I love weddings, especially weddings that evoke that rustic vintage wedding feel. When I saw these gorgeous wedding photos of Lauren Bush and David Lauren posted on facebook since I started following Vogue, my heart did a little dance. The photo of Lauren Bush in the horse drawn carriage, oh goodness, how romantic! And the scenery... so beautiful! I wish there were more pictures from their wedding, maybe they'll turn up later on... but for now, here are a few wedding photos shot by Norma Jean Roy the couple shot with VOGUE aptly titled "Western Union".



Lauren Bush described her wedding as "rustic elegance" which is so fitting! The couple were married at David Lauren's 17,000-acre Double RL ranch in Ridgway, Colorado. (Oh, in case you haven't figured it out by now, David Lauren is Ralph Lauren's son...)

Here are some snippets from Vogue.com about Lauren Bush's experience with her wedding dress custom made for her by Ralph Lauren.

Lauren's Wedding Dress: "It was like a dream come true. We sat together and arrived at this silhouette. It isn’t Victorian exactly. I wanted something modern as well, so there is the high-necked collar and puffed shoulders with the large open back.” Made of richly embellished fabrics, the dress’s top layer is featherweight tulle in antique ivory. Some 100 craftspeople spent more than 3,000 hours hand-embroidering the tulle with delicate motifs of small flowers and Renaissance-era scroll designs in ivory silk and metallic thread, Swarovski Elements crystals, and off-white pearl beads."

The Wedding Flowers: "Wild roses, lily of the valley, Queen Anne’s lace, and delicate gardenias."

Image Sources: Vogue

One of my favorite websites to peruse is Ciao Vogue which features a bunch of scans from vintage Vogue magazines mostly published in the 1970s. Here are a few of my favorite vintage fashion editorials, advertisements, and snippets from the year 1975.



Source: Ciao Vogue

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!

There were so many 1950s inspired fashion editorials shot last year (as well as many inspired by the 60s and 70s). I'm hoping 2011 is the year of the 20s, 30s, and 40s. Actually... maybe even earlier than that! I'd love to see trends from the 18th century come back, in small doses... (wearing 3 ft plumes a la Georgiana Spencer perhaps?)


I love the vintage 1950s inspired hats in this editorial and the full circle skirts. There are similar style vintage hats available at Adorevintage.

This vintage UK Vogue fashion editorial from May 1968 really speaks to me. I adore the photography and gorgeous New Zealand landscape so much! The clothes are quite fun too, especially those 1960s mini dresses!

{ click on images for larger version }


Image credits: TheFashionspot.com Forums via 'biggirlsblouse'.

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...)