Sunday, May 24, 2015

Recommended Online Reading for Vintage Style Enthusiasts

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I recently decided to virtually invite some of my Facebook friends who I knew liked vintage to "like" a bunch of vintage-themed Facebook pages and blogs that I thought they might be interested in. After a while I thought I was probably bombarding them with invites so I stopped and thought I might take a different approach to sharing the sites that I have found to be so inspiring and useful as a fellow vintage style enthusiast. I realised that I hadn't ever published a list of links that included these pages, on the blog, And, that maybe it's about time I did.

The links below are a selection of some of the best vintage blogs (In my opinion), most informative sites, helpful YouTube pages,  fun Facebook pages and inspiring image sharing accounts. Whether you wear vintage full-time or just sometimes, whether you dabble in vintage or dive into it, whether you are new to vintage or well acquainted with it, I hope that there is something useful or inspiring in these recommendations to suit you.

BLOGS:
I have decided to list blogs first because I feel like blogs are really insightful and that bloggers can have more of a practical and realistic take on vintage style. Most bloggers are also on social media, but I have chosen not to link all of their accounts as you can usually find these links quite easily on their blog.

Chronically Vintage
Jessica from Chronically Vintage is probably one of my favourite people on the internet. She styles some beautiful outfits, she shares informative links, she writes themed style posts, she posts old recipes and she has a lot of useful tips for dressing in a vintage style. I have shared links to some of her blog posts in previous posts of mine, And I think there is a lot of useful information on there to recommend it again. Jessica also has an Etsy shop that sells the cutest vintage brooches and gloves.

Retro Chick
Retro Chick is possibly the first vintage blog that I discovered on the internet. I really enjoy reading about Gemma's adventures and I really enjoy her tutorials. My favourite part of this blog is 'The Lazy Girls Guide' which has some helpful ideas on how to look sharp when you are short on time or effort.

The Girl with the Star-Spangled Heart
Stephanie from The Girl with the Star-Spangled Heart makes some of her own clothes, which is really cool. She also makes period costumes and styles some pretty rad outfits. My favourite part of her blog are the Capsule wardrobe posts, that show you don't need to own a million items of clothing to have a versatile vintage wardrobe.

Singing Bird Vintage
Jenny has some pretty cute style and outfit posts on her blog. I've only recently discovered her blog, And I really like it. If you are looking for some timeless style inspiration I recommend checking out Singing Bird Vintage.

Esme and the Laneway
Marianne from Esme and the Laneway has an old-fashioned sense of style with a modern twist. Her blog mostly consists of posts about her adventures, outfit posts and beauty purchases. My favourite part of her blog are the beauty posts because I'm a beauty junkie.

Gracefully Vintage
Kayla mostly uploads outfit posts. She sews some of her own stuff and she wears a lot of vintage reproduction clothing. Her blog is a great place to discover repro brands. I really like the photo shoots that she does and I think she has a great sense of style.

CiCi Marie
CiCi Marie  is a blog filled with outfit posts an useful tips. CiCi wears a lot of Vintage Reproduction and lets you know her thoughts on the experience of purchasing and wearing items from those brands. I adore her cute vintage-inspired style and I recommend the blog to any petite vintage wearers as she has some good tips for flattering styles that suit.

Bobby Pin Blog
Bobby Pin Blog is the blog of the author of one of my favourite vintage makeup books. Lauren Rennell's the Author of 'Retro Make-up' doesn't post there often, but I like to follow the blog anyway and keep an eye out for any of the scanned vintage hair/make-up guides she shares. I would also highly recommend following her on Pinterest.

Nora Finds
Nora is one classy dame. She shares vogue-worthy outfit posts, cool places to shop and she hosts some cool vintage giveaways. Her blog is on Tumblr.

Land Girl 1980
Land Girl 1980 is another vintage blog based in the UK. Her blog features book reviews of Historical Fiction, Costume Era Movie/TV Reviews, Historical Recipes and more. I highly recommend the 'Hair' section to people with long tresses, which is about different methods of setting your hair in curls.

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YOUTUBE:
Youtube is a great place for make-up/hair tutorials. There are plenty of vintage inspired channels and individual videos, but today I thought I would only share two of them and these are probably the most useful.

Lisa Freemont Street
Ashley from Lisa Freemont Street is a skilled Make-up artist and Hair-Stylist. If you want to learn anything about vintage hair-styling then I strongly recommend her channel! She also does product reviews/favourites and Vlogs of trips to events. My favourite videos of hers are the ones where she does looks inspired by Hollywood stars/movie characters and vintage cartoons.

Cherry Dollface
Cherry Dollface's channel is a mix of all kinds of things. Cherry is a pin-up model and she is more into the Rockabilly/Pin-up scene which I know is not every vintage gal's cup of tea. I decided to recommend it though, because she does post some tutorials that I think would be useful regardless of your style. My favourite things to watch are her modelling tutorials (which are helpful for pin-up competitions or if you are going to any photo shoots) and her style/vintage fashion tutorials (which include a cardigan styling video and a winter clothing recommendation video).

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SITES:
There are some websites out there that are a wealth of information. I still can't believe how much information is out there on the net that can be viewed for free. If you are ever looking for some different authentic looks or you want to learn some cool trivia about vintage make-up then these are the places to visit:

Glamourdaze- Vintage Fashion Archive
Has scanned beauty guides from years gone buy, style guides from 1900s-1960s and a fashion film archive. I am always fascinated by articles such as '1940s War Fashion- Liquid Stockings', '1920s Make-up -The Silent Film Vamp- Myth Exposed' and '100+ Years of College Girl Fashion'. I also highly recommend checking out a beauty guide or three...

Vintage Dancer
Vintage Dancer  is a bit of a vintage style shopping search engine. I like this site because of it's detailed fashion history and era-specific style articles. 'Saddle Shoes Through the Decades', 'Vintage Dancing Photos' and '7 Easy 1920's Mens Costume Ideas' are just some of the intriguing articles Vintage Dancer has to offer. I also really just like drooling over the Repro stuff that I can't afford...

Queens of Vintage
This site is a bit of a joint effort and it has vintage everything. There are reviews, posts about interiors/style, they introduce you to their favourite bloggers... The list goes on. If you are looking for more lovely vintage ladies to follow on social media, then check out the 'Top 100 Queens' section.


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FACEBOOK PAGES:
While most of the above Blogs, Websites and Youtube Channels have their respective social media accounts, there are a lot of other cool Facebook pages I like to follow. I know some people don't like following a lot of pages and that's totally their call, If you're anything like me though, you probably follow more pages than people and are totally okay with that. Here are some of my favourites:

Lady Hollywood
This page is not 100% written in english, but it has some awesome pictures. Mostly pictures from old movies or old promotional pictures for films. If you like old movies than this page is for you.

Audrey Style
For the Audrey Hpburn fan. This page shares pictures of Audrey, fan art, style sets, videos and other fun things.

Vintage & Geek
For those who not only like the vintage style, but also have a bit of a nerdy side as well.

Pin-up Style
This one shares some pictures from Pin-up shoots and some cool repro stuff.

By The Vintage Seaside
Vintage Pictures of people at the beach. This page is just a bit of fun and it puts some sunshine in your news feed.

Living Fifties Fashion
This page mostly shares old vogue pictures.

I'm Old Fashioned-Vintage Everyday
Features pictures of Hollywood stars and a few other bits and pieces.

Idda Van Munster
Idda is a pin-up model with a classic style. Her make-up is flawless and she is a bit of a Pin-up style icon.

Vintage Life
This is the facebook page for a magazine. I don't subscribe to them (atleast not yet), but I enjoy their daily memes and have shared many of them.

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PINTEREST and TUMBLR:
When you really want to get inspired sometimes you just want to flip through images. Pinterest and Tumblr are helpful for coming up with costume party ideas, new make-up looks or for special events. I also search Pinterest for tutorials and recipes... Here are some of my favourite vintage inspired accounts.

Rexanna Calentine
Follow all of the retro boards and you will forever be inspired. There are so many images on here...

Besame Cosmetics
This is the Pinterest board of that make-up company. There are some great boards on this account. I love the 1920s board the most.

My Vintage Vogue
Is an archive of scanned clippings form old magazines and such. And a total dream for the vintage obsessed. There are a lot of old advertisements and photo shoots.

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Please feel free to share some of your favourite vintage sites in the comments.

Your Favourite Blogger,
Natalie

8 comments:

Witchcrafted Life said...

This is flat out amazing, Natalie. Oh my word! What a rich (dare I say, encyclopedic!), fantastic, diverse selection of links, tips, blog, channels, the list goes on and on.

This must have taken you ages to put together (a lot of people who don't write lengthy posts, aren't aware of the massive time that can go into them) and I truly appreciate that you did so, as well as that you included me (and my shop, too) here. Thank you so immensely much!!!

This post is going at the very top of my next edition of Vintage Link Love, as it deserves to me seen and enjoyed far and wide, and I hope that doing so will help bring some more viewers your way.

Seriously, I'm doffing my vintage hat and applauding your for this magnificent directory of vintage awesomeness to no end!!!

Huge hugs,
♥ Jessica

Natalie_vintage_girl said...

Oh wow thankyou :) I hope it is useful to some. That will be the third time I'm featured. Truly honored :D

Hugs <3

Kayla said...

Wow what a fantastic blog post!! I am honoured to be mentioned amongst so many wonderful people. xxx

Hayley Ann said...

I found this post and your blog through Jessica's Link Love post on Chronically Vintage, and I have to agree with her. What a fantastic list of reading and so lovely of you to take the time and effort to share them with us! Thank you! xx

www.pearlsandpurlsvintage.blogspot.com

CiCi said...

Thanks so much for including me here, Natalie! I can hardly believe the company I'm keeping, it's so fab. A great list and a couple of things I wasn't aware of that I now need to check out :) CC x

Unknown said...

Thank you for including Retro Chick! What an awesome round up of sites! Lots there to keep me entertained as well!

The Vintage Inn Blog said...

ohhh this is a wonderful collection of vintage goodies of which some are new to me! yay! Thanks so much for sharing this :) Now I have more websites to distract me from work lol

Liz

Lavender and Twill said...

Wow, what a fantastic list of resources! Thank you for taking the time to put this together, I will have fun going through your list and visiting everyone. :) ❤

xox,
bonita of Lavender & Twill