Shopping for 1950s Style, Fashion, and Clothing

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1950s clothing: Vintage Clothing 

**I update this article every month to provide links to current 1950s online clothes. So bookmark this page and come back each month. 

One of my favorite shows is Mad Men. I enjoy the historical aspect of the show, the fact that it revolves around an advertising agency, the progression of gender disparities and of course the retro fashion, style, and clothing.

I have always been fascinating with dresses from the late 50s and early '60s due to growing up observing my grandmother. She was beautiful and so fashionable with her high waisted skirts and big cat sunglasses. But a question remained through all these years, "Where can I find vintage clothing?",  "Where can I find 1950s clothes?"

I wanted to put together a list of (online) stores for people like me who love the 1950s style and have been trying to find a way to get that look. It is not easy. Vintage stores might have some left over dresses but the condition might not be worth the buy. Selected boutiques can be very expensive and most of the new replicas are garbage. Here where I was able to find some of my looks. Let me know if you agree by leaving a comment at the end of this post.

1950s Fashion, Style, clothing: Vintage Clothing Shop Online

ModCloth: Modcloth provides new clothes with a vintage look. The clothes are affordable too. I have not bought anything from them yet so I can't comment on the quality. The only dress I really wanted from them was sold out, but this one below is so Betty Draper. I could see adding some modern accessories for a fresh look. You can buy this retro look here.

MadCloth: Inspired by Betty from Mad Men. 


Ebay: (vintage clothing online) No introduction here, but if you have patient Ebay is a gem for vintage clothes. For Ebay I like to use the Save Search feature. I search by designer if I know the designer focuses on 1950s dresses or I try to do a more general search like "1950s evening dress." For dresses on Ebay inspect the item careful and buy from sellers who have 100% positive feedback. The dress below is a 1950s dress in silk. It has defects that can be fixed easily. You can buy this retro dress here.

Ebay 1950s dress silk

Nine West: I just bought a new 1950s inspired dress made by Nine West at Marshalls. I always associated Nine West to shoes, but apparently they make clothes too. You can find their dresses at Macys, Marshalls, and Dillards. They do not focus on 1950s style so you might need to search on-line. I was really lucky I think, but this is the dress I bought for just $29. What a deal for a dress.


Banana Republic: Few months (Fall 2014) ago Banana Republic launched a line inspired by Mad Men. To tell you the truth it was not that great. I think they missed out on the perception of people around fashion from that period. I think women wanted Betty Draper's style or Joan. But 10 years ago I got the most beautiful 1950s dress at Banana Republic. I wear it for very special occasions. It was absolutely the most beautiful dress I have ever seen in a store. And again it was only $34.

Dress by Banana Republic $34

Vintageous is the most inclusive online vintage store with beautiful dresses and glasses. If you see something you like buy it because items won't last on that site. You also need to measure yourself because 1950s dresses did not use the same sizes. many dresses were customized.


 Currently those are my finding in the vintage or 1950s inspired fashion: 



SheInside $30 

My suggestion in terms of finding vintage inspired or vintage 1950s dresses is to start with big department stores such as Dillards, Marshalls, Nordstrom, Macys, Rinascente, Ross, etc. because you can get an understanding of what it is trendy and available at the moment and what lines are easy to find. 

The clean cuts of the 1950s are definitely back in style and I find many brands including Gianni Bini, and Antonio Melani bringing back the style. The search for the perfect 1950 look requires time and luck at times. I also start my research online on Ebay and Etsy just to get an idea of how big the inventory is out there. There is no reason to spend too much money on this style. All my best dresses were under $50 and I was not even looking for that style:)

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