Vintage Dresses: The Vestiaire Guide
Fashion isn’t always about what’s new and trending. Every designer takes inspiration from the iconic looks that came before them, so no style in fashion is ever completely original. There are so many beautifully made, one-of-a-kind pieces from past decades that we would happily wear over the versions of today. Shopping for vintage dresses can be an exciting journey through fashion history and a way to find unique, well-made styles. But how to get the best looks at the best prices? How to know if a dress is truly vintage? And most importantly, how do you make sure you look incredible in it? To answer all of your burning questions, we’ve created the ultimate guide to vintage dresses.
What makes a dress vintage?
Vintage dresses aren’t a style but instead refer to the age of the piece. Here at Vestiaire, we define vintage as any piece that’s over 15 years old. But what about the 1920s-inspired flapper dress you saw in a contemporary retail store? Nope, not vintage. Clothes that are made in the present day but designed in the spirit of past decades are called retro.
Retro pieces can be a lot of fun. They still infuse an outfit with a flair for the fashions of the past but with a modern twist. Retro refers to the style and are pieces designed after the most beloved fashion trends of bygone years. Retro pieces can not only make an impact on your wallet, but also on the planet. The manufacturing of retro pieces contributes to production of waste and the over-extraction of raw resources. It’s always a more environmentally friendly idea to buy your retro pieces pre-loved.
Vintage items don’t have the same environmental cost as new and retro pieces. These items are already in existence, so they don’t require any additional resources to produce. We will always advocate for extending the lifespan of a garment and minimising waste instead of tossing it in a landfill.
What about clothes from before the 20th century? Those petticoats and powdered wigs fall into the realm of antiques. Fashion is cyclical, so you never know, those powdered wigs might come back in fashion one of these days.
Where to wear a vintage dress?
Vintage dresses encompass styles from several decades and there is an immense variety of looks to choose from. A classic dress never goes out of style. Just look at the little black dress that Coco Chanel designed in 1926. Every generation since then has put their distinct spin on the black dress. A vintage LBD will be just as chic today as the time it was made. Wearing evergreen dresses made over 15 years ago is an easy way to dress in vintage fashion perfection every day.
The wide array of vintage dresses means there are options for any style and occasion. Whether you are looking for a casual summer dress or something appropriate for a business meeting, there are several choices in the vintage section of Vestiaire. Vintage dresses are so special that even brides are choosing to forego new dresses in favour of an existing piece for their big days. Vintage dresses can include treasured family heirlooms that perhaps your mother or grandmother wore. This is a meaningful way to include those you love in your wedding. But if you don’t have access to a family member’s closet, you can still dress in great timeless fashion by choosing a vintage wedding dress. Since wedding dresses are worn for just one day, shopping second-hand means you’ll be getting a piece that is like new at a fraction of the price. It’s also an easy way to ensure your wedding dress is as unique and one-of-a-kind as your love.
When building a wardrobe, there are several styles of dresses necessary to create a complete and versatile collection. From LBDs to cocktail dresses, midis to maxis, knits to gowns, the most sustainable way to build your dress collection is by buying pre-loved styles from Vestiaire Collective.
How to find a vintage dress?
The history of fashion contains a long list of vintage dress designs to find inspiration for your wardrobe. Different eras evoked different moods, and that unique attitude was reflected in their fashions. So when hunting for vintage finds, identify what decade of style speaks to you. You can make a mood board of looks you love and then head out to the thrift stores to see what you can find. Or, you can shop without ever having to leave home with one of the world’s largest stocks of vintage fashion on Vestiaire Collective.
Some of the top looks of any decade have become iconic pieces that will always be in style. These are great places to start looking for vintage inspiration. From Marilyn Monroe’s white dress to Twiggy’s A-cut babydoll dress to the ‘90s supermodel era slip dresses, finding your vintage treasure will help you bring vintage fashion into the future.
Finding a vintage dress has never been easier than it is today. Gone are the days that you had to dig through disorganised boxes at thrift stores in the hopes of finding something of value that’s also in good condition. For incredible variety right at your fingertips, you can browse the vintage selection at Vestiaire Collective and see what catches your fancy. There are thousands of new listings every week, so even if you can’t find the look you’re searching for on a given day, you can always get lucky the next. But you can also look for vintage treasures in a more organised way thanks to our search feature. By selecting filters like brand name or colour you can narrow down your options until you find the perfect pre-loved vintage dress for you.
Are vintage dresses in style?
Vintage and pre-loved clothing is the way many fashion-forward thinkers are shopping today. In fact, reliable sources have shown a 104% increase in searches for second-hand fashion since 2020. Even the world’s top designers look to the past by constantly going through their archives of vintage fashions for inspiration. There are reinterpretations of classic pieces everywhere, like today’s slip dresses that take after their ‘90s counterparts. But there is something magical about going directly to the source and getting a genuine article from a bygone era.
While some vintage dresses are perfect just as they are, you can always work with a tailor to update the style and ensure a flattering fit. It’s easier to make adjustments to a dress that’s too large rather than too small. Vintage dresses allow you a lot of creativity when styling. Just because your dress is from the 1940s doesn’t mean the rest of your ensemble needs to be. In fact, mixing eras is a recommended way to wear vintage. It makes for a unique look based on the styles that you love. After all, if you love it, you will be confident wearing it.
Vintage dresses can also be valuable collector items. Certain iconic pieces in a designer’s oeuvre can be hot commodities in the vintage markets. These pieces made a name for the designer, like Yves St Laurent’s safari pieces or Oscar de la Renta boutique dresses from the ‘60s. These items are rare, wonderful, and meaningful pieces of fashion history. Owning a piece of a genuine vintage collection is an investment that will surely grow in time. After all, there are only so many couture dresses that Versace designed personally in his brief lifetime. There are a finite number available, so if Versace makes your heart flutter, look for a pre-loved piece on Vestiaire Collective.
Why wear vintage dresses?
There are so many reasons to wear a vintage dress. Since we are fashion lovers, the first reason is that vintage dresses are simply beautiful. The fabrics, pattern work, and prints from previous decades are sometimes not produced today, so the dress you buy vintage may never exist again. Vintage opens up a world of unique pieces, so you’ll never have to worry about wearing the same dress as someone else to a party. When you buy second-hand, you can often find great deals on looks that would be much more costly if purchased first-hand.
At Vestiaire our members can buy and sell curated pre-loved clothing, so even if your piece comes from fifty years ago, you’ll feel like you are wearing something new. Compared to today’s fast fashion, dresses made in past decades were constructed with more durable fabrics, and the craftsmanship was higher quality since the widespread demand for an ever-shifting wardrobe wasn’t as high. Therefore, vintage dresses are built to last so you’ll get a piece you’ll love for seasons and even years.
There is something exceptional about wearing a piece that has a story. Think about when you dressed up in your grandmother’s clothes. There is a history and nostalgia that comes from wearing timeless clothes. You can imagine the lives of the wearers before you.
Perhaps the best reason to wear a vintage dress is that it is the most sustainable way to consume fashion. These are items that are already in circulation, so buying a vintage piece doesn’t require the use of any additional resources. That means less water and pesticide usage, less raw materials consumed, and less production waste. Since the fashion industry as it exists today is one of the most polluting industries globally, buying vintage is a way to change the face of fashion and make it an industry that we can feel good about participating in.
If you’re interested in unique style and affordability, choosing vintage is one of the best ways to shop for the top dresses for summer or any other time of year. For Fashion Activists concerned with both style and the environment, it’s the very best way to shop. Besides the amazing and unique styles, affordable prices, and fun pursuit of vintage treasures, pre-loved clothing symbolises a much-needed shift to a more responsible and caring fashion world.
When people refer to “the good old days”, they aren’t just remembering the world through rose-tinted glasses. Past decades did have some qualities that contemporary society has lost, especially when it comes to how they produced clothing. Today’s era of fast fashion has saturated the market with cheaply made clothing that is designed to last for a single season. It might seem affordable on the tag, but you’ll surely pay for the low quality when it falls apart. The Earth pays by increasing levels of landfill waste and excess resources being squandered to produce new goods. When you choose vintage clothing, you are purchasing an already existing piece that was made to last. With better materials and more careful construction, these pieces have a longer lifespan than what you can find from many of today’s retail brands. Anytime you can extend clothing’s lifespan, whether from recycling, repurposing, or re-wearing, you help close the loop on the damaging fashion industry.
The demand for excellent quality, brand-name vintage dresses has never been higher. When you join our community of over 10 million Fashion Activists around the globe, you can find the perfect pre-loved vintage dress for any occasion, and by doing so, you’ll help the planet thrive.