As a vintage clothing collector and owner of a vintage clothing store I always have my eyes and ears peeled and perked for new information regarding vintage clothing and just fun random trivia about all things vintage fashion history.

I recently came across several vintage Harper's Bazaar magazines from the 1930s and 1940s and one in particular had SO MANY advertisements for vintage dresses, coats, shoes, and handbags, I just had to share several of them along with the snappy copy from the editorials!

This issue I am speaking of is the September 1945 issue of Harper Bazaar which has in light blue script "Victory" on the front. I love this cover. Just absolutely LOVE it!

When I came across these vintage Seventeen magazine covers fro the 1940s I was astonished that this is the same Seventeen magazine around now. Seventeen was my second magazine subscription ever (Teen, R.I.P., was my first) and I kept most of them until I was in college (my Mom eventually threw them all out). And while the original seemed very focus on character, work, and how to be a good wife (at least that's how it seems to me), the current magazine seems a lot more shallow and fluffy. But then again, I haven't picked up a Seventeen magazine for years...

After a little digging around (well, actually I just checked Wikipedia) I unearthed plenty of information about Seventeen magazine!



"It began as a publication geared towards inspiring teen girls to become role models in work and citizenship." The magazine was birthed from an idea that then editor-in-chief, Helen Valentine, had in her mind to have a magazine for teenage girls focused on service and fashion. Most of the early articles focused on work, citizenship, fashion, and beauty.

Things really started to change up by the time Seventeen had it's 5th birthday. By this time Helen Valentine was no longer editor-in-chief and Seventeen started to shift towards a different ideal for women. It started to focus more on fashion, beauty, and consumerism, and a domesticated female.

Which Seventeen magazine would you prefer to read, the 1940s version or the ones today?

Happy Friday everyone! I wanted to share these beautiful vintage magazine covers from the 1940s featuring some of my favorite Hollywood celebrity icons like Rita Hayworth, Gene Tierney, and Betty Grable.


img src: flickr | vintage magazines

I absolutely love flipping through old magazines. I think it's one of the reasons I never throw away my old magazines and instead keep stacks of them in forgotten corners of my closet. All the images below are from Ciao Vogue and are edited scans from original vintage vogue magazines from 1973.


If you are a vintage seller and/or collector one of the best sources for dating vintage is to do plenty of research by reading magazines! Seeing the editorials and advertisements really helps to pinpoint specific styles of clothes.


I never really realized how much I loved the styles of the early 1970s until I viewed all these images. Long drapey dresses, 1930s silhouette inspirations, 1920s cloche hats, swingy skirts, and belted cardigans and sweaters. I'm totally loving it!

The September 1955 issue of Vogue is filled with advertisement for luxury coats most notably fur coats. I never realized how prevalent fur was in the 1950s!

Dating Vintage Tip: Browsing vintage advertisements is a fantastic way of dating vintage especially if you know the source of the advertisement! For instance, these vintage coat ads were all featured in 1955, therefore you can gather that coats of similar shape and style were probably popular the year before and the year after. And if the ad/editorial is in VOGUE you can pretty much guarantee similar styles made of less luxurious materials were common several years after. (Remember, Vogue was one of the pioneers of forward thinking fashion... therefore it took awhile for the styles to trickle down to the masses...)