dirndl for its 18th-century silhouette and wonderful craftsmanship. I grew up with a fascination for the 1965 classic, The Sound of Music, and always wanted to be Liesl when I was little, so now having this dress as part of my collection I feel like 6 year old me would be very proud! One of the many joys of this dress is that I can wear it sans bra, which is very rare for me so I am thrilled about this. I purchased this dress from the lovely Lydia of Ginger Vintage on Etsy. 

This is another dress whose provenance I bring into question. I was given this piece by a friend who purchased it on Etsy, but didn’t fit her. The dress was advertised as 1950s vintage, however, I am not so sure. It is certainly vintage but I doubt it is as old as that. Much like the Dirndl it features a little bit of overlocking, which while around in the 50s it was not common on dresses. The silhouette is also not 50s, so I would hazard a guess that this dress is actually 80s. Regardless, I still consider it as part of my collection. This is a very sweet, cotton day dress in a cute floral pattern. The buttons are really adorable and add to the overall Miss Honey vibe. Sadly, this dress is also too big for me but can be worn in the autumn with a nice cardigan.

One of my personal favourites, this stunning 1960s black crepe-wool mix dress was very generously given to me by a personal friend. It belonged to her late sister-in-law who wore it in the mid/late 60s. The beauty of true vintage items is the history they hold and knowing the particular history of this dress makes it even more special. The fabric is very hard to describe, it is like a crepe but also very thin wool, pretty unique! It has a wonderful stretch, making it incredibly comfortable to wear all day long. It is pretty sheer so a nude or black slip has to be worn underneath, or not, depends on your personal preference - I don’t judge! I love the way this dress has been cut. It has a very 1930s silhouette, sadly the photos don’t show the very well. A beautiful dress with a beautiful story. 

I have only been collecting true vintage pieces for about a year, so my collection is still very small, but I can’t wait to expand it over the coming years. Perhaps this time next year I will have to do an article to update you all! Dresses aren’t the only true vintage pieces I own, I also have a budding vintage glove collection. If you would like me to do an article on those too let me know!