The Vintage Site

Vintage French style tends to be elegant, timeless, and always fashionable. So many people like vintage French decor that it’s hard to go wrong with such a gift! Of course, there are so many things for sale out there made of cutesy, modern versions of these illustrations; but as always I prefer to go back to the vintage originals when I search for my picks. Here is just an example of some products you can shop for that feature authentic, antique, vintage French illustrations taken right from the gorgeous originals. If you see a design that you like, chances are it will be available on a wide variety of products such as shirts, cards, bags, and more.
Amusez-vous bien!

Custom Printed Calendar Historical French Fashion

Vintage French Ad from 1910 Postcard

Vintage Poster, French, Champagne

Le Miroir de Modes Magazine Notebook

Vintage French Fashion Illustration ~ Le Vase Posters

Vintage Art Nouveau French Fashion Cover Poster

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“It is true that women heretofore, here and there, have been trying the machines in an apologetic, shamefaced sort of way, but in this year they have boldly come to the front as riders, challenging male competition, and making a fashion of that which before was an eccentricity.”

Harper’s Magazine, from Public Opinion, 16 January 1896

I found the quote above on a website with some great information and illustrations about bike riding in 1896, a Vassar college website about the year 1896.

Both of the vintage bicycle ads in this post come from my March 1896 issue of the Ladies’ Home Journal. At a time when bike riding was extremely popular with both sexes, but increasingly with women, manufacturers turned their attention to women riders. The ad above is from Western Wheel Works (you can see another of their ads at the Vassar website I linked to above), and it reads:

Crescent Bicycles are especially constructed to meet the requirements of lady riders. This is the secret of their popularity.

Manufacturers also took pains to point out that women required special bicycle saddles; the regular saddle types that men used were not appropriate for women. The following ad is from the Duplex Saddle Company, and it states that “Women must not ride the ordinary bicycle saddle – so say physicians (here the ad provides a list of journal articles to support this). All the ordinary suspension saddles and every saddle with a pommel which carries weight, are condemned by physicians as certain to produce serious and lasting troubles and injury.”

What makes this saddle special and better for women?

“The pommel of the Duplex supports no weight, – it does not even touch the body. The hollowing out of the saddle under weight carries the pommel downward and away from all contact with the body.”

“The lovely Lupe Velez tells you how you can have the kind of skin that men adore – the kind the screen stars have. Just use Lux Toilet Soap, their beauty care!”

This lighthearted little ad for Lux soap from the June 1934 Woman’s Home Companion features Mexican film actress, Lupe Velez. At the time this ad appeared, she was starring in the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film “Laughing Boy”. (She apparently played the character “Slim Girl” in the movie.) However, she had earlier been extremely popular in silent movies. She ended her life tragically and her life story is definitely worth reading.

One thing that I found interesting in this ad is the claim that “of the 694 important Hollywood actresses, including all stars, 686 use fragrant, white Lux toilet soap.” First I wonder how they came up with that total of “important” actresses, and second, how they came up with the number of 686 actresses who supposedly use Lux.

“My Greatest Ally – Lux Toilet Soap.”

Does one of these houses look better than the other to you? Do you prefer the mustard color or the white?

Well, the April 1912 issue of the Ladies’ Home Journal held a definite opinion. The mustardy-yellow one was hideous! Here are the exact words from the article for the golden colored home:

“This strong, raw color, so often used, causes the house to stand out in baldness, and holds the attention by its very ugliness. The lines of the design are good, but the eye does not at first appreciate them because of the color.”

Meanwhile, they couldn’t say enough good things about the white one:

“Look at the same house treated with colors which serve to make it harmonize with Nature. It looks refined and inviting. The good lines of the design are emphasized by the contrasting green and white. The house “fits” into its surroundings.”

Like a lot of vintage “good/bad” example articles in antique issues of the Ladies’ Home Journal (see here for example), the bad examples are on the left and the good on the right. Please be sure to read the text that goes with the pictures in the complete article below, and compare how your opinion fits in with those of the writer!

This great vintage ad stopped me in my tracks when I came across it in the October 1931 issue of the Ladies’ Home Journal. It’s all about bananas!

As you’ll notice, this ad from the “Fruit Dispatch Company” says “Bananas take the spotlight in four new roles.” I see five highlighted areas on the ad, though, myself:

1) Doctors now order bananas for babies.

“…recent scientific experiments have proved that ripe bananas are good for the child. And now The American Medical Association gives bananas its seal of approval!”

2) “In less time than it takes to powder her nose…”

you can mmake a company dessert! Here the advertiser provides a recipe for “Banana Charlotte”, basically bananas and whipped cream in a glass.

3) Husband turns cook to prove his point.

“Mr. John Williams Brown, helpful husband, chooses Sunday night to prove that he knows a good dish.” Ok, this dish actually sounds like it could be quite delicious (or it could be completely inedible; it could go either way). It’s for “Baked Bananas with Bacon”, and here it is:

Fry bacon – while bananas are baking in their skins just as you’d bake potatoes. Bake ten to fifteen minutes, in moderate oven (375F). Serve with one-third of skin removed and garnished with bacon, as shown above, at right.

Here is a visual for the Baked Bananas with Bacon recipe

4) New Party Dish Starts Conversation

For Banana Bar-le-Duc, a banana is spread with cream cheese and dappled with bar-le-duc or other jelly. (I admit to not knowing what “bar-de-luc” jelly was, so I looked it up and apparently it is jelly made from red or white currants.)

5) More Food for your Money

“As well as building energy, the 100 calories in a banana go hand in hand with three vitamins (A, B, and C) and a generous supply of those precious minerals. Bananas have never been expensive, but today they cost less than ever!”

At the end of this ad, there is an offer to send for a free copy of the booklet “The New Banana.” Believe it or not, this vintage book has not been forgotten! Here is a fun article by Daniel Neman in the Toledo Blade, in which he talks about his own copy of this booklet and even goes into more detail about the recipes found within. (And yes, he even comments on the baked bananas and bacon recipe.) But even more surprisingly, you can still order your own copy of the booklet! You can buy a used copy of it from Amazon, right at this link.

And finally, I came across an online version of the Washington Banana Museum. Be sure to click over to see a surprisingly big assortment of all kinds of vintage banana memorabilia.

From 1910, here is some pretty French lingerie including chemises, slips, nightgowns, and petticoats.

I found these lovely photos in the September 1910 issue of the Ladies’ Home Journal magazine.

The June, 1934 issue of the Woman’s Home Companion included the following beautiful fashion illustrations. The pages were divided up into evening gowns (evening fabrics from Paris, to be more specific), clothing in “sail red” or Breton red, and finally travel clothing suggestions.

I will share these illustrations with you here, along with excerpts of the articles themselves, which provide some insight into that season’s latest fashion trends.

The image above, on “Evening Fashions from Paris,” features gowns by Paton, Mainbocher, Augustabernard, and Schiaparelli.

“The Paris dressmakers offer us two fabric types for summer evenings – the stiff and the fragile. The stiff tissues include the taffetas, which are enjoying a revival, plain, printed, plaided or checked; and the failles, usually in a plain dark color.
Among the fragiles are the organzas or silk organdies. These may be plain or printed in florals (like the Patou dress) or in conventional patterns, sometimes with a tracery of metal. Their cousins, the cotton organdies, are treated this year so that they never lose their crispness even when washed. Mainbocher’s modernized robe de style is made of a new organdie called ‘rococo’, a Coudurier material printed in fresh checks, stripes and plaids.”

Next come the fashions in “sail red”:

These fashions are all by Best and Company, New York.

“One of the smart ways to use sail red is in that much-sung trio – shorts, shirt and skirt – a practical trio that you can turn into an even more practical foursome by the addition of a halter top. You wear the shorts and kerchief for sunning, the shorts, skirt and shirt for running about the village or for golf, the shorts and shirt for tennis. This paragon among vacation outfits is shown in two ways on the opposite page.”

And finally, we turn to “Travel Clothes.”

These clothes are from Alfred Dunhill.

“We have selected here an ideal costume for summer trips in the car – a jacket dress in linen crash. You can go without the jacket when it is sizzling hot and you can change the bright scarf – just to make your one outfit look like two.”
“For the train you will find a silk dress and a wool coat ensemble very practical. One of the latest ideas is to reverse the old print frock and dark coat to a dark frock and patterned coat. Here you find it smartly worked out in brown silk and plaid tweed.”

I hope that you enjoyed these, and perhaps even found a bit of inspiration for your own modern style.

There are so many beautiful gifts and stationery out there now for vintage and fashion lovers looking to shop. Periodically I’ll feature some of my favorites from various time periods, but today I’m showing off some Edwardian-inspired gifts. These are all made up of actual vintage illustrations from the Edwardian period, which is why I’m so drawn to them. Hopefully you’ll find something you like too!

Edwardian Era Fashions Print

Vintage Ladies in Hats Postcard

Fete de Fleurs Post Cards

Edwardian Glamor Girl Note Book

Style Book Hand Towels

1912 Edwardian Fashion Shirt

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“To relieve dignified plain-walled rooms of the blight of monotony and coldness, patterned floor coverings are often required to supply a necessary decorative quality.”

“How much the Georgian interior above, for example, is enhanced by the rich plum deep-pile Wilton carpet traversed by a continuously flowing pattern of lighter shades.”

This vintage home decor article from the June 1929 issue of the Woman’s Home Companion shows some of the trends in floor coverings of the late 1920′s. I especially like the vivid color of the plum-colored rug shown in the living room above. In addition to the rug, the article also explains the other room decor as follows:

“Touches of old gold, amethyst, lilac, gray-blue, apricot and pomegranate in sofa, chairs, bric-a-brac, lampshades and pictures introduce intermediate steps between floor and wall colors. Yellow damask drapery hanging under brass cornices is caught up and held with yellow silk cords in graceful lines that again repeat the trend of the carpet pattern. The blue-gray wood mantel, brass lighting fixtures, fireplace furnishings, including fender and andirons, are period copies and add to the beautiful unity of the room.”

Although I definitely prefer the look of the room above, the article also shows us a more subdued, understated room with a plaid rug made up of “blue-green, yellow, gray, black and petunia red coloring woven together.”

Here is the magazine’s description of this room:

“A warm inviting color scope for a cottage dining room starts with a rag carpet. Above the black floor which is almost completely covers, rise pale amber rough-coated walls and pumpkin yellow woodwork trimmed with burnt orange.”

The article also makes sure to point out the charming green trunk in this room:

“While the woodbox (just at right of fireplace) seems to resemble a Spanish dower chest, it is in reality an old trunk covered with imitation moss-green leather and ornamented with brass upholstery tacks and fancy brass lock.”

With some modifications, I would definitely use the first photo as inspiration for decorating. To me, fashion and decor from the 1920′s is often the easiest for me to translate into modern day style.