Fashion Frocks (Harford Frocks) Fabric Swatches

I saw these vintage 1940s fashion illustrations floating about on Pinterest and I thought they were just catalog scans at first glance, but after clicking to the original source of these vintage fashion illustrations, I found out their true nature... these are sample fabric swatches for Fashion Frocks, a dress manufacturing company that had their home base in Ohio. There's a little bit of info about the building they occupied in the 1930s on wikipedia.

Not only are these vintage fashion drawings absolutely lovely, but the fact that these are ACTUAL fabric samples just makes me heart quicken a whole lot. I MUST have these!! The company was around since the 1920s and stopped producing clothing in the 1970s. Seriously, I MUST have these. I'm not really one to collect anything, but these are just an amazing piece of vintage fashion history!

These Fashion Frocks/Hardford Frocks sample pages are from Miss Amy on flickr.

Fashion Frocks was a company from Cincinnati, OH that employed housewives as salespeople to sell clothing to friends and neighbors "door-to-door" ... they would be armed with these wonderful sample sales cards for women to order from. It was a way of bypassing the retailers and selling directly to consumers, at better value-pricing. One of the company taglines is "It's fashion-wise to be thrifty." - from FASHION FROCKS flickr set

Vintage 1930s Fashion Sketches + Designs

When researching vintage clothing and fashion, one of the best sources is the New York Public Library Digital Image Gallery. You can browse through HUNDREDS of beautiful sketches and illustrations of vintage fashions and really have a better understanding of the trends and fads of a specific era.

Today we are going to be looking at vintage fashion and styles from the 1930s. Our online vintage shop regularly stocks clothing and dresses from the 1930s and most of these styles go fairly quickly. And it's no surprise why, the 1930s was an amazing time for beautifully made and well tailored garments!






One of recurring themes in these styles are the puffed sleeves wether they be short sleeved or elbow length. There is also the appearance of dropped shoulders, draped sleeves, and cape style sleeves. My favorite part about the 1930s silhouette are the bias cut skirts. So incredibly flattering on a woman's figure! I also am very much in love with prints from the 1930s. Just the most charming florals and very elegant and chic deco inspired patterns and textiles.

Vintage CHANEL fashion sketches from the 1950s and 1960s

Here are some rare fashion sketches from the house of CHANEL through the 1950s and 1960s. Coco Chanel was most famous for her suit sets and it is amazing to me to be able to see these before they were ever cut and sewn from cloth. A fashion sketch is at first a dream then later materialized (and most are not). Which Chanel suit from the 1950s and 1960s is your favorite?








These CHANEL vintage fashion sketches are from the Bergdorf Goodman archives via Ana Lee Russian blog. Check out the link for more sketches!

Edwardian Fashion From McCalls Magazine

There are many reasons to love Downton Abbey, but one especially I would like to highlight is that the show has garnered an interest amongst the populace for Edwardian and World War I era clothing.

The teens era has always been a bit of a pretty murky area for me, definitely the 1920s were flapper dresses but as my knowledge in vintage clothing and fashion history expands, I am discovering that flapper dresses weren't really the norm until the mid to late 1920s.

So in my efforts to learn more about World War 1 and Edwardian fashions, I have been gathering images throughout the internet and wanted to share my finds with my lovely vintage readers.


Described as "Advanced Models of Distinctive Winter Styles" from an issue of McCalls winter magazine 1913. Look at those amazing details!
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"Daytime and Evening Gowns of Dainty Lace and Grace" from the Titanic era from a March 1914 issue of McCalls magazine.
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From April 1914 issue of McCalls magazine (two years after the sinking of the Titanic).
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These styles came in the late teens, 1918-1919 and were for Spring fashions. I can't remember where I sourced these from, I'm sorry!


Winter styles from an issue of The Woman's Magazine from December 1919.
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I feel that the Edwardian era and World War 1 era is often overlooked for the wonderful clothes and fashions that spanned these two decades. And most often these eras are just lumped in with Victorian and Flapper fashions. As I progress in my knowledge of antique clothing, I hope you will learn a thing or two as well!